Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several nine-pointed geometrical figures often held to have magical or mystical significance.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mathematics A nine-pointed
stellate polygon - noun psychology Such a figure used to indicate nine
personality traits of a subject
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Various figures who have delved into and helped refine the enneagram from the Greek words for “nine lines” have, not surprisingly, been associated over the years with Esalen.
I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen Amy Wilentz 2006
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Various figures who have delved into and helped refine the enneagram from the Greek words for “nine lines” have, not surprisingly, been associated over the years with Esalen.
I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen Amy Wilentz 2006
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Reese is high-concept, and his concept is something called the enneagram.
I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen Amy Wilentz 2006
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Reese is high-concept, and his concept is something called the enneagram.
I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen Amy Wilentz 2006
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The enneagram is a circular diagram with a nine point star which symbolically describes nine personality types.
unknown title 2009
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This time we’re going to be taking a different type of test that I heard about called the enneagram test, which is really similar.
High School Confidential Jeremy Iversen 2006
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We’re going over into the annoying room for a special presentation about a really exciting personality test called the enneagram that we’re all going to take!
High School Confidential Jeremy Iversen 2006
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In terms of the enneagram, which breaks people down into nine types, I am a four, otherwise known as the individualist or the tragic romantic.
Tom Matlack: Is It Safe to Come Out of the Cave? Tom Matlack 2011
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Other fours, according to the enneagram website, are Prince, Thomas Merton, and J.D. Salinger---all men of great artistic ability unlike me who looked for deeper meaning in a solitary manner, sometimes fanatically so.
Tom Matlack: Is It Safe to Come Out of the Cave? Tom Matlack 2011
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In terms of the enneagram, which breaks people down into nine types, I am a four, otherwise known as the individualist or the tragic romantic.
Tom Matlack: Is It Safe to Come Out of the Cave? Tom Matlack 2011
oroboros commented on the word enneagram
A circle with its circumference divided into 9 equal sections/points, with the topmost numbered 9 followed sequentially by 1, 2, 3, etc., where the numbers are connected by lines thus: 142857, making a distinctive, nonstellate internal heptagram. The numbers 3, 6 and 9 can be connected as well to form an internal triangle independent of the other lines (though its sides intersect the heptagram). You can see one here.
The enneagram is a Sufi mystical symbol which was popularized in the west by G.I. Gurdjieff in his teachings involving "work on onself". Gurdjieff introduced and showcased a dance wherein dancers traced out, as they moved around the enneagram, its circumference and others along the lines connecting the numbers in the order 142857. It was very intricate and required the utmost of concentration and finesse by the dancers, and was said to produce unusual psychic states both in the dancers and the observers of the dance.
The symbol illustrates the interaction of the so-called "Law of Seven" (7 divided into unity (i.e., "1") = .142857142857...), which is related to the octave (q.v.) and the (q.v.) "Law of Three" (3 divided into unity = .33333..., with its multiples 6 and 9 among the numbers). All in all a most intriguing and impressive symbol, mathematically, historically and metaphysically.
Should you be so inclined, it could be an interesting exercise and rewarding effort to see if you can construct one from the description given here. It isn't a cakewalk.
January 20, 2007
seanahan commented on the word enneagram
Somebody managed to get a youtube window in a comment, I would think you'd be able to get a diagram.
January 21, 2007
valse commented on the word enneagram
Very interesting. I'd only ever known about the enneagram in the context of personality theory.
January 21, 2007
oroboros commented on the word enneagram
Click Here for a video of the Gurdjieff Sacred Movements/Dances. The first of the three uses the heptagram portion of the enneagram as its pattern.
August 24, 2007
oroboros commented on the word enneagram
For an animated, 3-D version of the enneagram click Here.
August 24, 2007