Episode 1: The Journey Begins—Our Paths to HD and Liberation

HDxLiberation Episode 1: The Journey Begins—Our Paths to HDxLiberation

Hosts: Andrea Ward Berg and Courtney Napier

Episode Overview:

In the premiere episode of the Human Design and Liberation podcast, Andrea and Courtney share their personal journeys to human design and the conception of this unique podcast. They explore the intersection of human design, liberation theology, and their own experiences, setting the stage for a series dedicated to exploring how these powerful tools can support personal and collective liberation.

Key Highlights:

• Introduction: The hosts introduce the podcast's mission to explore human design and liberation theology, aiming to share insights that support listeners on their paths to liberation.

• Andrea's Spleenic Decision: Andrea shares how a sudden spleenic intuition led her to embrace the idea of starting the podcast, highlighting the unpredictable yet profound guidance of human design in her life.

• Courtney's Generator Journey: Courtney discusses her long-standing desire to start a podcast and how her sacral response and generator strategy guided her to wait for the right collaboration, leading her to partner with Andrea.

• Understanding Sacral Responses: The episode delves into the concept of sacral responses, especially for generators, emphasizing the importance of following inner guidance and waiting for the right opportunities.

• The Significance of HDxLiberation: Andrea and Courtney discuss the HDxLiberation concept as more than just a course, envisioning the podcast as a dynamic platform for exploring deeper themes of human design and liberation.

• Acknowledging the Struggle for Liberation: The hosts recognize the challenges and struggles inherent in pursuing liberation, both personally and collectively, stressing the importance of dismantling oppressive systems and reclaiming personal power.

• What to Expect from the Podcast: They outline the podcast's structure, including interviews with thought leaders, discussions on human design and liberation, and the creation of a community for shared exploration and support.

• Gratitude for Connections: The episode concludes with gratitude for the connections that brought Andrea and Courtney together, particularly their mutual acquaintance through Rebecca Borucki, and excitement for the journey ahead.

Closing Thoughts:

This introductory episode sets a profound and inspiring tone for the HDxLiberation podcast, inviting listeners into a journey of self-discovery, empowerment, and collective transformation. Andrea and Courtney's open and heartfelt sharing offers a glimpse into the powerful intersections of human design and liberation work, promising a series filled with deep insights, transformative discussions, and a strong sense of community.

Next Steps:

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the podcast, reflect on their own journeys with human d

Contact and Support:

For more insights and to join the conversation, follow the HDxLiberation podcast on social media at @hdxliberation on Instagram, subscribe to their YouTube channel, and join the Liberation Lab on Substack for exclusive content and community benefits.

Transcript

0:01

Hi, I'm Andrea. Hey y'all, this is Courtney and welcome to the Human Design and Liberation podcast. This is a space where we explore how human design and liberation theology intersect with the past, present, and future. With the intent of sharing the beauty and pain of the human experience to encourage you in your liberation journey.

Andrea Ward Berg: 0:23

so it's funny because we have like very different storylines that in HD liberation mine is short, like my storyline is short. Like I thought there's no way I'm doing a podcast until I got a spleenic hit. The weekend after we did our Instagram live, that was like podcasts and I was like, what? So that's my

Courtney Napier: 0:48

story. That's how you got here. You're like, avoid never, Oh, now. Okay.

Andrea Ward Berg: 0:57

Typical spleen fashion. I know yours was longer. So I'm, curious how yours. How yours transpired.

Courtney Napier: 1:06

I love how this, definitely is like, you're a generator when you're a projector when, you're a generator when, you've been dreaming about doing a podcast for a long time and you tried to start podcasts in the past yourself. You've tried to go to the classes and do the things, but it just never felt right. And I had a whole, I had a whole like plan for a podcast and maybe one day I'll get there. I'm thinking like a lot of the things I plan to do like on my own, that'll happen like on my third like my role model phase, like after 50, I'll have all the things. But I was like, there's so many people I want to talk to and I just didn't want to do it by myself. I just was like, I don't want to initiate this, I don't want to like. Carry this thing just because I whatever. And so I had to put it, I've had to let it rest. I had to really get to a place where I'm just like, okay, this, I know this will happen because it's something I want to do. This is what I've learned so far from my design. I know this will happen because it's something I really want, but I'm just waiting for the. Moment to be able to respond to the thing. That's going to make the way for me almost where's the way to

Andrea Ward Berg: 2:34

be made energy be. Yeah. I love this example of you and your sacral authority because. You were feeling a sacral response to a podcast, right? Like you were feeling a response to a podcast, but when you felt into, is this mine to do in this way by myself? There wasn't. Yes, exactly. And that's such a great example of the dilemma for sacral generators, because you get sacral responses to. Everything that needs to be in existence, right? But everything that needs to be in existence is yours to bring into existence. And the

Courtney Napier: 3:17

reason why, and this is why I love and it's funny cause of course this is happening. Like I'm hearing you, I'm sharing energy with you. I'm getting clarity because I'm in the aura of a projector, but and then this container. And it really does the thing about a generator thing about me is that whatever I do, I go all out like it is, I was just talking about this with Dave, my husband, whatever it is, I'm a part of, I am like 150 percent like invested pouring so much into it. Yeah. And so I've gotten to a place in my journey to where I, can. I know that's the case. And so when it came time to I'm having this sacro response to a, podcast, like subtext this conversation, like you said, I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh, I am, I don't know if I got it for this. Like you said, the energy. I don't, have it for this. I'm going to go all out and I don't have the container, the capacity to go all out for this right now. Okay. So then you mentioned in our conversation that we have, a beautiful, like time every week where we just get together and just like nerd out and, connect and, be human design sisters in this world. And you're like podcasts.

Andrea Ward Berg: 4:46

And

Courtney Napier: 4:50

I was A response, I literally just

Andrea Ward Berg: 5:01

had this with another client, like I was walking by and I was like, Hey, I just wanna get your, I wanna see if you have a sacred response to this. We're talking about doing a retreat in January, and she was like, what day? I'm putting it on my calendar right now. I was like, okay.

Courtney Napier: 5:13

Thank you. That's the sacral response I was looking for. We should start to take Jack Russell response, maybe Jack Russell Terrier response. That's a happy generator. That's a good one. That is a yes. The energy is there for that. Yeah.

Andrea Ward Berg: 5:30

Yeah. Oh, I love it. I

Courtney Napier: 5:31

love it. So that was my journey. That was my journey to. To the HG liberation podcast. I think the other side of it, someone with a undefined ajna is that I am constantly putting a lot of different pieces together. So that was one of the struggles. It's like, how do I(and having a triple split) how do I like categorize the thing that I want to bring into the world? Because it's it touches so many things that I know connect. Yeah, but in the world, because of the way that we segment the way that we isolate, subjects and subject matter, I was really struggling with, like, where does this go? How does this work? And honestly, like the Asia liberation concept as a concept, I responded to immediately because. That's how I see it. And that's how I see these pieces. It was like, Oh, that's it. That's how these pieces fit together. Yeah, if you don't already know, like Andrea also bridges my splits and definitely like from from this, like creative. Analytical, like philosophical perspective. We are like peas in a pod and it's so rare to find for me, at least in this moment. So I'm rare for me

Andrea Ward Berg: 6:54

too. You bridge my slit you're triple. So that's, harder to do then. I'm just a single split, but you bridge my split and, we're both six lines. So there's just like a natural affinity there. And yeah it's interesting because the HD and liberation concept first came in as a course, like really that's, that was what it presented itself as an opportunity to dive deeper into the intersection of human design as a tool for liberation which is a lot of where my work has been over the last three or four years since pivoting my business a hundred percent to human design. And, as we were talking about doing the podcast and when you said, let's call it HD and liberation. I was like. Oh, like this is not a course. This is so much more than a course. Right there, Wow. So I just, I dunno, I felt like expansiveness and I felt yeah, it wants to be its own thing. It wants to be its own sentient being, and we get to shepherd it. And that feels like such a, it feels like such an honor. I feel really humbled by it. It's exciting. It's exciting. So I'm grateful that you got that splenic hit and, yeah, here we are. Here we

Courtney Napier: 8:38

are. Here we are. And I would say I just also want to acknowledge and also maybe honor have gratitude for the fact of the fight that it took to get here. There was also like quite a bit of and I want to say this because, to really dispel this idea that human design, or even like the struggle for liberation or anything like that is Anything besides a struggle because it is, because we are dealing with systems, these old seven center systems that are intended to be obstructive to our self realization, our actualization as humans. And so there was like a journey that each of us had to go through to get here and bring this into the world and, part of our, a lot of our conversations, a lot of our conversations are going to have are going to honor that just like what I so appreciate about Ra and his lectures and how he chose to contextualize his work. Is to talk a lot about the Not-Self, talk a lot about conditioning, talk a lot about the seven centered, way and how obstructed all that conditioning is create such resistance for us to realize ourselves and realize our, realize. Where we're going and how we can bring the things that we are supposed to bring into the world yeah to the collective and like how that, how just obstructive it is in that. So I just want to name like, we see you and all this stuff.

Andrea Ward Berg: 10:32

Yeah. I think we need to name it and normalize it. I think we're probably going to end up having to do a whole episode on this, but One of the concepts that Ra talks about is. That you only get out of the Maya what you put in and as you're talking, I'm just getting this visualization of how much energy has been put into systems of oppression for thousands of years. Oh, yeah, that's so much energy has been put into systems of oppression. And so when we're looking at how to tear these systems down, how to make space for individuality, which is what we're moving into with 2027. Everything that's coming. We need to put in I'm chilling head to toe. We need to put in enough energy to disrupt the energy that's been put into the systems of oppression. And so what does that look like? It doesn't look like, rainbows and butterflies. It just doesn't like it looks like big ass bonfires. It looks like purging. It looks like, tearing things down. It looks like getting torn down in the process and having to rebuild yourself because our. Our bodies, our cells were literally formed under different ideas, oppressive ideas. And so until there's a cellular rebirth under liberatory ideas, there's not going to be able to be space for integration. You're not going to be able to embody the concepts and that just takes time. There's just no other way. It just takes time. And I think looking at even, and we'll get into this in the, interview episodes around our liberation stories, but, just whoever is listening, I just, I want you to have compassion for yourself and I want you to acknowledge yourself for getting to whatever point you needed to get to, where you found this podcast, because that shows us what journey you're on and to know that even if you aren't where you want to be right now. You were heading that way and you can trust your signature. You can trust satisfaction, success, peace, surprise to guide you to continue to guide you in that direction without needing affirmation or confirmation externally. I think that's one of the biggest gifts of human design is getting that internal confirmation through the way that your energy type works,

Courtney Napier: 13:28

right? Yes, and I also that's so good. What it brought up for me is, like, when you were talking about the energy that it took to build 7th Center, the 7th Centered Way, one thing that came to mind was that our, Energy was forced into the process. Absolutely. I, think we, this podcast, our philosophies are also grounded in liberation, theology, liberation theory, critical theory and all of those things. And so we are centering these non. White non European, methodologies for understanding our society. And one thing that's. imperative in that is to understand power dynamic, to understand the flow of energy in an imperial or colonized space, which is, rerouting. It's like rerouting a river it's like a dam. That's how it affects society and those marginalized and oppressed in the societies. It takes our energy. And it reroutes it, it steals it for the purposes of empire. And so just the fact that you're here, you're reclaiming your energy, you're reclaiming your identity from the conditioning that you've experienced, you're differentiating yourself and rejecting the homogenization. Which occurs in our society because I need you to be predictable so you can be useful. And so you're choosing against those things. And that is in and of itself, taking your literally taking your power back, literally like removing your power from this damned imperialism and that is definitely worth honoring. Yeah.

Andrea Ward Berg: 15:30

It's worth honoring and it's exciting because it creates such a different possibility for. Experiencing life being on the ride. Yeah, as Ra would say, okay. I love this. Let's talk a little bit about what you can expect from these episodes. And it's gonna. It is its own thing, so we're not exactly a hundred percent sure, but we have some ideas and we're going to let it take its own form. But we are going to have some interviews with. Different thought leaders that we know and love, and we can't wait for you to meet them. We're going to have some episodes where we jam on certain subjects at this intersection of human design and liberation. And there's going to be other ways to engage, to meet each other, to be in community and conversation. And all of that is just going to grow as we grow because. Even just answering this call where we had to go through a lot to get through to get to this point. Myself like literally had to move homes, had to go through, Stomach flu had to, yeah, like craziness, it's been wild. It's been wild. Navigating my Uranus opposition, good times that I am smack in the middle of right now. It's actually perfected the second time on Monday, like four days ago on the new moon, which was also opposing Uranus. Jeez.

Courtney Napier: 17:38

Yeah. Good times. Yeah. Andrea, it's almost like you are going to Be like ushering in a new world or something and you have to go through all the things to Be ready for that projector role something

Andrea Ward Berg: 17:54

For sure something is something reorganization Yeah, and I know you've been through a lot too.

Courtney Napier: 18:02

Yeah, just like work

Andrea Ward Berg: 18:06

Totally remapping your work landscape.

Courtney Napier: 18:09

Yes. I say that so passively and I appreciate you stopping me because I'm a generator. So work means a lot in my life. And the way, honestly, just the way that I, what it was really confronting as a way I use my energy and where and I and. As I said earlier that when I commit to a work when I commit to being a part of bringing something into the world, I am 100 percent fully in, I, and it's not a, it's not a contest to me. I'm not in any way comparing myself to anybody else ever. And I think this is why I was so unconscious. Yeah, to this reality for so long because it's not about anybody else. I'm not trying to outpace or whatever. When I'm a part of something, it's just, I want it to be perfect. I want it to be, I want all the right words. I'm a writer. So I want. Every word to be like the best possible word for the concept to, and I also wanted to be true to myself. Yeah. Yeah. The best expression for the subject as

Andrea Ward Berg: 19:21

a writer. Yeah. But you're also a six line. So you're a pure generator, a sacral generator, and also a four, six. And we're, the next episodes are going to go deep into each of our designs so that Our listeners can really understand more about the different perspectives that we have. But I feel like this is just such an important, it's such an important learning for Pure generators because it is hard for you to change direction. Once you commit your yes and Ra talks about that a lot. And that's the reason why authority is so powerful it's so powerful for you to have that relationship with your sacral authority or your emotional authority and really wait for the yes from your authority before you commit that energy, because otherwise the likelihood of you being stuck with something that you don't want to do anymore is high. So yes,

Courtney Napier: 20:31

it's so true. And it's funny because the other thing too was like, I knew it really quickly. And I've seen, as I was, talking again to my, spouse about this. I know it Really quickly when something's not right. My sacral, sacrals are not but the thing about it is because they're not connected to any type of like societal rationale it's not common sense what's happening in the sacral. It is very specific. It is very individualized. It is very spiritual, like soul level. It's not, it's like in many ways, not of this world. It's not bound by time or society or norms or anything of that nature. And so that signal goes off and I'm like, it's like that zap that energy sap that like. And about what you're doing and that, honestly, and I'm bringing this in as a black woman, as someone who has a queer woman, as someone who has dealt with poverty for like childhood poverty, and, also a lot of messaging around, what voices are trustworthy and what voices aren't in my body, particularly being Yeah, untrustworthy, unpleasant unrighteous voice, not just a neutral voice, but a negative one. Yeah. There is a lot to work through around trusting that voice that I, the authority that I've been given and literally that voice is the, I don't give a fuck voice it's I don't give a fuck what the norms are, what this person says, what your bank account looks like. I don't give a fuck. This is good or bad. Period. And that is, that's a journey. And it was, a journey. The language and understand that I'm not here to make sense that sense follows me. But what's right for my life follows me. It's not, vice versa, like no one, so it's, yeah,

Andrea Ward Berg: 22:44

that, that validation or that that knowing is not going to come from the outside. Yeah, And I literally was just talking to another sacred generator about this yesterday because, it's been hundreds of years that, that in some cases, for those with indigenous European ancestors, it's been thousands for those, indigenous enslaved African ancestors. It's been many hundreds. So all of us, we all have a lot of work to do around this. And it's layers. The beautiful thing is just these magical plants that they're finding that they thought were extinct and there were seeds that were, Preserved in different places, like the life force comes back and the life force that quickly, right? And so that's the part that we can lean into and trust and, and invest in the process is just so worth investing in the process.

Courtney Napier: 24:03

Absolutely. Yeah. You were worth the work.

Andrea Ward Berg: 24:05

We are. Life is

Courtney Napier: 24:08

worth the work. It is. It is. Oh, this is so good. Ah, this is so,

Andrea Ward Berg: 24:15

good. So good. Okay. I think, this is good for our origin story. Is there anything else that you feel like we should include?

Courtney Napier: 24:25

No. Oh, only that we met through, we met on. IG through an amazing person that I do want to name because they're amazing and we love them. Yeah. But Rebecca Borucki founder of Row House publishing at like a phenomenal person, phenomenal human, who's doing some amazing work around publishing and uplifting minoritized voices and minoritized subjects now, cause that's a thing. Yep. And, and just. Yeah, just beautiful. And we love her so much. We love them tons.

Andrea Ward Berg: 25:02

Yes. We're so grateful that they have created the little corner of the internet that they have and, to be a part. To be a part of that mission. And that, that mission brought us together because yes, that was wild. Like I commented on one of your comments and then you saw that I was in human design and you're like, wait a minute, Jack Russell response.

Courtney Napier: 25:31

Honestly, it was, and we'll go into this more, but honestly, yes, you were in human design, which was exciting. But then I like. I think it was a comment itself. It was something related to white supremacy or anti black racism. And you were like, hell yes, like this stuff sucks. And I'm like, okay, cool. And then I clicked the cheer in human design. And I'm like, oh, shit. And then I'm reading your posts. And that's like the Jack Russell response was just like, I got to get in the DMs. I got to get in the DMs. We got to connect. It's that was, Like cherished, moment. Yeah,

Andrea Ward Berg: 26:05

so beautiful. And yeah, that was almost two years ago now. So, many wild and fun things have happened over that time. So many, stories to share. I love it. I love it so much. To everyone listening, thank you. Thank you for being here and, yeah, some more fun coming your way, more episodes to come. Yes.

Courtney Napier: 26:36

Stay tuned. That's my NPR place, but people call it NPR, not NPR. Oh my God. I love

Andrea Ward Berg: 26:45

that so much. Yeah.

Courtney Napier: 26:48

Thank you so much for tuning into HD and Liberation podcast. We hope you've gained valuable insights into human design and its role in building a life of peace, success, satisfaction, and wonder. If you've enjoyed this episode, please show your support by liking, following, and sharing our podcast. on YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. Your engagement helps us reach more people who can benefit from this wisdom. For exclusive content and to join our thriving community, consider becoming a Patreon member. Your support allows us to continue exploring the depths of human design and its potential for life and community transformation. Stay tuned for more fun, thoughtful, and impacting discussions. Together, we're unlocking the path to a more liberated and authentic life. Thank you for being a part of HD and Liberation Podcast.