What exactly is the Enneagram symbol, or Enneagram diagram as some people call it, and how is it used with the personality types?
Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way had nothing to do with the Enneagram personality types, instead using the symbol to explore how the steps of a process were influenced by one another. I call this the Enneagram as Process.
Oscar Ichazo, who had no known association with Gurdjieff or the Fourth Way School, associated nine ego-types with the nine numbers. Psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo evolved these ego-types into the personality types commonly used today. The personality types use the symbol to explore similarities, differences, and connections between the types. This approach I call the Enneagram as Types.
People sometimes mistakenly try to apply the Gurdjieff approach to the personality types which can create unnecessary confusion.
I'll try to avoid that confusion in explaining how the personality types use the Enneagram symbol / diagram. In the links below I take a look at each component separately.
