Composite Charts Explained: Calculate Your Relationship Chart
Most people approach compatibility in Human Design by comparing two bodygraphs side by side. Where are the openings? Who energizes whom? But there is a deeper layer Ra Uruhu introduced: the composite chart, a third chart entirely, the chart of the relationship itself. It has its own Type, its own Authority, its own Incarnation Cross, and its own channels. It is not you. It is not them. It is the energetic entity that exists between you.
How to Calculate a Composite Chart
The composite is calculated by taking the mathematical midpoint of every planet between two natal charts. If your Sun is at 12° Aries and your partner's Sun is at 24° Aries, the composite Sun lands at 18° Aries. This is done for the Sun, Earth, Moon, all planets, and the Nodes.
Once the midpoints are plotted, a new bodygraph emerges. That bodygraph is then analyzed exactly like an individual chart, with one important difference: every gate, channel, center, and cross belongs to the relationship, not to either person.
A composite chart can be generated through most Human Design software. All you need are two accurate birth times, dates, and locations. Once calculated, the resulting chart will show you the energy blueprint of the bond itself.
The Composite as Its Own Entity
The composite chart has a Type, a Strategy, and an Authority. A relationship chart with a Generator Type and Sacral Authority is built for sustainable, satisfying response. A Manifestor composite initiates and impacts. A Projector composite is here to guide, recognize, and be invited. A Reflector composite mirrors the health of the entire connection.
The composite Incarnation Cross is perhaps the most overlooked piece. It is the life purpose of the relationship, the theme the bond is here to explore, express, and live out. Two people can have wildly different individual crosses, yet the relationship itself has a coherent directional purpose when read through the composite.
Connection Theory: The Three Kinds of Connections
Ra Uruhu taught that there are three distinct kinds of human connections, and the composite chart reveals which one is operating.
Electromagnetic Connection is the most powerful. It is built when the composite chart contains channels that bridge the Recognition Circuit, the G Center, the Ajna, the throat, and the emotional wave. Key channels here include 55-15 (the channel of the Beat, 55-15), 12-22 (the channel of Openness), 7-31 (the Alpha), and others that wire the recognition system together.
When electromagnetic channels exist in the composite, the relationship has what Ra called a "magnetic quality." There is a pull. People often describe it as being unable to let go, as something unfinished or unresolvable. The bond keeps regenerating. This is the connection that says, "They always come back together."
Companionship Connection is the most common and the most stable. It occurs when there are no electromagnetic channels, but the composite still has defined Centers that create a comfortable, consistent energy. Companion bonds are warm, supportive, and built on shared values. "They bring out the best in each other." They are friendships first, lovers second, partners third, and the foundation rarely cracks because it is grounded in mutual definition rather than magnetic pull.
Dominance Connection is the one most people want to avoid but most people have at some point. It happens when one person brings many more defined Centers to the relationship than the other. The undefined person often feels consumed, overwhelmed, or amplified beyond recognition. The defined person is simply being themselves, but the asymmetry in definition creates a one-sided amplification field.
Dominance is not inherently wrong. It can be a teacher. But without awareness, it is the kind of bond that leaves one person wondering, "Who am I in this?"
Channels in the Composite: Where the Magic Lives
Channels in the composite are particularly important because they represent consistent, available energy in the relationship. When two people both have Gate 6 activated, Gate 60 activated, or any matching pair, the composite gains that channel.
A 35-36 channel in the composite is a relationship that thrives on crisis and shared emotional experience. A 57-20 channel is a relationship powered by intuitive, sometimes bewildering, knowing. A 10-57 channel is a relationship of perfect imperfections, of self-acceptance through the other.
These channels are the operating system of the bond. They show you where the relationship has its own wisdom, separate from the wisdom of either individual.
Reading the Composite in Practice
When you look at a composite chart, ask three questions:
1. What is the Type, Strategy, and Authority of the relationship? This tells you how the bond is meant to operate and what it needs to function correctly.
2. Are there electromagnetic channels? If yes, you are in magnetic territory. The pull is real. Honor it, but ground it.
3. What is the composite Incarnation Cross? This is the purpose of the connection. The relationship is not a coincidence. It has a direction.
The composite chart does not replace individual analysis. It does not predict whether someone is "right" for you. What it does is reveal the energetic architecture of what exists between two people. Once you see the structure, you stop blaming yourself for the pull, the friction, or the depth. You start working with the bond as what it actually is: a living system with its own mechanics, its own lessons, and its own potential to be a complete expression in the world.
That is what a composite chart is for. Not judgment. Understanding.