The Enneagram

Abstract

The Enneagram, from the Greek ennea (nine) and grammos (written or drawn), is a nine-sided figure, presented as a triangle within a circle (connecting points 9, 3 and 6), that was taught by the esoteric teacher G.I. Gurdjieff and discussed in P.D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous (1949). Gurdjieff stated that the Enneagram is "completely self-supporting and independent of other lines and it has been completely unknown up to the present time," yet multiple origins have been claimed for the symbol (e.g., Christian, Sufi, Kabbalistic). This article situates the Enneagram in the Work context, and considers the post-Gurdjieffian Enneagram, which is chiefly used for personality analysis (indebted to Oscar Ichazo, founder of the Arica School).