In 2010 I watched Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao’s graceful and Olympic gold-winning pairs skating performance.
“This is our fourth Olympics,” noted Shen afterwards. “We made a comeback to give it our last shot at gold. Words cannot describe how I feel right now. I just want to cry. It is a dream.”
Then a friend linked me to a video of another Chinese pair in a "Hand in Hand Ballet: She Without Arm, He Without Leg ballet, whose profoundly moving performance changed the meaning for me of “going for the gold.”
With the Enneagram as a frame of reference, we witness both kinds of gold. When our focus is on only one of the nine fixations, we may achieve Olympian goals in becoming less rigid in a point, exhibiting the upside of typical point-based programs, But there is more. As we engage the observer, which has no "type," our goal is not about being the best at that point, but about a greater illumination.
Using alchemy as metaphor for Enneagram points and lines, alchemists believe everything will become more advanced given time; the “Great Work” is simply to speed up that process. Now envision the Enneagram as a dynamic vessel within which alchemical processes are taking place.
In chemistry a fixation is the reduction from a volatile or fluid state to a stable or solid form. Thus each of the nine points is more stable, and movement along the lines is more fluid, and does not have a definite shape.
Below are nine elements of alchemy, arranged in numerical sequence so you can see the Enneagram parallels. Also keep in mind that each element, while characteristic of an Enneagram point of fixation, can also become a fluid state, vital to the transformation process in all of us:
- Calcinatio—purifying by fire subjects the basic material to intense heat, driving away alien substances and leaving a pure, whitened ash. Psychologically speaking, this works on the mind and ego, burning away the false self. The whitened ash represents release from our personality’s fixated illusion of reality.
- Solutio—melting hard hearts and entrenched positions uses the purifying and dissolving properties of water to return the ash to its most basic state so it can be worked with successfully. This dissolution works on the heart to release buried emotions.
- Solificatio—making things real, represents moving from the lower to the higher mind. Our deep intention to change is not limited by rational thought and conscious goal attainment, but rather our thoughts are enlightened, transformed into light, a vision of what is possible.
- Nigredo—separating the extraneous from the real. This aspect of alchemy means putrefaction or decomposition, all ingredients cleansed and cooked to a uniform black matter, representing the moment of maximum despair, the dark night of the soul, the dying of inner chaos and doubt, discovering what really matters, what is authentic essence.
- Separatio—separating wholes into components, separating the essence of dissolution from its wastes. This refers to dismembering the personality, retrieving the energy released by dissolution of negative beliefs and emotional blockages.
- Mortificatio—killing or dead-making, consciously working on reduction of ego attachments; in Jungian terms going inside ourselves to embrace the shadow so our self reflects the whole instead of a dissociated part.
- Sublimatio—infusing with spirit, transmuting to a higher form. In chemistry a solid, when heated, passes directly into gas and ascends to the top of the vessel, where it resolidifies. Metaphorically we are made spiritual, we move above and see objectively.
- Coagulatio—mastering the forces of nature, accessing our own soul power to change our reality on all levels. This refers to earth and to being solid, to a chemical reaction that produces a new compound. In coagulatio we seek stability with our newfound peace and become accustomed to our spirit-based self.
- Coniunctio—uniting apparent opposites to make a larger whole. Here we unite conscious/unconscious, balance masculine/feminine principles, increase intuitive insights/ synchronicities, and enter psychological wholeness.
To join the mystery we must ask “How can I step into the fire, free buried and repressed emotions, discover and pursue an illuminated vision, hold to the course when shaken by disorientation or despair, dissolve negative beliefs, kill my ego attachments, find a new spiritual perspective and soul power, and become more whole?”
