Inner and Outer Thresholds: Ceremony and Ritual in Enneagram Work
“What is one aspect of your way of being you want to let go of?” asks Lucille Greeff, Chief Product Officer at Aephoria. She encourages us to identify what no longer serves us - whether it’s negative self-talk, or instant gratification, or resentment - in order to begin the inner work required to move through this aspect and transform for our own evolution and unfolding.??
As Development Practitioners and coaches, we often turn to psychological processes to help clients through personal development and transformation. Lucille Greeff recommends another way alongside this: rituals, with nature as a facilitator. Rituals have extraordinary power to help us and our clients transition from an stuck to fluid selves, and Lucille Greeff advocates for this spiritual practice within the Enneagram personality framework.?
“A ritual is the enactment of a myth. And, by participating in the ritual, you are participating in the myth. And since myth is a projection of the depth wisdom of the psyche, by participating in a ritual, participating in the myth, you are being, as it were, put in accord with that wisdom, which is the wisdom that is inherent within you anyhow. Your consciousness is being reminded of the wisdom of your own life.” - Joseph Campbell.
Rituals and the Rites of Passage in Today’s World
Rites of passage are rituals, events, or experiences that signify a major milestone or change in a person's life. They celebrate the social movement of individuals into and out of groups or statuses of critical importance both to the individual and the community. Significant life stages of birth, puberty, adulthood, marriage and death can all be viewed through the lens of rites of passage.
“Initiation causes a funeral and a birth; a mourning appropriate to death and a joyous celebration for the restoration of a full life.”- Michael Meade.
Lucille Greeff highlights the three main stages of rites of passage:
Nature as a Facilitator in Rituals
Nature's elements - fire, water, earth, and air - offer a profound medium through which we can engage in our rituals and transform. In her book “The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram”, Sandra Maitri describes the power of physically engaging rituals when she says: “By bringing consciousness to our bodies, experiencing and fully allowing whatever sensations, emotions, and thoughts that arise within our consciousness, we move deeper into ourselves and start feeling more in contact with ourselves.” (Maitri, 2000, pg 40.)
To identify the element that speaks to you and your current state, consider the unique qualities of each one:?
The Different Types of Rituals
Reflection and Observation
Engaging in mirror work, spending time at great heights, participating in burials, storytelling, meditation, and periods of silence can all serve as profound methods of reflection and observation. These practices help us look inward, understand our experiences, and gain insight into our lives.
Connection and Community
Welcoming rituals, initiations, and collective activities like singing, chanting, and dancing together foster a deep sense of connection and community. Ancestral remembrance rituals also play a crucial role in connecting us to our roots and honouring those who came before us.
Commitment, Follow-Through, and Devotion
Rituals that involve tying knots, saying prayers of reverence and promise, witnessing important events, building something meaningful, and chanting are powerful ways to reinforce commitment and devotion. These practices help solidify our intentions and follow through on our goals.
Purification and Forgiveness
Steams, sweats, libations, washing, smudging, sacrifices, prostration, bloodletting, and prayers of petition are all rituals that focus on purification and forgiveness. These acts can cleanse our minds and bodies, allowing us to release past burdens and forgive ourselves and others.
Letting Go, Grieving, and Closure
Burning items, cutting ties, tearing, burying, covering, wailing, breaking objects, and bathing in dirt or ash are rituals that help with letting go, grieving, and achieving closure. These practices provide a way to process and release emotions associated with loss and endings.
Inviting In, Beginnings, and Opening
Libations, washing, anointing, rebirthing breathwork, and stepping over thresholds are rituals that invite new beginnings and openings. They symbolise the start of new phases in our lives and help us welcome new opportunities and experiences.
Charging and Strengthening
Rituals such as dancing, using sticks, drumming, adopting power postures, saying our names, creating shrines, body decoration, steams, and sweating are all ways to charge and strengthen ourselves.?
These types of rituals can also shift individuals from stuckness to fluidity. Movement-based rituals, such as dance, tai chi, or yoga, release stagnant energy and promote flow, encouraging adaptability and resilience to navigate life's transitions gracefully.
Enlightenment
Practices like rock reading, interpreting signs and oracles, fasting, medicine journeys, and altered state experiences such as conscious connected breathing are rituals aimed at enlightenment. These methods help us gain deeper understanding and awareness, connecting us to a higher sense of purpose and wisdom.
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The Relationship Between Rites of Passage and the Enneagram
“Unlike in Enneagram work where we often work from our Type, in rites of passage work, we always say: wherever you are is called “here”, and all the directions are all around you,” says Lucille Greeff. To illustrate how we can use the Enneagram in rites of passage work, Lucille shares this example from her presentation at the IEA conference in Amsterdam:?
One audience member was guided to the very centre of the Enneagram map (a physical map) and asked to articulate which part of her she wanted to let go of. The participant was encouraged to move towards any point of the Enneagram map, whether that’s the Type she leads from or not, and to encounter the relevant symbol there and have a conversation with it to hear what ritual the symbol invites her to do.?
She walked towards the candle, representing fire, situated at Enneagram Eight. She then proceeded to speak through the ritual, sharing what false part of her she wished to “burn away” - let go of. The audience around her got to witness the connection with the ritual unfold in real time. She committed to doing this ritual in an appropriate space and time with invited witnesses after the conference (it is a bit inappropriate to make a big fire in a conference venue:)??
How Rituals Allow Us to Transform
The example above depicts how we might undertake rites of passage work. During the first stage (severance), we must recognise and detach from the habitual patterns of avoidance associated with each Enneagram type. For example, an individual might identify that they tend to avoid feelings of weakness (associated with Enneagram Type Eight), conflict (associated with Enneagram Type Nine), or failure (associated with Enneagram Type One). As seen in the previous example, it matters less what Type you lead from (for example, you’re an Enneagram Six) and more about what part of your being you wish to let go of.?
In the second stage (liminal), we actively engage with our core avoidances, such as facing fears of pain, neediness, or emptiness in the space of myth and ritual. Rather than “talking about it” we enact the transformation through participating in the ritual we have called on. The liminal phase involves enacting a transition supported by elements larger than ourselves. This is sometimes something we do alone while it can also be witnessed by others, calling in the power of the collective in support of the transition. When we are witnessed, we cannot go back.?
In the final stage (incorporation), we integrate our new self and the allow the story of who we are to change. This stage is about embodying a more balanced and integrated state.
“If we understand that our sense of incompleteness is the result of having lost contact with our depths and that this contact is obscured by layers of psychological structure, it follows that all we have to do to connect with our spiritual roots is thread our way back through these structures to what lies beyond them. What we have to do to regain contact with our depths is to retrace, in effect, our developmental steps. This entails being present in our immediate experience, which means fully contacting and feeling our bodily sensations, our emotions, and our thoughts - and being curious about and inquiring into what we find.” - Sandra Maitri, The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram.
The Invisible Transition Points
Navigating personal growth often involves subtle yet profound transitions that may not be immediately visible. One key transition involves moving from an identity merged with instinctual needs to embracing the ability to transcend personal desires for the greater good. This shift allows individuals to belong to a larger community or cause, fostering a sense of connection and purpose.?
Another significant shift is moving from defining oneself solely by knowledge and technical skills to focusing on the quality and approach to actions. This transition emphasises integrating wisdom with action, leading to more thoughtful and effective outcomes. Additionally, letting go of an identity rooted in past accomplishments allows individuals to acknowledge and integrate neglected aspects of their inner lives.
Balancing identity through interiority involves releasing the inward focus that isolates personal growth from broader impacts. Individuals can more effectively influence and integrate with the larger world by developing agency and wisdom that operate at a systemic level. Similarly, moving beyond strategic planning and systems change as primary means of identity to recognising the power of presence, who we are not what we do as identity, can also be very powerful.?
How to Design a Ritual?
As coaches, we must never “force” a ritual or method upon our clients. Recognising each individual's inherent wisdom about their needs is fundamental in Enneagram work. We want to personalise rituals to align with this inner wisdom and the cultural and belief frames of a client, ensuring they are meaningful, effective, and appropriate to the individual’s context (a guiding principle in all coaching engagements).??
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a meaningful ritual, drawing on the wisdom of the elements and structured through the stages of severance, liminality, and incorporation.
Choose Your Element
First, consider which element - fire, air, earth, or water - has wisdom for you at this point in your life. Each element carries unique qualities and insights that can guide your ritual.
Choose Your Ritual
What ritual could support you to be in conversation with this element? With your chosen element in mind, design a ritual that supports your intention and aligns with the element’s qualities.
How Might the Ritual Start (Severance): Begin by creating a clear separation from your current state or situation. Here are some examples of what may be useful, but allow your imagination and instinct to guide you.?
What Might You Do in the Middle of the Ritual (Liminal Space): This is the transitional phase where you are between the old and the new. Engage in activities that facilitate this transition and invite new energy.
How Might You Conclude the Ritual (Incorporation): The final stage is about integrating the new aspects of yourself and anchoring your transformation.
Immersing ourselves in nature for a prolonged period of time can provide the ideal environment for deep inner work. In the words of Casper Oelofsen: “In Big Five country, on foot, we experience all three instincts activated, equally and without effort. Your instincts WILL be in balance. The fantasy that we can tame them disappears.”
One of Lucille Greeff’s passion pursuits and areas of expertise is Vision Fasts. These experiences unfold in nature, guiding participants through ritual and ceremony to achieve new insights and transformation.?
Please contact us if you would like to learn more about mythical ways of working with the Enneagram or would like to participate in a rite of passage journey.?
About Lucille Greeff
Lucille is a Chartered Organisation Development (OD) practitioner, facilitator, coach, team development specialist, and HPCSA-registered psychometrist. She has a degree in Political Science, a BA Honours in Psychology, and an MA in Development Studies, all from the University of Johannesburg.?
Lucille’s work focuses on personal, team, and organisational change and transformation, emphasising health and effectiveness, issue-centricity, and deep transformation. She is also a vision quest facilitator and uses wilderness-based leadership development and deep ecology work in her practice.
Fun fact: Lucille writes, performs, and publishes poetry and runs rites of passage workshops called Vision Fasts.
REFERENCES
Maitri, S. (2000). The spiritual dimension of the Enneagram. TarcherPerigee.