Richard Rudd

Richard Rudd is an English spiritual teacher, poet and author, best known as the founder of the Gene Keys, a contemplative system built on the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. He traces the work to a powerful spiritual experience at the age of 29 and spent seven years writing the book that set it out. Before that he took a master's degree in metaphysics and literature at Edinburgh, travelled widely in Asia and the Americas, worked in film in Australia and trained as a Chi Kung teacher in Thailand. He won the FISH international poetry prize in 2006 and lives in Devon with his family. His earlier books on Human Design remain in print.

The Gene Keys are worked with through a personal profile drawn from the date, time and place of birth. Rather than offering fixed answers, Richard asks students to sit patiently with each key, letting its meaning unfold over weeks and months, a practice he calls contemplation. Each key is described as a shadow that can mature into a gift and, in time, a fuller spiritual quality. He teaches through books, the self-study Golden Path courses, long online retreats and occasional in-person workshops, and he has been named on the Watkins list of influential living spiritual figures.