Self · Enneagram
Enneagram, read with care.
Nine types and their wings, described without the cult tone, a lens for self-reflection, with its limits stated.
The pieces
To read in this practice
The vocabulary
Words worth knowing
- Enneagram The Enneagram is a personality model that describes nine core types, numbered 1 through 9 and arranged on a nine-pointed geometric figure.
- The nine personality types The Enneagram distinguishes nine personality types, defined by their deep motivation rather than their visible behaviors: the 1 Perfectionist, the 2 Helper, the 3 Achiever, the 4 Individualist, the 5 Investigator, the 6 Loyalist, the 7 Enthusiast, the 8 Challenger, and the 9 Peacemaker.
- Gut center (instinctive triad) The gut center gathers types 8, 9, and 1 of the Enneagram.
- Heart center (feeling triad) The heart center gathers types 2, 3, and 4 of the Enneagram.
- Head center (thinking triad) The head center gathers types 5, 6, and 7 of the Enneagram.
- Wing (Enneagram) A wing is one of the two types adjacent to the main type on the Enneagram circle.
- Direction of integration (growth arrow) The direction of integration is, for each Enneagram type, the inner line that points toward its path of growth.
- Direction of disintegration (stress arrow) The direction of disintegration is, for each Enneagram type, the inner line traveled under prolonged stress.
- Basic fear The basic fear is, in the Enneagram, the fundamental dread that structures each of the nine types.
- Basic desire The basic desire is, in the Enneagram, the fundamental longing that answers each type's basic fear.
- Triad (Enneagram) A triad is a grouping of three Enneagram types that share a common dynamic.
- Enneagram test An Enneagram test is a questionnaire meant to identify a person's dominant type among the nine of the model.
- Self-preservation subtype The self-preservation subtype is one of three instincts that combine with each of the nine Enneagram types.
- Social subtype The social subtype is one of the three Enneagram instincts, combined with each of the nine types.
- Sexual subtype (one-to-one) The sexual subtype, also called one-to-one, is one of the three Enneagram instincts combined with each of the nine types.
- Passion (Enneagram) In Naranjo’s Enneagram, the passion is the vice-emotion that dominates each type’s heart, drawn from the seven deadly sins expanded to nine.
- Fixation (Enneagram) In Naranjo’s Enneagram, the fixation is the recurring mental pattern that keeps each type inside its own logic: the automatic thought twinned with the emotional passion.
- Hornevian groups The Hornevian groups are three Enneagram triads describing how each type positions itself toward others, drawn from the interpersonal stances of psychoanalyst Karen Horney.