The Enneagram

"Speaking in general it must be understood that the enneagram is a
universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the enneagram and
with the help of the enneagram it can be interpreted. And in this connection
only what a man is able to put into the enneagram does he actually
know, that is, understand. What he cannot put into the enneagram he
does not understand. For the man who is able to make use of it, the
enneagram makes books and libraries entirely unnecessary. Everything
can be included and read in the enneagram. A man may be quite alone in
the desert and he can trace the enneagram in the sand and in it read
the ethernal laws of the universe. And everytime he can learn something
new, something he did not know before.
"If two men who have been in different schools meet, they will draw
the enneagram and with its help they will be able at once to establish
which of them knows more and which, consequently, stands upon which
step, that is to say, which is the elder, which is the teacher and which
is the pupil. The enneagram is the fundamental hieroglyph of a universal
language which has as many different meanings as there are levels of men.
"The enneagram is perpetual motion, the same perpetual motion that
men have sought since the remotest antiquity and could never find. And
it is clear why they could not find perpetual motion. They sought outside
themselves that which was within them; and they attempted to construct
perpetual motion as a machine is constructed, whereas real perpetual motion
is part of another perpetual motion and cannot be created apart
from it. The enneagram is a schematic diagram of perpetual motion, that
is, of a machine of eternal movement. But of course it is necessary to
know how to read the diagram. The understanding of this symbol and
the ability to make use of it give man very great power. It is perpetual
motion and it is also the philosopher's stone of the alchemists.
"The knowledge of the enneagram has for a very long time been preserved
in secret and if it is now, so to speak, made available to all, it is
only in an incomplete and theoretical form of which nobody could make
any practical use without instruction from a man who knows.
"In order to undersatnd the enneagram it must be thought of as in
motion, as moving. A motionless enneagram is a dead symbol; the living
symbol is in motion."

"In Search of the Miraculous" by P. D. Ouspensky, Harcourt Brace & Company, p.294

For exemplification, here is a summary of the 4th Way idea of Body Types on the Enneagram.

SEE TEXT LINKS BELOW

Click on any planet name (or number) and circulate along solid lines between body types on the Enneagram:

| Lunar | | Venusian | | Mercurial | | Saturnine | | Martial | | Jovial | | Solar |

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"As above, so below." - From "The Emerald Tablets" by Hermes Trismegistus

"Each body type is potentially a complete cosmos and contains all seven
types within it. According to the school of Pythagoras a cosmos is a self-
evolving or self-transcending whole. Logically, according to this definition
a human would be the only being found on this planet that can be rightfully
called a cosmos as it is the only instrument capable of transcending itself
and creating an astral body, that is a soul.
"When a person is a Venusian, he would be 40% Venusian and 20% of the types
on either side of Venusian. Since Lunar is the type before Venus on the enneagram,
the person would be 20% Lunar and 20% Mercurial, which follows
Venus in the progression of types. The person under consideration would also
have 5% of the other types within him. This description is a loose genera-
lization that enables one to account for the Lunar and Mercurial traits to
be found on a Venusian. A body type has within it, where it had been,
where it is, and where it is to go ; that is, the Saturnine type may have martial
freckles and also speak a bit rapidly, as Mercurial types do. A person
of a specific body type will not have all the charasteristics of their type,
rather a predominance of most of the features of a type , and it can be said
their center of gravity is of a particular body type.
"Each body type has four sub-divisions; that is, intellectual, emotional,
moving and instinctive divisions. As a quite flexible guideline,
intellectual types generally will be thin, emotional types soft and fleshy,
and instinctive-moving types trim and muscular. Thus there are intel-
lectually centered Venusians, emotionally centered Venusians, moving
centered Venusians, and instinctive centered Venusians.
"One of the characteristics of body types is that each type often expects
other types to see the world as they do, that is, with their own form of
subjectivity.
"One of the first observations to make in attempting to determine a
person's body type is to try and verify if the person is a passive or
active machine. This will help to narrow the choice to three or four types
as there are three passive types (Jovial, Lunar, and Venusian) as well as
four active types (Mercurial, Saturnine, Martial, and Solar). In addition,
types can be divided as to whether they are positive or negative.
(As in the glass half-full or half-empty outlook; promart's note)
"There are four positive types, i.e. Solar, Jovial, Venusian, and Saturnine,
and three negative types, i.e. Lunar, Mercurial, and Martial. All seven types
are quite mechanical. The six steps on the enneagram alternate between
positive and negative, i.e.:

Lunar Venusian Mercurial Saturnine Martial Jovial
negative positive negative positive negative positive

"Also all three sets of maximum attractions involve a positive and a
negative type, reflecting the common knowledge that opposites attract:

(+) Saturnine (-) Lunar
(+) Jovial (-) Mercurial
(+) Saturnine (-) Lunar

"One fascinating idea in the theory of body types is that of maximum
attractions. This theory on the scale of humans is a reflection of the idea
of planetary maximum attractions. By studying the worlds above and below us we
can study the conditions we exist under...(as) organic life on Earth. One can
understand much about body types by studying the planets.
"The theory of body types is an example of objective knowledge and
is not something new to this century or past human habitation upon this planet.
The idea of seven basic body types can be found through an esoteric interpre-
tation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This story refers to World Twelve
(Snow White) and the seven body types (the seven endocrine glands). The dwarfs
are portrayed as dwarfs as they are so small and insignificant when
compared to the Sleeping Beauty of thyself" - Robert Burton (FOF) on Types.


The Lunar Type - negative, passive, chief feature = willfulness

The Venusian Type - positive, passive, chief feature = non-existence

The Mercurial Type - negative, active, chief feature = power (manipulative)

The Saturnine Type - positive, active, chief feature = dominance

The Martial Type - negative, active, chief feature = power (physical)

The Jovial Type - positive, passive, chief feature = vanity

The Solar Type - positive, active, chief feature = naiveté

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