Stemming from the Greek words ennea (nine) and grammos (a written or drawn symbol), the Enneagram is borne out of ancient wisdom tradition. It has its roots in several religions including Christianity, Judaism and Islam. It can be traced to the Christian desert monk Evagrius Ponticus (399), whose teaching formed the seven deadly Vices or sins, as well as to the desert mothers and fathers of the fourth century, who used it for spiritual counselling. This ancient personality typing system is now interwoven with modern psychology and known to spiritual directors, retreat leaders, clergy and lay people as a helpful aid to spiritual formation and transformation. In the last century various individuals have rediscovered a powerful teaching paradigm, which conveys a clear vision of how humans function known as the Enneagram. Originally introduced as a human development system by philosopher and teacher George Gurdjieff in 1915, the Enneagram and its matrix of dynamic connecting lines became the basis for inquiry into the evolution of consciousness. Gurdjieff’s teaching focused on the nine-pointed figure and the chief feature of each ‘type’.
In the late 1960s, a Chilean named Oscar Ichazo, positioned nine personality types around the Enneagram diagram. He continued the works of Evagrius and other medievalists including Origen, on the seven Vices and mapped these on to Gurdjieff’s nine-pointed figure, elaborating on the definitions of the chief features of each type.
One of Ichazo’s pupils was Claudio Naranjo, a Chilean MD, psychiatrist and scholar of the Centre for Studies of Personality, and part of the early Gestalt therapy community. He had a broad range of knowledge and expertise in spirituality and psychological human development. Naranjo produced the diagram, which connected Enneatypes to current personality theory, and along with psychologists in Berkeley, CA, integrated the Enneagram with emerging developments in modern psychology. Translating the personality types into psychological language, he refined and expanded descriptions of the types, as well as the sub-types, thus facilitating the path of conscious development.
In the early 1970s, Helen Palmer, a student of Naranjo, began teaching Enneagram panel workshops in the Narrative Tradition, integrating spirituality, psychology and somatics. In the 1980’s, she published The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life, and together with Stanford psychiatrist David Daniels, MD, co-founded the Enneagram Professional Training Program grounded in the Narrative Tradition.
Ann O’Sullivan and Michael Healy, founders of Enneagram courses at Emmaus House, Bristol where we completed our Enneagram study, trained in the Narrative Tradition of the Enneagram with Helen Palmer and the late Dr David Daniels in the 1990’s. Our instruction is grounded in the Narrative tradition, where the individual’s story is key.
enneagraminpractice.org 