# Tritype Movements and Cycles



## Karkino (May 25, 2017)

Hey guys, 



I wanted to illustrate the notion of tritype movement because I personally think this is the hardest concept to accurately understand because of the lack of information in the enneagram community and the relative opacity of how tritypes actually work. 

According to its creator Katherine Fauvre, the three fixes of someone’s tritype are usually activated in quick successions over and over again, which can make, in my opinion, the three energies can become muddled and quite difficult to take apart individually. As a quick reminder, tritype theory is based on the idea that each individual has three enneatypes found in each center (gut, heart and head) respectively. The three enneatypes, also called fixes, when united together, merge into an archetype based on their common qualities and growing edges. For example, the 136 tritype is called the TaskMaster because of the shared traits of efficiency and productivity of the 1, 3 and 6 enneatypes. Back to the tritype movement though, the order in which you activate those three enneatypes determine their importance and way of conduct. Your core type will always be the first to manifest and will usually be quickly followed by its dominant wing, then the lines of stress and security linked to your core type. If I’m a core 1 wing 2, then I’ll unconsciously always use 1 energy first, then my 2 wing, then one or both of my lines. Keep in mind that this is all within a very short amount of time and therefore very difficult to assess objectively. 

I personally think that there is two main ways a cycle can operate. First is the normal and mostly unconscious cycle of the three fixes. This movement is usually lightning fast, organic and very hard to consciously observe in its entirety. This is the basic and most common cycle we all experience over and over again as Fauvre explains in its video called “Enneagram Tritype-You have 3 Types! Show #3” I’ll give me as an example : as a 4 with a 5 wing and with 479 as my tritype, I use all those type energies in this cycling order : 4, 5, 1 and/or 2, 7 then 9. I thing to note is that you don’t always go to your last fix, and this is much more prevalent in the second kind of cycle. 

Ok, back to me. Again, keep in mind that this cycle is extremely fast and may not be entirely accurate. I’ll pick a very familiar setting in order to remember it correctly, something that I do daily. I browse over Youtube in order to look at a particularly interesting video to watch. 

• My 4 activate first, needing something unique, original and that can appeal to my own feelings; 

• Then comes my 5 wing, who wants to learn as much as possible about the video : its creators, the comment section, length of the video, linked videos, etc. 

• By the time I use my 1 or 2 lines, I may become frustrated by the lack of conformity of the video content/quality to my own standards (1) or want to relate and know the Youtuber in a personal way (2); 

• Then, my 7 fix takes the lead and decides that I had enough of the same rehash content and try to look at something else. This is when I become frenetically anxious about finding entertaining videos and where I can start multiple video at the same time, look at something else while listening to a podcast, clicking repeatedly through recommendations, etc. 

• If all of this is still unsatisfactory, then I enter my resigned stance of 9 fix. I slow down, accept that I won’t find something that I like perfectly and try to listen mindlessly to same video styles without complaining; 

• Then my 4 energy start kicking back wanting more intensity and uniqueness and the cycle starts again. 



See how all that can translate into a 2 or 3 minutes span? Again, this is largely unconscious and may I don’t go all the way to 9 each and every time. I may skip my 5 wing and/or my lines to go to my 7 fix, then return to my 4 energy immediately. Furthermore, I may dedicate more time to my 5 wing in some instances then my 7 fix or vice versa. You see where I’m getting at? 



On the other hand, there’s the second way of experiencing our own tritype movement. This one is activated when we are forced to experience frustration, problem-solving and/or delayed gratification. In this mode, we may feel our different energies more consciously than when they are on autopilot. Each enneatype is usually dealt with much more longer and thus will be put into consciousness more easily. I’ll take myself again as an example : 

• There was a time in my career life when I accepted a 2-month contract new office job not really knowing all the efforts I was about to take on in the midst of action. When I first entered my cubicle and walked around meeting all the new faces that I would have to deal with in next two months, I was experiencing a prolonged 4 sentiment of inferiority and imposter syndrome. I felt terrible and estranged for almost two weeks. I wanted to quit, breach my contract and go far away from that place. 

• Very soon after, I had to familiarize myself to the computer system and all the tools available to me. My 5 wing jumped on the action as I gathered tons of information about this office job, albeit still feeling incompetent and out of place. I tried to hide in my cubicle, fearing intrusion and answering questions I didn’t know about beforehand; 

• Then, I realized I was being overdramatic and tried to man up a bit. I used my 1 line to get in touch with my Superego in order to straighten myself up and act more confident, getting things done the right way. I also got in touch with another intern who was very kind and inviting. In used my 2 line to relate to her and share my feelings, letting out some steam. I also used both lines in order to familiarize with my teammates and assess their individual needs in order to reconfigure their file trees as required my job description; 

• After almost a month, I was getting quite tired of all that people-pleasing and stress-inducing work pileup in a field that wasn’t very much to my liking. My 7 fix started emerging progressively when no one was watching. I was delaying my work, faffing around, browsing around the Web and escaping my intended duties by talking to my sweet intern as much as I could. While I was still operating and producing my work in the end, I was getting exhausted and anxious about feeling trapped in a boring and painful environment without distractions; 

• Then, finally, after a month and a half of hopping between duty-mode and omgletmebreath-stance, I finally let go of my expectations and theirs in order to find inner peace. You guessed it, I was tapping into my 9 fix. I looked at my job with a more realistic and relaxed gaze and I allowed myself to accept any criticism without feeling personally hurt. I finally ended my contract leaving a very good impression to my coworkers and getting a reference letter. 

So that’s my story. I hoped this will guide you into assessing your own tritype and uncover its numerous inner mechanisms. 



I would lastly add that enneagram movement can vary depending on your personal configuration. I you are 4w5 with a 459 tritype, you will naturally spend more time in you 5 energy since you got a double dose of it. If you are a 6 with a 693 tritype, you will almost always spend your time hovering between those three numbers and less with your natural wing according to Katherine Fauvre. They are countless other combinations that might be in need of a separate case study, but I’m literally out of juice right now and I feel my 7 fix kicking in! 



See ya!


----------



## Paradigm (Feb 16, 2010)

The main issue I see here... You're ascribing way too much behavior to each type, really. You're not looking at motivations much, and even if you are, you assume that each stereotypical behavior must be part of a specific type because _why else_ would anyone want to "distract themselves" unless they were a 7? (Because, after all, only 7s are distractable, I guess?) Likewise, it's not like only 4s get imposter syndrome, and it's not like you (or anyone) move through types in such a way that you get any true meaning from it from moment-to-moment. It's far more likely you're just acting from "one place," not "multiple places" such as "I decided to go from 4 to 1 on purpose and do XYZ."

Which is to say, I'm not sure this outline works as you might intend it to, and I'm really doubtful of your core and tritype... And I only mention it because you seem open to this kind of feedback, according to your signature and talking points (started threads, I mean) so far. That doesn't mean I want to make the journey for you and skip over all the introspection and understanding FOR you, but I would sincerely like to advise you to at least keep an open mind... If that's okay, I hope?

HOWEVER! I would like to say, this idea is interesting in some respects! It made me think how people do utilize all their core and tritype "connections," and what sort of scenarios would bring what out when -- on a general scale. (I'm going to be excluding instinctual variants on purpose, by the way.) I think I would theorize that people react to a _moment_, such as if a person were angered or surprised by something, from one type and maybe their wing. But, if the scenario is more broad or long-term, such as if someone were dealing with a new home/job/purchase/relationship/etc, then it's not so much that they "cycle" through the types so much as they more display a blend of the three types through a lens of their core type. 

For example, at the moment, I'm dealing with a mother who is losing her healing, and that includes a lot of different emotions: not wanting her to feel bad, being upset she won't admit it, becoming sullen when she's having a bad day, indignant when she's accusatory when she mishears, upset at others if they bad-mouth her... So on and so forth. And, arguably, much of that could be seen as coming through my core type -- feeling the inner conflict of her 'betrayal' (too strong a word, really) and trying to protecting her from others -- but then reflect on what responses may be if I were a 692 or 638 or, well, anything else? So, yes, my response is tinged with my 1 and 4 fixes, which differ than having the tinge of 2/3 and 8/9 fixes.

Your "use" of (dis)integration lines doesn't really make sense to me, because I see them as a manifestation of the worst/best of your core type. You don't _really_ become something else, you just... metaphorically gain inspiration from them.


----------



## Dangerose (Sep 30, 2014)

yeah, I'm not sure about this...I've been reading all your tritype threads with interest, I find this a really fun concept to play with, I think it means that too little focus is on the core type and its effects (although I also don't think it's useful at all to try to link everything back to type anyways). This seems . . . a little chaotic to me :laughing:

I'll try to write something about how I see my tritype working when I have time, I'd like to see these threads being a little livelier!

edit: let me counter with my pet theory I read somewhere once, that the tritype applies to your instincts in descending order, aka if I am a 271 sx/so I am sx2>so7>sp1. This makes sense to me because I act like a 2 in close relationships (and I generally match sx 2), and my priorities and _general strain of character_ lie here...and this is the instinct that most touches 'shame' for me. I've considered so 7 before as certain descriptions of the type are quite close...you could definitely say my fear applies more to the social realm, and I tend not to take social relationships very seriously, but look to them for fun and distraction and 'feeling alive'. sp 1 because my 1ish qualities tend to be applied to physical things in front of me, I create a lot of symbolism around keeping things clean and organized, and when I decide to deal with sp I normally do it in a 1ish manner. 

like to think of Enneagram in terms of faults so what we've got is a possibility to be possessive, spending all day trying to make people love me followed by possibility to be flighty and avoidant followed by a possibility of ruining everything by only accepting it if it is the height of perfection, imagine on a very bad day I could have some sort of meltdown because whatever person isn't giving me quite enough attention, make plans with someone and then cancel them, and throw away half a ream of paper trying to make my notes tidy enough (not usually this bad but these general tendencies)...think it makes more or less sense?

edit ii: to be fair 'sp 1' could just be 1D Si and 'so 7' can be 'not valuing so that much but having lots of Fe'


----------



## Karkino (May 25, 2017)

I completely agree with both of you.
I have this tendency to ascribe too much emphasis on behavioral patterns even when I know that I should pay more attention to inner mechanisms.
I'm kinda posting this tread hoping for some insight from people because I desperately crave to understand tritype mechanics.
Beside, I'm having trouble correctly identifying my tritype, so I agree that this post was kinda prematurly posted or at the very least badly hatched.

I definitively need more knowledge in order to accurately understand this topic and I was hoping to have some feedback about this complicated theory (at least for me).

Anyways, thank you both for your comments!


----------



## Paradigm (Feb 16, 2010)

Karkino said:


> I completely agree with both of you.
> I have this tendency to ascribe too much emphasis on behavioral patterns even when I know that I should pay more attention to inner mechanisms.
> I'm kinda posting this tread hoping for some insight from people because I desperately crave to understand tritype mechanics.
> Beside, I'm having trouble correctly identifying my tritype, so I agree that this post was kinda prematurly posted or at the very least badly hatched.
> ...


Sounds good  It might be interesting to explore yourself from a non-4 core standpoint, and put aside tritype for a while. Even if you do go back to type 4 in the end, there's no harm done and really a lot to gain by doing the mental exercises of "yes but what if X is true?" Instinct and core should be the "majority rule," anyway -- I don't think even the Faurves argue with that. (Not that I really like their interpretations of types, but still.)


----------



## tanstaafl28 (Sep 10, 2012)

Karkino said:


> I completely agree with both of you.
> I have this tendency to ascribe too much emphasis on behavioral patterns even when I know that I should pay more attention to inner mechanisms.
> I'm kinda posting this tread hoping for some insight from people because I desperately crave to understand tritype mechanics.
> Beside, I'm having trouble correctly identifying my tritype, so I agree that this post was kinda prematurly posted or at the very least badly hatched.
> ...


Regardless of the outcome, I find your enthusiasm and penchant for deep (over)analysis rather interesting and colorful. Your thought processes are fascinating. Never stop being you! 

"The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates


----------



## Karkino (May 25, 2017)

Thanks! I love to push theories to their extreme sometimes


----------



## katherine8 (Aug 15, 2012)

Karkino said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I wanted to illustrate the notion of tritype movement because I personally think this is the hardest concept to accurately understand because of the lack of information in the enneagram community and the relative opacity of how tritypes actually work.
> 
> ...


----------



## katherine8 (Aug 15, 2012)

Karkino said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


------------------
*What are Tritypes®? What is Tritype®? What is a Tritype®?How do I find my Tritype®? What are the 27 Tritypes®?*
The term *Tritype®* refers to a 27-point typing system that is an advanced and more specific application of the Enneagram that was created and coined by Enneagram teacher, researcher, and coach, Katherine Chernick Fauvre. Tritype®, originally named 3Types and TriCenter, is based on Katherine’s theory that while individuals primarily utilize one of the main Enneagram Types as their ‘core type,’ everyone actually employs three central Enneagram Types - the one that is the most dominant within each center of intelligence (the Head (5,6,7), Heart (2,3,4) and Gut (8,9,1).

Extensive research with tens of thousands of international participants that began in 1994 has confirmed that each Tritype® Archetype is made up of the character traits of the three types within the Tritype®. These traits within the Tritype® combine to create 27 unique Tritypes®, each with its own set of wings and lines of connection, core values, needs, fears, and concerns that include: a specific focus of attention, idealized image, core triggers, core fears, desires, blindspots, sense of purpose, and growing edge, adding significant precision, accuracy, and scope to the Enneagram Typing process.

One of the three types in an individual's Tritype® is the “core” or dominant type and represents the ego’s preferred defense strategy and is in charge of the 3Type defense system. The ego always uses the strategies of all three types in unison in a rapid, repeating, hierarchical order throughout the day. The dominant type will continuously deploy the other two types in the Tritype to make decisions and solve problems.

It is important to note that just combining the three preferred types, one from each of the three centers, is not enough to explain the attentional patterns of each of the 27 Tritype® Archetypes or to confirm which Tritype® is dominant. We can theorize about which type we identify with most in each triad, but the focus of attention of the Tritype® emerges as a result of what happens when these three types merge and, in effect, become one type, which is the Tritype®.

This is because the characteristics of all three types influence one another. As a result, some characteristics are amplified, while other characteristics are minimized by the characteristics of the two other types within the Tritype®. These distinct differences explain why each Tritype® is unique.

For example, the 478 Tritype® has the three “creative" Enneagram Types, one from each triad (4,7,8), which include the two types that prefer what is unusual (4,7), the two types that share the line of intensity (4-8), and the two types that are assertive (7,8) thus creating a type that is innovative, creative, outspoken, intense, assertive, and deep with an original sense of style.

The defense strategies of the types within the Tritype® combine, creating a unique focus of attention with a shared worldview. Research also suggests that the common theme found among the three types within an individual’s Tritype® identifies that individual’s archetypal life purpose and a critical blind spot to self-awareness. In addition, the shared view by the types in an individual’s Tritype® gives important clues as to what is needed to live a more conscious and meaningful life.
More on Tritype® here: https://enneagramtritypetest.com


----------



## katherine8 (Aug 15, 2012)

Karkino said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The only important consideration here is that Tritype® and Triifix both recognize that people use one aspect or all aspects of a type in each center. are actually different from one another as well.

*What is the difference between Tritype® and Tri-fix? How is Tritype® different from Tri-fix?
How are Tritype® and Tri-fix the same?*

Tritype® and tri-fix are two theories that share an important similarity. Both “Tritype®” and “tri-fix” recognize that individuals use a fixation from each triad; a type from each center of intelligence, respectively. This is important because it validated Katherine Chernick Fauvre's findings that individuals have not just 1, but 3 Enneagram Types used in a specific oscillating, repeating and hierarchal stacking order.

This was always true with respect to the Enneagram of Personality but not formally recognized until Oscar Ichazo found it to be true based on his theory of trialectics and Katherine Fauvre independently found it to be true when researching the internal experience of type, initially with hundreds and soon tens thousands of interviews. It was very inspiring for Katherine to learn that Ichazo had also found that people used 3 centers and not 1.

What was key is that Oscar Ichazo and Katherine Fauvre both found the same essential truth; based on the law of three, through separate means. Katherine’s research-validated Ichazo’s theory and his theory validated Katherine’s research findings and forever changed the way they both taught the Enneagram.

*How are Tritype® and Tri-fix different*
The differences between Oscar Ichazo’s tri-fix theory and Katherine Chernick Fauvre’s Tritype® theory can be seen in their names; tri-fix and Tritype® respectively.

Ichazo's tri-fix is focused on the use of the three mental “fixations” only. Katherine Fauvre’s Tritype® and research studies are based on the "full" use of each type including: the "fixations, the passions, and the convictions, as well as the dynamic aspects produced by the primary type moving towards and away from its two wings and its two lines of connection" and a great deal more.

Katherine found that with Tritype®, individuals use the full defense strategy of their three types, including: the mental fixations, the emotional passions, the visceral sensations and convictions, and defense strategies of the types that merge to create a “new type unto itself.”

Each Tritype® and Tritype® Archetype has its own unique focus of attention that includes: an idealized image, core triggers, fears, concerns, desires, and preoccupations that produce a worldview, innate gifts, life purpose, and patterns of defense; innate struggles, and a healing growing edge.

Because there was nothing published from Ichazo on tri-fix, Katherine assumed that she had found what Ichazo found. To avoid confusing people with different terms, she referred to her work and Ichazo’s concept as tri-fix and gave attribution to Oscar Ichazo. However, all material written came from Katherine Fauvre. Ichazo never published information on trifix or the 27 combinations. See more on Tritype® here: Free Enneagram Tritype® Test | Creator of Tritype®


----------

