Understanding Enneagram Wings
What exactly are “wings” in the world of the Enneagram? They are the numbers directly adjacent to yours on the Enneagram symbol. For example: I’m a Type 6, so I could potentially have a 7 wing or 5 wing. (If you’re wondering, I’m a 6w7). And for the record: some individuals are very “centered in their core Type,” to the point that neither wing seems evident.
Each core Enneagram Type sits between two neighboring numbers, and these neighbors are what we call “wings.” While your core Type remains consistent—grounded in your deepest motivation and fear—your wing(s) can influence how your personality shows up day to day. Some people draw from one wing consistently, while others feel shaped by both, even if one is slightly more dominant. And some, as mentioned, barely register much wing influence at all.
So how do wings affect your personality? I like to think of your type, and those to either side of it, as three different pigments on a painter’s palette. A little “dip of the paintbrush” into either wing gives your core Type a “shade” or “tint.” If your core Type is a blue paint blob, flanked by red and yellow, you might end up as a slightly purplish blue, or a slightly greenish blue. So you are your own unique shade of blue. Whatever Enneagram Type you are, nobody expresses that Type in the same way as you. But at the end of the day you’re still blue.
This metaphor also helps illustrate why people of the same Type can feel so different from one another. A 4w5 and a 4w3, for example, may share a similar internal landscape of longing and depth, but how they move through the world can look surprisingly different.
Folks often ask if you can be an exact split between two adjacent Types. And the answer is no, because then you’d have no Type. Each of us has a specific set of core motivations. And you can’t have two cores, because then which core is the core? We all have a core, so we all have a dominant Type. Did I say “core” enough yet?
One major disclaimer about wings: while it’s true they may give slightly different tone to how you express your core motivations, they are not a solution to anything. The work is not in your wings. Growth is not in your wings. Transformation is not in your wings. Your unique path to a fully awakened self is not in your wings. I can’t stress this enough. People do interesting things with their wings, like blaming their lesser qualities (or even shifts in mood) on them. This distracts from the gift that is your actual Enneagram number. It has so much to teach, so much to offer—I prefer to always validate this truth before jumping into “wing talk.”
In the next series of posts, I’ll discuss the wings of each Enneagram type. I can’t wait to dig into the influences that these wings have on the type! If you want to learn more, check out our upcoming events to join in on one of our workshops or groups!