A documented chronological account of the Human Design System’s organizational development — from
Ra Uru Hu’s first teaching in 1992 through the 2010 licensing transition.
Era 1 — The Founding Period (1987–1999)
Ra Uru Hu receives the transmission and begins teaching. The original Human Design System is
developed and transmitted without a formal institutional structure. The first analysts and
teachers are trained. The system arrives in America through Zeno Dickson and Chaitanyo Taschler.
This era ends with the break between Ra and his American school and the formation of Jovian
Archive.
January 1987
Ra Uru Hu (Alan Robert Krakower) receives the transmission of the Human Design System during
an eight-day experience in Ibiza, Spain. He describes encountering a “Voice” that dictated the
foundations of the system. In his own words, published by Jovian Archive:
“I was literally suspended, in a sense, within that environment, a very closed environment
where I did not eat, I did not sleep, and I did not take any liquids in for 8 days.”
— Ra Uru Hu, “The Voice,” Jovian Archive
Source: Ra Uru Hu, “The Voice,” Jovian Archive
(jovianarchive.com/blogs/human-design-history-legacy/the-voice, recorded date not specified,
published November 21, 2023).
February 1992
Ra’s first public lecture, Sant Miquel, Ibiza. The Rave I’Ching is published. A small Design
Network newsletter begins circulating in Germany and Austria.
Source: ZENO manuscript, Chapter Zero;
humandesignsystem.de/History.asp
1992
Ra begins public teaching of the Human Design System. Jürgen Saupe translates Ra’s foundational
text — the black book, “Das Human Design System” — into German, the first translation of HD
material into any language. Saupe founds New Sun Services as the European publishing and
distribution vehicle for Human Design materials. He holds the image rights to the Rave
BodyGraph from this point.
Source: humandesignsystem.de/History.asp;
humandesign.at/hds/entwicklung/; humandesignsystem.de/Nachruf_Saupe.asp
April 9, 1993
Martin Grassinger receives the first official Human Design analyst license globally. He has
been meeting with Ra privately on Ibiza since 1991 — before Human Design went public.
Source: martin-grassinger.com/en/about-me/
November 1993
Ra arrives in Taos, New Mexico, in November 1993. Zeno and Chaitanyo pay for his ticket;
Chaitanyo picks him up at Albuquerque airport. Ra stays for six weeks. After the first six-week
visit, Ra drafts a contract at the kitchen table and signs it in his own hand. The contract
names Zeno and Chaitanyo his exclusive U.S. representatives and establishes New Sun Services
America as the entity. The first American analysts are certified by end of 1993.
Source: Chaitanyo Taschler, humandesignsystem.com/about/;
ZENO manuscript, Chapter One
1994–1995
Martin Grassinger and Jürgen Saupe become the first two teachers offering complete Human Design
analyst training in the German-speaking countries. Ilse Sendler becomes a certified Human
Design analyst (1995).
Source: martin-grassinger.com/en/about-me/;
humandesignsystem.info
End of 1994
Ra conducts his first formal teachers training in Ibiza. Chaitanyo Taschler scores 198 out of
200 and is awarded a life-long teaching license by Ra. Zeno Dickson scores 199 out of 200.
Source: humandesignsystem.com/about/;
humandesignsystem.com/archive/newsletters/
January 1996
Ra’s first formal IHDS teachers training — San Juan Bautista, California. Ra later describes
this as the first generation of teachers in his 2005 address to the third generation. Named
participants include Martin Grassinger and Alokanand Díaz.
Source: Ra Uru Hu, 2005 Teachers Training Address
(transcript within IHDS curriculum).
1997
Chaitanyo Taschler builds the first Human Design website worldwide at humandesignsystem.com. Ra
introduces the Four Types framework with Strategy and Authority as absolutes. Zeno Dickson and
Chaitanyo Taschler’s alarm bells “went off loudly” — in Chaitanyo’s own words — because these
terms covered up the underlying mechanics and introduced rules for behavior that had not
previously been part of the transmission. This marks the beginning of the doctrinal split that
would be completed by the end of 2000.
Source: humandesignsystem.com/about/ (Chaitanyo Taschler,
About page, retrieved June 2026).
Spring 1998
Zeno Dickson and Chaitanyo Taschler complete The Course in Human Design — the only
comprehensive presentation of the system Ra had taught before the Four Types overlay. Chaitanyo
designs it himself, illustrates it in full color, covering definition types, centers, gates,
channels, planets, ephemeris calculation, and composite chart. Ra wants it for the
international curriculum without crediting Chaitanyo’s design work. Chaitanyo refuses. The
confrontation over the book accelerates the break.
Source: ZENO manuscript, Chapter Three; Chaitanyo Taschler,
humandesignsystem.com/about/
1999 — Jovian Archive Founded; Eleanor Haspel-Portner Commissioned
Jovian Archive founded by Ra Uru Hu and his family. Ra formally commissions Eleanor
Haspel-Portner Ph.D. and her husband Marvin Portner M.D. to validate the Human Design System
scientifically, working independently of the general Human Design community. Haspel-Portner
begins statistical research on 30,000 matched sample cases.
Source: jovianarchive.com/pages/about-jovian-archive;
bodygraphchart.com/reader/dr-eleanor-haspel-portner-ph-d/
Early 1999 — The Final Break with Ra
Zeno and Chaitanyo break with Ra. In early 1999 during their final confrontation Ra shouts at
them and runs out of the house, slamming the door. Neither Zeno nor Chaitanyo ever sees him
again. Ra establishes Jovian Archive Corporation in Sedona, Arizona, and begins what Chaitanyo
later describes as a systematic undermining of the people who had built his American school.
Source: Chaitanyo Taschler, humandesignsystem.com/about/;
ZENO manuscript, Chapter Three
Era 2 — The Institutional Era (2000–2010)
Ra formalizes the Human Design System’s educational and organizational infrastructure. The Human
Design Standards Board is formed. National organizations are established by contract. The IHDS
professional register is created. Ra continues teaching and developing advanced curriculum until
his final years. This era ends with the transfer of the IHDS to Lynda Bunnell in July 2010.
2000
The national organization network forms. In Ilse Sendler’s words, published 2017:
“In 2000, that group of supporting students was invited to establish national Human Design
organizations — Germany, UK, USA, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Austria. This is how the IHDS was
born — although slightly different, we are International Human Design Schools — SCHOOLS —
plural. Lynda didn’t even know where she was at that time.”
— Ilse Sendler, founding director of Human Design Austria, 2017 (source:
medium.com/humandesignhistory/human-design-ilse-sendler-85c50c16b158)
The structure established is a network of national schools, not a single centralized
institution. Zeno Dickson and Chaitanyo Taschler complete their departure from Ra’s
institutional structure by the end of 2000. Ra’s second generation teachers training is held
in Vienna — “the first with a universal principal” per Ra’s 2005 account. Ilse Sendler becomes
a certified Human Design teacher.
Source: Ilse Sendler, 2017 Facebook post
(medium.com/humandesignhistory/human-design-ilse-sendler-85c50c16b158);
humandesignsystem.com/archive/newsletters/
2001
Ilse Sendler becomes CEO of Human Design Austria. The domain ihdschool.com is not yet
registered — it will not be registered until June 16, 2010. Chaitanyo and Zeno’s
humandesignsystem.com is removed from the Jovian Archive national organizations listing, per
Internet Archive captures of jovianarchive.com/hdsblinks.html.
Source: humandesignsystem.info; web.archive.org (captures of
jovianarchive.com/hdsblinks.html, January 2001)
2000–2002
Eleanor Haspel-Portner and Ra co-author 13 books published by Rave Life Sciences under the
Monographs on Human Design and Health series. Her statistical research finds Human Design Type
holds up as a highly significant differentiating variable at far beyond the 99% confidence
level — the only statistically documented validation of any Human Design construct against a
general population sample. Her broader research across 30,000 matched sample cases leads her to
conclude the system is “incomplete, faulty, and disempowering” as a comprehensive system.
Source: humandesignsystem.de/news/RLS/prelim(1).htm;
southcarolinavoyager.com/interview/conversations-with-eleanor-haspel-portner/
July 13, 2002
Jürgen Saupe dies in Munich at approximately 11:30. Born May 3, 1940, Berlin. The bodygraph
image rights he held from 1992 pass to the Saupe family on his death — not to Jovian Archive.
Source: humandesignsystem.de/Nachruf_Saupe.asp
2002
Eleanor Haspel-Portner departs Ra’s organization. She subsequently develops Noble Sciences and
Beyond Human Design. Ilse Sendler becomes Head of German-speaking Human Design education
(Austria, Germany, Switzerland).
Source:
southcarolinavoyager.com/interview/conversations-with-eleanor-haspel-portner/;
humandesignsystem.info
July 25, 2003
Ra Uru Hu sends the “Misrepresentation” letter to every certified Human Design practitioner
worldwide. The letter names Zeno Dickson, Chaitanyo Taschler, and Eleanor Haspel-Portner, calls
their organizations fraudulent, and sets a September 1, 2003 deadline: practitioners publicly
listed with their organizations must disassociate or be removed from the IHDS professional
register. Most of the names Zeno and Chaitanyo had trained go with Ra. The letter refers to the
institution as “International Human Design Schools” — plural — the last significant
institutional document to do so.
Source: Ra Uru Hu, “Misrepresentation” letter, July 25, 2003
(preserved in Chaitanyo Taschler’s archive); ZENO manuscript, Chapter Four; see
/record Section 9
2005
Ra addresses the third generation of teachers. His stated goal for IHDS professional training:
“to create highly skilled professional analysts who can easily take their place in a global
professional class using a standard training method that allows for uniqueness in both
learning styles and analytic methods while simultaneously training all students to a uniform
quantifiable level of excellence.”
— Ra Uru Hu, 2005 Teachers Training Address (transcript within IHDS curriculum)
Source: Ra Uru Hu, 2005 Teachers Training Address
May 2008
Ra Uru Hu sends an email to Human Design professionals in which he writes: “The IHDS spent most
of its existence as me. In the last years this has begun to change and September mutates the
IHDS into you.” This statement, preserved in the Human Design Austria archive, establishes that
as of 2008 the IHDS did not exist as a separable organized institution — it was Ra’s teaching,
applied to a designation.
Source: Ra Uru Hu email, May 2008 (preserved in Human Design
Austria archive, ra.uru.hu/hd-background/); see /record Section 3
June 16, 2010
The domain ihdschool.com is registered. In the same year, per IHDS’s own published statement:
“according to Jovian Archive’s legal rights, the International Human Design School was licensed
to Lynda Bunnell, Director.” The network of International Human Design Schools — plural, as Ilse
Sendler documented — becomes a single centralized institution under a single director.
Source: WHOIS records; ihdschool.com/about-us (retrieved
June 2026)
July 2010
Ra Uru Hu asks Lynda Bunnell to take over the IHDS. Per Bunnell’s own written account preserved
in the Human Design Austria archive: “He asked me to take over the IHDS in July 2010 and gave me
the authority to continue his work and run these programs… He entrusted his school to me and
gave me complete authority.” The transfer is oral; no public written instrument has been
documented.
Source: Lynda Bunnell letter to Werner Lessmann, circa late
2015/early 2016, preserved at ra.uru.hu/hd-background/; see
/record Section 3
Summer 2010 — The Online License Crisis
Lynda Bunnell, in her new role as IHDS director, circulates a contract to all Human Design
professionals worldwide requiring payment of $500 per year as a precondition of conducting any
Human Design activity online — chart readings via Skype, webinar classes, email consultations.
Ilse Sendler organizes a coalition of national directors who write an open letter challenging
the legal basis of the “online rights” claim. Within hours of the open letter’s circulation,
Bunnell rescinds the fee requirement. Hours later, Ilse Sendler and Human Design Austria are
deleted from all IHDS records and professional listings — while their underlying contracts with
Jovian Archive remain in force. Jacqueline Riley, then President of Jovian, confirms in writing:
“your contract has not ended — that would mean your license was revoked, which is not the case.”
Source: Ilse Sendler, video testimony, YouTube (identifier
VlaZHtEVJZQ); Lynda Bunnell rescission letter, August 5, 2010 (preserved in Human Design Austria
archive); Jacqueline Riley correspondence, quoted in Sendler “Abschließende Erklärung”
(ra.uru.hu/hd-background/); see /record Sections 3 and
9
Era 4 — The Mainstream Era (2020–present)
Zeno Dickson dies in March 2020. The Florence court rules in June 2020 that no copyright subsists
over the Human Design System as a set of ideas and methods. During COVID-19 lockdowns, Human
Design spreads rapidly through TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, reaching audiences of millions
outside institutional control. The system enters the mainstream cultural conversation. The
archive’s own launch in June 2026 is documented here as an institutional record.
March 25, 2020
Zeno Dickson (Karen Cox) dies in Taos, New Mexico, aged sixty-seven. She had been teaching from
a wheelchair since at least 2013, recording classes via video as her hands became too unsteady
for keyboard work. She taught the original mechanics of Human Design without interpretive
overlay until the end. Her teaching archive remains publicly accessible at humandesignsystem.com.
Source: ZENO manuscript, Chronology; humandesignsystem.com
June 3, 2020
The Tribunale di Firenze (Florence Civil Court, Italy) issues its ruling in case R.G.
2756/2020: no copyright subsists over the Human Design System as a set of ideas and methods.
The ideas and methods of the Human Design System are freely discussable.
Source: MCHA.nl, “Human Design Goes to Court,” July 20, 2020
(mcha.nl/2020/07/20/human-design-goes-to-court/)
2021
Richard Rudd republishes his Human Design period books — Human Design: The Revelation and Human
Design: Circuitry — through Gene Keys Publishing, after years out of print. These are the first
major republications of founding-era Human Design teaching materials by a Gen 1 teacher
operating independently of the IHDS.
Source: Gene Keys Publishing; see
/teachers/richard-rudd and /books.
2022
Jovian Archive Media Pte. Ltd. files a USPTO trademark application for the word mark “The Human
Design System.” The application is subsequently abandoned. This is the second failed attempt to
register “The Human Design System” as a trademark — the first was filed in 2004, also abandoned.
Source: USPTO records; see
/record Section 1.
2023 — June 11
John Martin, founder of Human Design Hawaii and co-developer of the Tonal Cognition framework
with Theresa Blanding, dies. He had been removed from the IHDS professional register following
the publication of the Tonal Cognition video series in September 2020. His teaching archive
remains publicly accessible at humandesignhawaii.com.
Source: humandesignhawaii.com; see
/teachers/john-martin and /erasure.
2023 — October
A second USPTO trademark application for “The Human Design System” (serial number 98217560) is
filed by Jovian Archive Media Pte. Ltd. It is subsequently abandoned.
Source: USPTO records (serial 98217560; TSDR); see
/record Section 1.
2024
The 2019 Rave Mandala composite mark registration is cancelled for failure to file a
continued-use declaration. Jovian Archive and IHDS-affiliated websites continue to describe the
Rave Mandala™ as a “registered trademark” following cancellation.
Two new USPTO trademark applications are filed by Jovian Archive Media Pte. Ltd.: MyBodyGraph
(word mark) and Jovian Archive Human Design (composite mark). Both applications disclaim
exclusive rights to the words “Human Design.” Both are confirmed as live registrations as of
June 2026.
Source: USPTO records; see
/record Section 1.
2025 — Eleanor Haspel-Portner Republishes Research
Eleanor Haspel-Portner, Ph.D. republishes her research through Noble Sciences, LLC under two
titles: The Science of Human Design: 30,000 Statistical Cases, 15,000 Clinical Cases, One Proven
Map of Your Soul and Human Design and Health: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Basics (with Ra Uru
Hu and Marvin Portner M.D.). Both books include the original 1999 research paper co-authored
with Ra Uru Hu, Marvin Portner M.D., Erik Memmert, and Charles Haspel as foundational content.
This is the first major publication of the Rave Life Sciences research findings since the
original 1999–2002 research program. See
/teachers/eleanor-haspel-portner.
Source: Noble Sciences, LLC; see
/sources Section 4 and /books.
2026 — June
The Science of Differentiation archive (thescienceofdifferentiation.com) launches as an
independent institutional archive documenting the founding history of the Human Design System —
its lineage, trademark record, corporate structure, and the teachers who built it. The archive
is not affiliated with Jovian Archive, the IHDS, or any licensed Human Design organization.