Which Enneagram Type Is Satan?
By: Dan Foster
Tags: Enneagram, Spirituality, Psychology, Faith, Religion

Which Enneagram Type Is Satan?

Do You Share a Personality With the Devil?

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Satan. The Devil. Lucifer. The Prince of Darkness. Beelzebub. The Father of Lies.

Call him what you like. The fact is most people of faith generally have a name for the personification of evil. Some even believe him to be a real, living being. But, even if you don’t, let’s assume for a moment that Satan — I’ll use that name for the sake of convenience — is actually a unique personage. That would mean he would have an equally unique personality.

Which got me thinking. If Satan took The Enneagram Test, what personality type would he be? At the end of this article, I’m going to take my best guess at answering that very question.

Do you share a personality with The Devil? Wouldn’t you like to know?

But, before we get to that, you here’s a little bit of background information that will be helpful if you are new to the Enneagram. If not, feel free to skip over this section.

What is The Enneagram?

The Enneagram is a personality profiling tool that explains why we behave the way we do, and how we relate to others. The Ennegram identifies nine types of people, each with certain strengths and weaknesses. Best of all, it’s scarily accurate!

Like so many people, when I first came across The Enneagram, my mind was completely blown. Suddenly I had an incredible tool that helped me understand both myself and others, while gently inviting me towards emotional and personal growth.

If you’ve never looked at the Ennegram, I can only recommend that you check it out. Before you get into this article, if you’re unfamiliar with the nine personality types of The Enneagram, this info-graphic provides an excellent summary of each! You might even want to take test to work out what personality type you have.

What About Satan?

I regularly meet with a group of like-minded people to discuss and explore the Enneagram and how it can help us move towards emotional and spiritual maturity. It was at this group one day that someone posed an interesting question. “What Enneagram Type do you think Satan is?”

A very robust discussion followed which largely consisted of everyone light-heartedly accusing everyone else of sharing a personality type with the Prince of Darkness himself.

It is an interesting question that is worth exploring.

Every personality type has a dark side, even if its overarching virtue seems remarkably good. Therefore, in order to decide which personality type we might attribute to Satan, we should take a look at the very worst of each of the nine types.

The Worst of the Type 1

The Type 1 is the perfectionist. At their worst the Type 1 believes that nothing is ever good enough, including and especially themselves. The completely unhealthy Type 1 is condemnatory towards others while rationalizing their own behavior.

The Worst of the Type 2

The Type 2 is the giver or helper. At their worst the Type 2 believes that they are worthless if they aren’t useful to others. The completely unhealthy Type 2 can become manipulative and self-serving by telling others how much they owe them.

The Worst of the Type 3

The Type 3 is the performer. At their worst the Type 3 is constantly striving to have the appearance of having it all together, putting on many masks to make sure they look good in every situation. The completely unhealthy Type 3 is narcissistic, becomes vindictive, and attempts to ruin others’ happiness by destroying anything that reminds them of their own short-comings.

The Worst of the Type 4

The Type 4 is the romantic or individualist. At their worst, the Type 4 can give themselves over to a critical, self-loathing, melancholy spirit. The completely unhealthy Type 4 is despairing and hopeless, often becoming self-destructive while blaming others and driving away anyone who tries to help them.

The Worst of the Type 5

The Type 5 is the investigator. At their worst, the Type 5 uses their wealth of knowledge to tear others down by being argumentative and cynical. The completely unhealthy Type 5 becomes socially reclusive, isolated from reality and emotionally unstable.

The Worst of the Type 6

The Type 6 is loyalist. At their worst, the Type 6 is in a constant state of anxiety living in an heightened state all day long. The completely unhealthy Type 6 is panicky, volatile and constantly feels like people are out to get them, so they never put themselves in a situation where they have to trust anyone.

The Worst of the Type 7

The Type 7 is the enthusiast. At their worst, the Type 7 uses constant stimulation and consumption as a way of avoiding pain and, as a consequence, growth. The completely unhealthy Type 7 is emotionally regressive, even infantile, acting out of impulse — erratic and self-destructive.

The Worst of the Type 8

The Type 8 is the reformer or challenger. At their worst, the Type 8 becomes very angry, confrontational, aggressive and tends to ‘throw their weight around.’ The completely unhealthy Type 8 becomes ruthlessly dictatorial and may brutally destroy anything or anyone that does not conform to their will

The Worst of the Type 9

The Type 9 is the peacemaker. At their worst, the Type 9 will shut down and withdraw as a way of avoiding conflict. The completely unhealthy Type 9 can be highly repressed, undeveloped and ineffectual — wanting to block out an awareness of anything that could affect them negatively.

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How Do You Determine Satan’s Personality Type?

There are strengths and weaknesses in all nine personality types and, in reality, none is better or worse than the other. All nine personality types have many wonderful and redeeming features for those who are willing to do the inner work.

However, when I was trying to determine which personality type Satan might have, I had to take into account a couple of things. Firstly, some personality types, in their most immature and unformed state, appear to have a greater propensity towards what one might call evil. (This is hard to measure, I realize, and I’m not here to discuss what constitutes good and evil. Therefore, to some extent, I had to follow my gut with this one).

Secondly, it would seem logical to me that Satan — being the personification of evil — would want to cause the greatest amount of harm to the greatest amount of people, and that some personality types seem more capable of harming greater numbers of people, while other types tend to turn the harm inwards on themselves.

Thirdly, it makes sense to me that Satan would seek to lead astray as many people as possible and that some personality types, by their very nature, have a greater ability to influence others towards an end — either good or evil.

So, I asked myself three questions:

How evil is the evil that each personality type might be capable of when at their very worst?

Is the evil that each personality type might be capable of, generally directed inwards towards self-destruction, or outwards towards the destruction of others?

Which personality types have the greatest ability to influence and lead astray the greatest number of people?

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My Conclusion

Well this was always going to be controversial, but you came here looking for an answer to the question, “Which Enneagram Type Is Satan?”

I ruled out Satan having a Type 1 personality on the basis that much of the condemnation that the Type 1 engages in is directed at self. Satan, on the other hand, would not view his own behavior through such a lens. Further, Satan does not appear to have a vested interest in perfection — but rather the destruction of perfection.

I ruled out Satan having a Type 2 personality because, even though the Type 2 can be manipulative, it seems incongruous that Satan would care about his level of usefulness to others. I dare say that Satan was never interested in being helpful.

I ruled out Type 4, Type 5, Type 6, Type 7 and Type 9 because the destructive behaviors that these typify these personalities, when at their worst, are generally directed back at oneself. Satan, I imagine, would be primarily interested in the destruction of others.

The majority of you, at this point, will have taken a collective sigh of relief – unless you happen to be a Type 3 or a Type 8.

So, which one is Satan?

Both Type 3 and Type 8 people are competent and results-driven. Both can be influential and are capable of leading large groups – characteristics that Satan could use to advantage. Importantly, both tend towards behavior that harms others when at their worst.

The Type 8 has a lot of energy for changing things that make them angry, while the Type 3 has a lot of energy for trying to appear successful. The Type 8 will destroy anyone who stands in their way, while the Type 3 will destroy anyone that reminds them of their own short-comings.

I’m torn!

OK, OK… I’ve made up my mind. I have decided that Satan is a Type 3, not just because I carry the bias of being a Type 8 myself. There is one more thing that, for me, sold the idea of Satan being a Type 3. The immature Type 3 is a deceiver, above all. While the Type 8 cares less for appearances than for results, the Type 3 will pretend to be everything they are not in order to win people over. The Type 8 is usually clear about their end goal because they want people to get on board with their mission. But, Satan would be coy about his real mission because if people knew what he was really up to, would they want to get on board? The unredeemed Type 3 is a master manipulator, a liar and a faker of the highest order.

At the risk of this turning into a verbal bashing for Type 3s everywhere, I shall wrap this up. Just remember, there is a dark side to every personality type. Type 3s are no better or worse than the rest of us, just because Satan happens to be a Type 3 as well. Besides, that’s only my loosely-held opinion. Feel free to disagree with me!

Above all, the Enneagram is an invitation to personal growth for all nine personality types, and emotional maturity is available to all who are willing to do the hard work of self-examination and reform. And that will hopefully see us all behaving like Satan a hell of a lot less.