121: The Origins & History of the Enneagram -The Crib Notes Version

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Welcome to the Becoming Bulletproof podcast. I am your host, Tracy o'. Malley. I'm a mom to millennials, an author, Enneagram expert and multi million dollar entrepreneur, and master performance and business coach. I've gone from rock bottom to building a bulletproof business and life. If you're looking for the unfiltered transparent truth and even an extra kick in the ass, you will discover that here. Each week I'll be bringing you success stories of high level entrepreneurs as we discover how they became bulletproof and created their empire. You'll learn the story behind the glory along with Enneagram inspired truths so you can ignite your own purpose profits and build your legacy. It's time for you to become bulletproof. Buckle up.

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Welcome to the Becoming Bulletproof podcast. You know, I get a lot of questions about the history and origin of the Enneagram. And if you know me at all, you know I'm a bottom line me, straight shoot me kind of girl and I really don't care. I hated.

I hated history in school. I was like, why does that matter? Which is so ironic because what I love about the Enneagram is that you have to. It helps you look back to connect the dots, which is history, by the way. But the reason I, you know, was so resistant. It's like just bottom line me, tell me what it can do for me, what it can do for me. And I was talking to somebody the other day about this. I'm like this with a lot of things I gotta believe. Like I gotta see how it's gonna work and I need to be bought, bought into it before I'm going to study the history of it. I've done this with psychology. Quite honestly, I had to believe in like therapy and the beauty of it.

And ironically, I probably will go back and get my psychology degree or my.

My license. Quite honestly, because I believe in it so much doesn't mean I'll ever be pract therapist. But now that I love psychology so much and believe in it so much, then it's like, okay, now that I see that it works, then I will research all of the things about it. You know, I know a lot, but you know, all the ins and outs because I've always had a hard time with, yeah, it's great that you can tell me where it comes from, but can you tell me how to use it right? And that's why my specialty with the Enneagram is all about integration. Well, I've been using the Enneagram now Integrating it in my own personal life, business, parenting, relationships, health. For almost a decade now, almost a decade, I have been integrating this beautiful tool in it. And it's funny, because a lot of people ask me the history of it. I'm like, well, I know it goes way back. I know that enia gram. The enia means nine. The gram needs a model. And I couldn't tell you much, much more about it. I'm like, who cares? Like, this is what it can do for you, right? That's totally the eight in me, by the way. But I realized that now that I am so all in and loving the Enneagram, it's proven itself worthy of my education of it. Obviously. I've been educating myself for almost a decade on it.

But I am actually taking even more courses on the Enneagram, not just in history, but all the ins and outs of it. I can't wait to share more about that with you. But I realize there's a lot of you that really want to understand the history. And now that I love it so much, I'm like, okay, I'll take the time to really understand the whole history of it. You know, I don't want to know the history of it if it's not going to do anything for me. I know it sounds very bitchy, but that's just how I roll. It really is. It really, really is how I roll. But once I'm all in, I will go down the rabbit hole of learning everything I can about it. So today I thought I would bring you the history and origins of the Enneagram. For those of you that like to geek out, this'll be a short, short episode. If you are loving things about the Enneagram and you want to use this powerful, beautiful, amazing tool in your life, maybe you're typed. Maybe you're not sure if you're typed properly because 65 to 75% of you, or 65 to 70% of you are mistyped. The wrong information doesn't serve. And if that is something you want to explore. I do typing sessions so often. I've done multiple hundreds of individual typing sessions with people and organizations and teams and families, and I would be honored to do that with you. You can find me on Instagram @traceyomalley. If you have questions or just go to my website, traceyomalley.com the work with me section. You can do a single typing session. Or if you know you want to take the deep dive, we have a special Enneagram experience where if you sign up for the Enneagram experience. Then you get your typing session free, which typically they're supposed to be about 70 minutes and I've been stretching them almost to 90 minutes to almost two hours sometimes to give you all the goods. Lot of juicy stuff in that. But I thought today I'd just share some of the basics of the history and the origins of the Enneagram. So it's got Greek roots. Enneagram means nine. Like I said, ennea is nine. The gram means model points, that which is written or drawn. And the roots of the Enneagram are disputed. This is probably another reason why I was like, eh, just tell me how it, how it works.

So it's unclear sometimes, but some but seem connected to different spiritual and oral traditions as well as specific mathematical and philosophical traditions. So I've always said like when I'm explaining the Enneagram to people, you know, and I don't like to use big words, I like to use real words so people can get it. I like to say it's part psychology, part spirituality. It's nature and nurture.

You know, I. The way that I describe it best, it's like, you know, you have a temperament and disposition, right? You have the environment you're put in to and then you have the way that you as a child dealt with it. And that's kind of what molds into your main type. That's kind of how I explain it. But according to the history, it is definitely connected to spiritual, mathematical, philosophical and psychological traditions. Some authors claim strong roots, while others point to connections to some early esoteric Christianity. I know there's a lot of pastors and.

Christian organizations that bring the Enneagram back to the gospel. It should be noted, however, that it is definitely not common to all kinds of traditions. I don't teach it based on the Gospel or, or Christianity because I believe that you, as long as you've got something that you believe in that's bigger than you, then I'm okay with that.

And whatever. Like, you know, that kind of brings into the, you know, we're born with a temperament and disposition. I believe that's divinely led by something and whatever you choose to call it is totally up to you.

So.

The origins of the Enneagram. Some authors believe that variations of the Enneagram symbol itself can be traced to the sacred geometry of. I don't even know how to say this word. Pythagorean mathematicians and mystical mathematics. If you look at the.

Symbol, the Enneagram symbol, it does look like geometry, which by the Way I hated in school, I got a D. My only D ever was in freaking geometry. I hated it. I don't even understand it. So, ironically, here I am with teaching the Enneagram to everybody all over the globe that has geometric, geometric shapes to it.

There is some spirit guy that speaks of nine divine qualities that manifest in human nature.

This also may have entered into esoteric Judaism through the philosopher Philo, later becoming embedded in the branches of the tree of life in the Kabbalah. So, like I said, there's lots of disputes and unclarity, but I thought I'd bring all the different things that have been said about it out there to you. Variations of the Enneagram symbol appear in the Sufi tradition with specific reference to. Oh, my gosh.

I don't even know how to say this word either. Naquashbandi order, which means the brotherhood of the bees. Possible relationship with Christianity through medieval references.

Along the catalog of various forms of temptation, which much later in medieval times was translated into the seven deadly Sins. But there's nine types, so we've added two.

Franciscan mystic.

Taught a philosophy and theology of nine principles in an attempt to integrate different faith traditions. A Jesuit mathematician has an Enneagram, like drawing that forms part of the 1717th century text. So, like, you could see, like, if this was how it was presented to me, I would have been like, peace out, boy scout. Like, too much information. Do you see why? I'm a bottom liney kind of girl, But I thought it would be cool to share that part with you. But the 21st century Enneagram, the more recent evolution of the Enneagram in the form and shape that it is known in the 21st century is much clearer.

There was a Russian mystic teacher. He used the Enneagram to explain the unfolding of creation, calling it a symbol of perpetual motion. Movements or sacred dances constitute an integral part of that work.

This person also alludes to the fact that he was introduced to the enneagram in the 1920s during a visit to a monastery in Afghanistan. But he doesn't definitively explain the symbol's origin. So as far as, like, the symbol of perpetual motion. And if you've listened to the other episodes or you know anything about the Enneagram up to this point, when I talk about, you go to a different number in stress, and you go to a different number in.

Growth and your wings and your subtypes, like, all of that is kind of a dance, right? And we're constantly moving. So your type is not just a label that you get and you stay there and you fit those stereotypes. So I do like that explanation of it.

There. In the 1960s.

Oscar Icanzo, I think that's how you say his last name. His Enneagram of personality and related theories formed a part of a larger body of teaching.

That he termed proto analysis. Claudio Naranjo, which is the guy that I know have heard a lot about, a Chilean psychiatrist, was exposed to the Enneagram through Icazo, that guy from South America.

And brought the Enneagram into the modern psychological tradition.

There were some other individuals that studied with Naranjo who still teaches the Enneagram to this day. Believe it or not, through Ochs Ochs, the Enneagram was introduced into numerous Christian communities in the United States where authors such as Wagner and Riso and Hudson, which are some of the more popular ones, were exposed to teaching. And this is kind of where the spirituality, the psychology, this is where it kind of all, like the compound effect of all of this kind of got brought together and the explanation of it and the interpretation of it. Quite honestly.

Since its introduction into the world of psychology, the Enneagram has been partially validated through expert, experiential and other studies and cross reference with other constructs of psychology, such as, like the Myers Briggs Enneagram. Teachers have also drawn on the work of psychologists outside of the Enneagram community to enhance understanding and application of the framework. And that's where I come in. I've done 20 years of my own personal therapy, a lot of recovery work.

A lot of education in that. And when I can kind of bring the Enneagram information with the application and practical parts of it, that's where I find the secret sauce with all of you. It's why I am so good at teaching integration of it.

I think that Enneagram teachers have also drawn in the work of the psychologists outside of the Enneagram community, like I said, to enhance the application of it, of the framework. You know, information doesn't equal transformation. You've heard me say it a million times. It's the integration of it. And I think this is where things really start to started to make the Enneagram something that was more well known, widely used. An example is the work of Karen Horney on psychological forms of defense. Excuse me. Which has led to Risso and Hudson developing the fractal pattern of the Hornevians or the social styles. And I did an episode on that before.

There's all fun, different parts of the Enneagram that I will continue to get into with you.

Acknowledging the rich contributions of all the Enneagram authors and practitioners that have contributed, contributed, contributed to the understanding and continue to inspire the application of the Enneagram. I love, you know, for somebody that doesn't love history generally, kind of seeing how this has all come to fruition and how, you know, who would have thought that there would be all these Enneagram people on Instagram today and social media and little old me here teaching you on a podcast about the Enneagram and the integration of it.

But I think that there's so many.

Amazing teacher and theorists and developers in the field. People like David Daniels, like I said, Don Riso and Russ Hudson, Jerry Wagner, Beatrice Chestnut, who is probably my favorite.

Author on this, Ginger Lapid Bagda. She's great in Enneagram and business. She does a lot of the leadership stuff.

And it's. It's definitely something that is really cool to look at the roots of, especially the more that I geek out on the Enneagram. But I thought since a lot of you ask and I really couldn't elegantly tell you the answers, and I, quite honestly, I didn't elegantly tell you the answers of the history and the origins today. But you know what? That's how I'm going to tell it. Because, you know, I can tell you this. The Enneagram, when used properly and when it's integrated into your life and you approach it for the greatest good, to bring out the best in those you lead and love, including, and especially yourself, this beautiful tool. I'm sure we're doing its history and origins very, very, very proud. I know I'm proud of the work I do with the Enneagram with all of you. And yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty damn cool. There's a lot of history in all of us, and the Enneagram is no different. And you want to dive deeper into your type, please reach out to me. If you liked some of the history and you want more, I can dive in further. Let me know. Or if you're like me and you're like Trace, who gives a shit? Just keep bottom line me and tell me how to use this in my life to move the needle, then we will continue on the way we have been. Because I love it. I love it and I appreciate all of you that are loving these episodes. Thank you so much for sharing these episodes with people you love. You lead. I also am so grateful for all the shares on social media so that my work can touch those that may need to hear it, learn it, integrate it into their lives, into their families, into their businesses, so that they can make the impact in their life the way that they have always desired and to lean into their superpowers and just live their very best life. And if this is an episode that you loved, let me know. And until next time, here's to Becoming Bulletproof.

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Let's become Bulletproof. Sam.