The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth

by Christopher L. Heuertz

posture of solitude to their contemplative prayer practices, disciplining themselves to be alone and unseen so that they can wake up and learn to see themselves for who they truly are.

Certainly, solitude might pander to introverted Fours, so they must be careful not to allow it to become another escape or coping technique but instead a pl...

Ultimately, Fours must move from desiring to be known (by themselves and others) to resting in the gift of their composed, self-actualized, unshakable True Self.

Many Fours find themselves feeling isolated, and so the notion of solitude is a familiar one, but being able to rest in solitude is the distinction Fours need to apply.

In seclusion, Fours find freedom to explore the depth of their vast emotional capacity as a way to investigate their inner world. But Fours bring their frustration inward, so when a Four can relax that frustration and rest, then solitude becomes a place of healing and wholeness.

It’s recommended that you practice Centering Prayer twice a day for twenty minutes each time. It’s also recommended that you practice Centering Prayer for six months before giving up or determining it’s not for you—it often can take that long (actually much longer for many of us) for the fruit of this prayer to blossom.

For those in the Feeling Center, Centering Prayer is an invitation to inner solitude. By dialing down compulsions for connection and comparison, inner solitude enables heart people to face themselves in relationship to God. It allows for a deep experience of being loved, thereby helping heart people find their inner source of love for the world.

Essentially the practice is a journey through five movements that foster a reflective stance, helping us find God’s movement toward us in very ordinary experiences:

consolation—a moment, memory, or experience in which we felt God moving toward us or in

This step of the prayer also invites us to find the courage to search for a desolation—a moment, attitude, or experience in our day in which we found ourselves moving away from God’s love and presence.

Whatever the desolation is, we acknowledge it as an invitation to grace so as not to be overcome or overwhelmed by it.

identifying our consolation and desolation, we express contrition or sorrow.

we close with hopeful resolution for the future.

The Welcoming Prayer helps us pray with these somatic flare-ups in our bodies. It is a method of actively letting go of thoughts and feelings that support the compulsions and addictions of the Basic Fears and Childhood Wounds that keep each Enneagram type’s Fixation and Passion looped together.

The method of the Welcoming Prayer includes noticing your feelings, emotions, and thoughts, as well as the sensations in your body, welcoming them, and then letting them go. When you have an overly emotional experience in daily life, take a moment to be still and silent and follow these steps:

Pray with your somatic discomfort; ask what it is telling you about your fear or your sense of being out of control or your lack of trust or your anxiety.

The purpose of the Welcoming Prayer is to deepen your relationship with God by giving you an opportunity to consent to God’s healing presence and action in the ordinary activities of daily life, thereby equipping you to respond skillfully to life’s circumstances rather than react to them out of fear, shame, or frustration.

Ones with a Nine wing and Nines with a One wing).

Makes sense

TWO AND FOUR Mistyping frequency: sometimes (due to their emotionality).

(sexual Fives

What. Is a sexual Five?

(usually Two men mistype as Eights).

Interesting

THREE AND FOUR Mistyping frequency: sometimes (generally Threes with a Four wing mistype as Fours with a Three wing).

I believe I'm a 4w3 but I could be the the opposite so this makes sense. After reading this I'm still unsure, since on certain days I have 3 characteristics and others 4 or both. But I could have a very strong 3 wing.

FOUR AND FIVE Mistyping frequency: often (usually between Fives with a Four Wing and Fours with a Five wing).

Also makes sense ugh I think I'm a 4 based on these descriptions

Politically neutral

Can you hear me laughing cuz yes

(Sevens with a Six wing might resemble Fours with a Three wing).

(sexual Fours can resemble Eights).

What is a sexual 4

Mistyping frequency: rarely (Eights with a Nine wing can resemble Nines with an Eight wing).

The “Existential Hole” is part of the Enneagram’s oral tradition, those mysterious bits of teaching that are passed from one student to the next. The Existential Hole is believed to be the shadowy angst, the most treacherous obstacle to overcome in integrating the heart and the head. It’s shown at the bottom of the Enneagram’s drawing of the irregular hexagon in the opening between types Four and Five. This hole or gap at the bottom of the Enneagram is usually where those who are dominant in type Four or Five get stuck. It’s not impossible for these two types to reach across this hole to develop their wings, but it’s often at the edge of the journey across this chasm that types Four and Five sometimes experience the fog of depression.

Mentally underlining last sentence.