Episode 473:


Hello and welcome to Unshakeable with Human Design. I’m your host, Nicole Laino, and I am so happy to be here with you. We’re actually talking about a topic that I have wanted to talk about on this show for a long time, and I don’t think we ever have. If we did, it was a really long time ago. I didn’t go back to look, but I was just like, I want to talk about this. And I don’t think we’ve talked about it. And if we didn’t go this deep. And it was a really long time ago. 

So this is very fresh. I’m so excited. I love talking about new stuff because this is actually something I think about all the time. I am always so conscious of this and I feel like this is one of those things in human design people don’t talk about that much. And the reason for that is this is a very advanced aspect of human design. It’s not something taught in a lot of programs. People don’t really understand it. There’s not a ton of information out there about it. Even you would get more into this in, like, BG5, which is the traditional human design business program. You would get more into that there. But it’s fascinating topic. So before we get started, I do want to let you know that we have a really cool guide. 

So if you’re into human design at this level, if you’re like, I’m interested in these, like, group energy dynamics because we’re going to talk about the penta and the wa. That’s so exciting. If you’re interested in this, if you’re like a human design enthusiast to this level, then maybe you’ve thought about using human design or maybe you already do in your life or in your coaching, whatever it is. We have made a coach’s guide to Human Design, which is totally free that you can download if you go to nicolelaino.com/coach or you DM me the word “COACH”on Instagram. I’m @nicolelainoofficial and you can get the guide right there. But you should read that. That is kind of like my spin on. Because there’s a difference between knowing what human design is and actually knowing how to use it. 

To download a copy of Nicole’s Free Guide – The Coaches Guide to Human Design DM her “COACH” on Instagram or go to nicolelaino.com/COACH 

And guide people with it. And that’s what that guide is really, you know, making the distinction between. And we actually give you my frameworks and the ways that I think about guiding the five different types. So we gave it to you at the type level. And then there’s a lot about, like, how this really shows up, what the differences are, you know, more of the philosophical stuff in there. So it’s a hefty guide and it’s super valuable and it’s free. So, like, why don’t you give it a shot, right? If you’re interested in it, go see what’s in there, check it out. I promise you, I don’t make crap. All of my stuff is very good. That’s the feedback we get. But let’s talk about this. 

So what we’re talking about today is we are talking about two concepts in human design are that are called the penta and the wa. So what are these things? So this is really about, at the core, what these two things are a part of. I’ll tell you what each one means and we’ll talk about how they show up and all of that fun stuff. This is group energy dynamics. So you don’t have a penta, you don’t have a wa, I don’t have a penta, I don’t have a wah. These are for groups. This is when more than two people come together. And I’ll talk about the distinctions between these. And, you know, this is gonna be kind of like an intro into what these things are and how they work and how we see them working. 

And I promise you’ll, like, never see the world the same after you start understanding what penta and wa are. So the group energy dynamics change and shape our lives in truly, like, unconscious ways. Because you think you are who you are. You think you know yourself. And if you’re into human design, then you probably really think you know yourself and you know your process and you have all of these truths, right? But you are different in every group. Take a moment to think about that. Take a moment to think about how when you are around a certain group of three people, how different you are. Think about how you’re different when you go to, like, a concert or you go to a protest, which there are lots of those these days, or you go to a big conference, maybe in your industry. 

How are you different there? Do you get bigger or do you get smaller? Do you feel like people see you more when you’re in a group or less? Do you feel the same? Maybe you do but you are different. So group energy dynamics start to answer. They are at the heart of the answer to questions like why do some people feel powerful or more clear in a group than they do one to one. Like, why do some people come alive when they are in like a little team? Right. Why do some people have an unexpected lanable hold on a large group versus others? Why do some people have that? Why do some people just have that? And we’ll use the term magnetism. 

Why is it some people, you can’t take your eyes off of them, you can’t stop listening to them, you are really called in or pulled into their energy when they’re operating in a certain way with a certain group. Group energy dynamics, the penta and the wa are at the heart of the answers of all of these questions. Any question like that. So in this episode I’m going to break down what the penta and the wa are and we’re going to talk about this from like a bigger, grander scale. How this is working and why it’s so important and why human design is so important, why we bang on about things like 2027 and what individuality is going to mean and how the world is changing. This is at the core of all of it. 

Okay, so let’s start with the penta, because this is a bit easier to understand. So family dynamics are really at the heart of the penta. Penta happens whenever three to five people come together. Now if you have a party and there are 20 people at the party, that party you will notice. Now that you know this, when you walk into any party, you’re going to start to see. You’ll see groups of three, you’ll see groups of four, you might see a group of five. You won’t see like groups of six. They’ll start to pair off, they’ll start to. You’ll see one to ones that still exists, right? We still have one to one connection, but that is still you and somebody else. There isn’t this group dynamic thing that’s happening yet. 

It happens when three to five people come together and that creates kind of this like little energy vortex between all of the people. And it really depends on who’s in that group. That changes the group dynamic. You will feel different. It’s not going to be every group of three to five people, although there are some people who are penta people. And if you’re a penta person, then in groups of three to five people, you might stand out more so than people who are not penta people like My husband is not a penta person. Doesn’t have any penta energy, really. He has lots of individual energy. And the penta is about team. Whether it’s a family team that is striving for success within their family and for the family to thrive and all those things, or it is a team at work. 

He’s not really that person. He’s like the dude that’s like, I do my own thing, thanks. Like, I don’t really need to be part of the group. And you’ll always see him kind of like he’s like one to one with somebody, or he’s like, I’m out. And he’ll go find a way to be by himself. And he’s a projector. So we’ve got double here. He’s got his projector energy, which focuses an individual more easily than it focuses on a group. And then he’s not a penta person. So it’s like not into this whole group thing. I’m a penta person. I have a strong presence in a penta. And knowing that and looking back on my life, why, whenever I worked in companies, like I had just this strong presence, I just rose very quickly to being a core member of a team. 

Not because I tried, not because, like, that was a goal for me. It just naturally happened. My energy gets recognized in that type of situation and then now pair that with the other aspects of my design and who I am as a person. Virgo and Saturn in virgo in my 10th house. Yeah, I show up at work a pretty disciplined, hard worker. So like, all of that to say, like, there’s a human element on top of this, but it’s also, you show up and you shine more easily in these type of dynamics. So the penta has a goal, but it’s a goal as a group. It’s a goal for that team, for that family to succeed, to thrive. And it works together. The energy pulls together like a little vortex in order to make that happen. 

So pentas can be complete or they can be incomplete. When they’re incomplete, we end up getting a group that might have a lot of fun together, but they might not necessarily be moving forward and succeeding to the level that they want to, they might have more of a struggle. But when we have a complete penta, where all of the energies within the pentasphere and penta centers around the G center and the columns between the channels, between the sacral to the G center and the G center to the throat center, if you don’t have any channels in there. If you have an open G center, you might not be a penta person. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be successful. 

It just means that if you found that you were a little bit more muted in those settings where maybe you worked with a group of three to five people, maybe you worked on a team and you’re just like, yeah, no one ever really saw me there, or I worked really hard, but like I didn’t rise like some of the other people, or I had to work really hard to do it, or it never really felt like the right place for me. Then that could be more to do with your energy dynamic than it has to do with the work that you put out. Who you are, how much you liked those people. Or you might have had fun there, but not really felt like it. It was like your contribution was recognized the way maybe that other people’s was. 

So this is how penta works. But it has a job as a group. What are we doing? Not what am I doing? And if you’re not a penta person, then you might be more of an I person. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t show up in some sort of other group dynamic. Remember, we have another one that we are going to talk about. Okay, now there is another type of energy dynamic called the wah. Wah is when we get 16 people or more. So you might say what happens between six and six between that going beyond the penta at the six person to 16? Well, they’re just lots of pentas. Then if you have a group of all of those people, they’re going to break up into little pentas. And that’s how it always works. 

But a wa is like, this is where we’re talking about herd mentality, group. Think what happens and what’s at the heart of particularly this one. The wa has a different mission. The wa is to kind of. It’s like a takeover mechanism. It is tribes. It is Republicans and Democrats. Those are WAHs. MAGA is a WA. When you go to a concert, I’m a big concert fan. That’s a wah. The group that’s standing there now, that’s a wah. Now I’m. For those of you who listen to the show you might have heard me talk about. I’m. I’ve been a lifelong fan of the band YouTube. That has been my favorite band since I was like 8 years old and I love them dearly. There is a whole community of you two lovers out there. I’m in Facebook groups for it. 

My sister in law is a big Fish fan. Like, that’s even crazier. That’s a wa, right? And the way that a WA works is that when you come together, when I go to a YouTube show, I am not me. My worries go away. Like, that is a high vibe WA for me. So when I walk into and my husband always jokes, he’s like, this is your happy place. Like, you turn into a different person when you are here. I love going to concerts. My husband and I went to see Radiohead in Copenhagen, which was amazing. And we do this type of stuff. Like I’ll fly eight hours to go see a two hour show. If it’s that good. I love them. 

But there’s something that U2 does to me, something that Radiohead does to me, that is different than just going to see another show. So when I walk in there, he’s like, yeah, you are like, I’m bouncing off the walls, I’m jumping up and down. I am screaming and laughing and singing. And it’s like the greatest thing. And I’m high off of the energy because there is an energy dynamic happening in that arena, in that stadium or whatever it is that we are in, right? So that WA exists. How does the WA get turned? It’s the front man, it’s the band, it is the leader. That’s the most important thing in the wa. Because the WA doesn’t think. I’m not thinking when I’m at that concert. I’m just there and I’m kind of going with everything, right? This is where the group thing comes in. 

So when we’re all high on that energy, we’re not thinking. WA’s don’t have thoughts. It doesn’t have the head center involved. It doesn’t have the AJNA center involved. It has very different energy. And the way that WAZ work, the way that energy dynamics work in this big group think crowd dynamics is very different. So it’s about the leader. When I studied this in one of my human design certifications, this one was more geared toward business. When we studied this, they made us read a book called the Crowd, which was written in 1929 by a German man. And that book talked about how to control crowds, how to lead movements. And I’m fairly convinced that every political strategist, certainly in the right wing movement has read this book. And I say that because they’re very good at controlling crowds. 

Democrats are not great at controlling crowds. We’re not great at starting movements. They’re not great at galvanizing a group. And herding them toward anything. However, the right wing is very good at that. They are very good at messaging. They are very good. I’ve always said that they study marketing, not politics. And that is how you win elections, and that is how you win over crowds. And the way that they do that. So thesis that we all came to, so what they did was they gave us this book to read, and as were learning penta and wa, and they said we had a group discussion on it. And most people came to it and they were like, you know, what do you think? And people were just like, you know, we’re fucked. Like, we’re in trouble because it’s so easy to control people. 

And this is where we’re getting to the 2027 change and why human design is so important, why it is so important. I can hear Ra in my head from all the times I’ve heard him say, in 2027, it’s going to be so important that you have human design because you’re going to have to learn and know how to make decisions as yourself. Because. And really at the heart of it was the wa, and he hated the wa. Like, there’s nothing we can do about it. We will never change this. This is just something that happens when people come together. We can’t change it. 

So my own thesis on this, after commiserating with everybody in my group who was saying we’re all doomed, because it’s about when you can mute the mind and you harness energy and you harness anger, which is really what, you know, was. Can be used for good or for bad. And so my own personal thesis on this was, yes, we have to make decisions for ourselves. And the leaders matter more than anything because it’s the leader that becomes the mind, that becomes the head that tells everybody what to believe. And when you are part of that tribalism, when you are part of that group energy dynamic, that group think, your mind is quiet in there. Suddenly you stop having your own thoughts. 

You start adopting the ones that were given to you because what they’ve done is a good functioning wa and is harnessing your energy, is harnessing your emotions, is shifting your emotions to an emotional and an ego place. And if you can make people angry, which was sort of thesis of this crowd book was, if you can make people angry and you can control the emotion, then you can turn them wherever you want. So some people were like, we’re doomed. We’re, there’s no surviving this. This is the end. But of course, this book was written in 1929 prior to the Nazis. But it’s or right during Nazi movement. The Nazis were certainly a wa with a dangerous figurehead. Now is Bono a dangerous figurehead when he’s standing on a stage singing to us? No, not all wahs are bad. 

It’s who’s at the helm and what are they telling everybody to believe, do or feel. That is the key. If you’re not making decisions as yourself, then you are more susceptible to these energy dynamics because they’re happening and we don’t know it. We’ve been a part of wahs and pentas and all of these things since the beginning of our days. We always have. We were dropped into one instantly. When you had a family, you were in appendix. Now I look at like, if you look at that, maybe you had a family of four kids. So if there’s two parents and four kids, then that’s six. So you’ll notice that in a family like that, there might be one person that trails off where there’s five people in the room. 

Or they might pair off where there’s like a parent with one child and the other parent is kind of with the others. It’s never all six of them engaged together necessarily, unless they’re like trapped in a car. And even if that’s the case, there’s probably one person at least that’s not engaged with the group. They naturally do these things. Go watch it. Go observe this in your own life. But there are certain people. So just like there are penta people, there are WA people. There are people who show up very strongly in large groups in big organizations. So I look at my time in corporate wa, I was very much a believer and I loved my company. And I showed up to work so early every day. I worked 12 hour shifts. 

And I showed up and I muscled for it and I hustled for it. And I believed in the mission and I had the whole thing going till I didn’t. Until I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to break in order for that to happen. But that was exactly a WA energy dynamic. I got swept up in being a Goldman Sachs employee. I was very into it for quite some time. I was like, this is the greatest. I was proud to have my badge walking in the building. Brand new building was so cool and like I was totally in it. I believed good people worked there, and they did. I worked with really amazing people. It ran me into the ground, which is what jobs like that do. But I have honestly mostly nothing but good things to say about that company. 

And the way that I was treated there. And it wasn’t perfect, but it was a great experience. And truly some of the most amazing people I’ve ever known in my life I met in that building. It’s amazing. Super smart people, really giving people. It’s not what everybody makes it out to be. But still a Wah. Again, not all Wahs are bad. It’s about the leadership. It’s about what are they doing with that power. And some people have strong Wah energy. I do. We are more susceptible. We are good food for the WA because we’re believers. We are the ones who get sucked into that. My husband works for a big company. Not sucked into it at all. Not a Wah person. He’s purely individual. So that is just a very individual thing for him. But it’s also. 

It’s just like he’s not good food for the wa. They don’t eat him up like they ate me up. I had to break the spell. So some of us are. We can really shine in that environment. I did. I was a superstar there. I could have stayed there probably and had a career for the rest of my life. And I would have been very tired, but I would have been promoted. I would have been paid a lot of money. Like, I did really well there. And I shined. Like, people noticed me. Senior people knew who I was. I was respected there. I rose there. Like I said, I made a lot of friends there. I shined in that environment. But there’s that. And then there’s also. You can get really swallowed up by it too. 

Again, why is it so important for us to be ourselves, to be tuned into our own design, to our own intuition, to look inside for the answer, not outside for the answer. Because for those of us who are susceptible to it, we will accept the answer that the WA is giving us, that the group energy dynamic, that the leader of that group or the leaders within that group. So it isn’t just the CEO of the company. It’s my manager and my manager’s manager. And these people, like where you idolize these people, where it becomes this, like, very hierarchical thing. The WA is hierarchical. It is not a flat organization. It might tell you that. But there is a clear leader and clear leaders and people above you, and you’re above other people. That is what it is now. 

That is why this is so important to me. That is why I see human design not just as another personal development tool. You’ll never see the world the same again. After understanding the penta and the wa, you will see it everywhere. You will see how people are herded in directions. You will see why it’s not all their fault. Because there are some people. I will say this. Donald Trump has so many WA channels. He has very strong WA energy. So that, like, it’s no secret on this show. I don’t like the man. I think he’s very dangerous. I think he has nothing but selfish intent for pretty much everything that he does and is only concerned with enriching himself. You can disagree with that’s fine. 

I don’t look down on people for what they believe or who they follow, but I find him to be a dangerous person. And I don’t think that’s political. That is very personal to him. This is not about Republicans. This is not about conservatives. This is about that man. And he is a very powerful. I listen to him sometimes and I’m like, how does anybody believe this? He’s such a liar. I’ve been watching Donald Trump since I was a child because I grew up in New York, and he was a liar then. And I knew people who knew him, and they were like, yeah, he’s a total con man, but he seemed harmless back then because he was just cheating on his wives and going bankrupt and putting up casinos. Nobody really cared. He didn’t have the fate of the world in his hands. 

Now it’s. There’s different stakes, but I’ll see that. And I’m like, how do people believe this? He’s so clearly a liar. And if you look at the facts, throughout the ages through his life, he’s just lied the entire time. Like, how can you trust this man? And part of it is, you know, there’s this question of, like, how is it that people are so loyal despite all of these things that he’s done, that he gave a trillion dollar tax cut to wealthy people and the middle class is still struggling. Why is it that the middle class is still. Still supporting that? Because there is a strong movement that they have built that people identify with that so much that they cannot detach from it. And that’s not anybody’s fault, necessarily. These are energetics at. At play. 

But is it our responsibility to be responsible for ourselves? And that’s what human design can do. It can put you back in the driver’s seat of your own life. So it doesn’t have to be the MAGA movement. It could be any movement. It could be the liberal movement, whatever. To be able to truly stand there as yourself and as we go into the cross of the sleeping Phoenix, where individuality is going to rule. Where suddenly, like these systems that were saving us, those systems that crumble, that have safeguards, we’re seeing it already. Laws are being walked on systems that were supposed to keep us safe, not work. We can go to war without getting approval. All of these things, right? The individual is going to have to look out for themselves. Well, then you better not be caught up unconsciously in these energy dynamics. 

Right? It should be choices. If you follow something, it should be your choice. It shouldn’t because somebody position themselves at the head of a movement that you’ve gotten caught up in. It does not mean that because you got swept up in the current that you cannot swim to shore and walk your own path. That’s what human design allows you to do. Whatever that is, I’m not passing judgment, but whatever you feel like you maybe are unconsciously a part of human design is what can bring you back to making conscious choices for yourself. Okay, I think we’ve talked enough about this stuff. I hope that you found this interesting. I hope that this like you look around and you start to see the dynamics within your family, about how the penta functions. How when you go to work, maybe you are on a team. 

How does that function? Can you look at group dynamics and see them without judging them? Just look at them and just observe it. Because that’s really what this is about. And I hope that comes across. It’s not about judging. It’s about looking at them and just seeing the dynamic at play and being aware of it. It all starts with awareness. And then when you become aware of it, then you can start to become aware of if you’re in it. This is how we break the spell. This is how we come out of the program. Because this is what Ra always talked about. Energy dynamics are core to the program. We’re all in the program. We’re in the program of the transits. So we’re all under that. We’re in the program of our conditioning. We’re in the program of these group energy dynamics. 

We’re in the program of our family. So when you moved out of your family’s house, you probably felt very different. You probably felt a big shift because you weren’t constantly put into this same group dynamic over and over again. And the penta can tell you where was this family, maybe off balance, where was. There may be something that was not causing them to move forward in harmony. There can be pieces missing from a penta. And when they’re missing, it leaves the penta not functioning as it should. And it can tell you something about why a family struggles and why they struggle in a certain way. And then you can see the wa dynamics and you can see maybe where you’ve gotten swept up in things before. Notice when you go to a big group event and you’re there, how you feel. 

I’m going to a retreat very soon and when I go to the retreat, there’s going to be pentas and I don’t know how many people are going to be there. Maybe it’ll be a wah, I don’t know. But I’ll go and I will start to. I’m going to feel into that and I’m going to be conscious of it and I’ll be me throughout all of it. And it doesn’t mean that I can’t have fun within it. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be part of the energy. It’s just my choice. It’ll be my choice. I’m not going to be just swept up in it and turned whichever way the leader of that particular group wants to turn the attention in the heads of people. Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this. I hope this was interesting for you. Something new. 

If you want to get the Coach’s Guide to Human Design, just DM me the word “COACH” on Instagram. I’m @nicolelainoofficial. We can send it to you in the DMs or go to nicolelaino.com/coach and you can download it right there on the website. Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to be here with you today. Remember, in order to have an unshakeable business, you must first become an unshakeable human. So thanks for letting us help you become unshakable with human design. We will see you next time.

To download a copy of Nicole’s Free Guide – The Coaches Guide to Human Design DM her “COACH” on Instagram or go to nicolelaino.com/COACH