Enneagram 101: Enneagram Wings

By Rev. Rhonda Abbott Blevins, DMIN

Author’s note: This article is part of a series entitled “Enneagram 101.”

Previous Post: “Enneagram Lost Childhood Messages”

In Enneagram theory, there is a core personality type for each person which remains consistent throughout life. We can, however, draw on strengths of other types, especially those we are connected to on the Enneagram, like our “wings” or “arrows.”

Enneagram wings are the two adjacent personality types along the Enneagram’s outer circle. Our Enneagram “wings” influence or “wing” our dominant personality type. Each Enneagram type has two wings, one of which can be dominant. For example, someone who is a Type 8 Enneagram, “The Challenger,” may also have a Type 7 wing (“The Adventurer”) or a Type 9 Wing (“The Peacemaker”). A Type 3 “Achiever” will have either a Type 2 wing (“The Helper”) or a Type 4 wing (“The Individualist”).

The wing helps to give a more complete picture of an individual’s personality by adding in characteristics and traits from the adjacent type.

For instance, a Type 8 with a 7 wing may be more outgoing and adventurous than a Type 8 without the 7 wing. You can easily observe how the wings influence personality, even in casual interactions with people.

Here are the eighteen wing descriptions offered by Don Riso and Russ Hudson:

1w9 is The Idealist.

1w2 is The Advocate.

2w1 is the Servant.

2w3 is the Host or Hostess.

3w2 is the Charmer.

3w4 is the Professional.

4w3 is the Aristocrat.

4w5 is the Bohemian.

5w4 is the Iconoclast.

5w6 is the Problem Solver.

6w5 is the Defender.

6w7 is the Buddy.

7w6 is the Entertainer.

7w8 is the Realist.

8w7 is the Independent.

8w9 is the Bear.

9w8 is the Referee.

9w1 is the Dreamer.

Do you see yourself in any of these descriptions?

These descriptions help us see that personalities are not a monolith. Two individuals who are Enneagram 5’s may manifest their “Five-ness” in very different ways. A Seven with an 8-wing will come across as quite different than a Seven with a 6-wing.

I like to think of the wings as extra flavoring on top of a bowl of ice cream, like mixing crushed heath bars into a delicious scoop of vanilla. The vanilla represents your core personality. The heath bars—your wing. Yum!

Once you discover your core Enneagram personality type, it’s helpful to determine if you have a dominant wing. Remember, you can lean into the strengths of either wing and may do so at different phases of your life while your core personality type remains consistent. In future articles, I’ll cover the three instincts of the Enneagram, which offer even more “flavoring” mixed into your core personality.

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