The 27 Tritypes Revealed: Discover your Life Purpose and Blind Spots

"Katherine and David's work on the Tritype is fresh, innovative and illuminating. Even those well aquainted with the Enneagram will be surprised at the precision of this approach in identifying key features of the personality."

RUSS HUDSON, sexual 548, best-selling co-author of The Wisdom of the Enneagram

What is the Enneagram Tritype®?

Extensive research has shown that one has not one, but three Enneagram Types used in a preferred order. These three

Enneagram Types always occur in each of the three centers of intelligence: head, heart and gut. The Enneagram

Tritype® combination identifies these three Enneagram Types, adding significant precision, accuracy and scope to

the Enneagram Typing process.

One of the three types in one’s Tritype® is dominant or primary and represents the ego’s preferred defense strategy.

However, when the strategy of the dominant Enneagram Type fails, the ego then uses the strategies of the other two

types within the Tritype® in a repeating, descending order. In an attempt to solve a problem, the ego will continue

to deploy the other two types in the Tritype® until the issue is resolved.

The defense strategies of the types within the Tritype® combine, creating a unique focus of attention with a shared

worldview. Research1 suggests that the common theme found among the three types within one’s Tritype® identifies

one’s archetypal life purpose and a critical blind spot to self-awareness. In addition, the shared view by the types in

one’s Tritype® gives important clues as to what is needed to live a more conscious and meaningful life.

The high side of the intersection of these three Enneagram Types is that they define what gives life direction, focus

and purpose for the individual with that Tritype® combination. The low side of this intersection is that the defense

strategies collude, narrowing one’s ability to accurately self-assess. This collusion is both an asset and a liability.

One’s strengths are a result of these three types working in concert with one another. One’s weaknesses are a result

of this collusion as well, limiting self-awareness and spiritual growth, creating what we term an egoic ‘blind spot.’

Making this blind spot conscious often releases neurotic symptoms just as aligning one’s self with the archetypal

energies found in the three types in one’s Tritype® can align one with their life purpose and mission. Identifying

one’s Tritype® Archetype creates an opportunity to discover one’s innate abilities, develop expertise and experience

a greater sense of satisfaction.

David W. Fauvre, MA, is an Enneagram researcher, teacher, and author, founder of Enneagram Explorations, and co-developer, with Katherine Chernick Fauvre, of the Enneagram Tritype framework. Trained in transpersonal psychology (MA, California Institute of Integral Studies, valedictorian) and mentored by the late Dr. David Daniels, he has spent more than three decades studying how personality shows up in the face, in language, and in behavior.

An internationally recognized trainer and coach, David has taught in more than ten countries and lectured at Stanford. He works with businesses, coaches, psychologists, families, couples, and individuals, and he is developing AXIOM AI, an AI-powered approach to Enneagram typing.