Author Archives: Betty McGuire

Enneagram Type Nine

Podcast: Sleeping At Last
Host: Ryan O’Neal
iTunes

New song debut: “Nine” – the 25th and final song in my Atlas: II series, and the 9th and final song in the Enneagram chapter – a song for each of the nine uniquely beautiful Enneagram types of personality.

In this 2hr+ episode, I tell the birth story of my song “Nine” – piece by piece, I explain the heart, intention and inspiration behind each lyric and sound in this song, and discuss who these sleepy and loving Enneagram Type Nines are with resident Enneagram master, Chris Heuertz.

“What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?”

Podcast: Rage Against the Minivan
Host: Kristen Howerton
Podcast Recording

Text as it reads on podcast website:

What can you learn about your internal motivations and drives from the Enneagram? Over on my podcast Selfie we’re kicking off a series on this fascinating personality theory. In this introductory episode we will explain what it is, and then talk through each type with writer and enneagram enthusiast Leigh Kramer. We’re also joined by Christopher Heuertz, author of The Sacred Enneagram, who shares some of the history of the enneagram, it’s spiritual origins and modern psychological iterations, and how our childhood fears and wounds shape our personality. It’s a fascinating episode that we hope will inspire you to join us on this journey of exploration.

To take the test to find out your own type, you can visit this site for a quick, free test, or buy the $12 Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator test at the Enneagram Institute for a more thorough assessment and explanation of your secondary types. (We recommend springing for the paid test.)

Here are some books we talked about in this episode:

The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Riso and Hudson

The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge by Beatrice Chestnut

 

Enneagram Type Two

Podcast: Sleeping At Last Podcast
Hosts: Ryan O’Neal
iTunes

New song debut: “Two” – the second of nine songs inspired by the nine Enneagram types! “Two” is also part of the ongoing series of songs, Atlas by Sleeping At Last. In this episode, you’ll hear how the song came about, the Enneagram, what an Enneagram Type “Two” is and so much more! Guest: Chris Heuertz.

Enneagram Type One

Podcast: Sleeping At Last Podcast
Hosts: Ryan O’Neal
iTunes

New song debut: “One” – the first of nine songs inspired by the nine Enneagram types! “One” is part of the ongoing Atlas series of songs by Sleeping At Last. In this episode, you’ll hear how the song came about, what the Enneagram is, what an Enneagram Type “One” is and so much more! Guest: Chris Heuertz.

The Sacred Enneagram–An Interview with Chris Heuertz

Podcast: Live True
Hosts: Caron & David Loveless
iTunes

In this podcast Episode, David Loveless interviews Chris Heuertz concerning his book: The Sacred Enneagram- Finding your unique path to spiritual growth. Chris is the author of multiple books, a speaker, Enneagram coach, non-profit consultant, and anti-human trafficking activist.

Have you ever asked yourself the quintessential human question of identity- “Who am I?” Most of us spend a lifetime trying to figure out who we are and how we relate to others and God.

Unfortunately, in the process of forming an identity, we succumb to building up lies and illusions around our sense of self that only leads us further away from who God really made us to be and who we truly are.

Chris Heuertz, The Ennegram–Sacred Map to the Soul

Podcast: Typology
Host: Ian Morgan Cron
iTunes

“The number of self-proclaimed “Enneagram experts” appears to be on the rise these days so I was thrilled when I learned my friend and master Enneagram teacher, Chris Heuertz, was writing a book on using the Enneagram as a tool for personal and spiritual transformation. 

Chris is the real deal. He was first introduced to the Enneagram fifteen years ago in the slums of Cambodia, and it forever changed his life. Since then he has dedicated countless hours to studying what he calls this “sacred map of the soul,” and shared it with people at workshops and retreats around the world.

You’re going to walk away from this episode with more new insights into the Enneagram than you can shake a stick at. Listen in as Chris, my guest co-host Rabbi Evan Moffic, and I talk about understanding the ‘why’ behind your type, how to identify and find freedom from self-destructive patterns, how to grow in spiritual discernment, how to face your past wounds and find healing, how to awaken your gifts to serve today’s broken world, and about Chris’ new book The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a feast of Enneagram wisdom!” -Ian Cron

Hillsong Young and Free & Chris Heuertz

Podcast: The Relevant Podcast
Host: NA
Podcast Recording

In this episode, the hosts talk with Hillsong Young and Free about the inspiration behind their latest album, Youth Revival Acoustic and their brand-new single “Love Won’t Let Me Down.” Author Chris Heuertz also joins this episode to discuss his book The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth.

The Sacred Enneagram with Chris Heuertz

Podcast: Good/ True/ & Beautiful with Ashton Gustafson
Hosts: Asthon Gustafson
iTunes

Christopher L. Heuertz was first introduced to the Enneagram in the slums of Cambodia. Since then he has trained under some of the great living Enneagram masters including Father Richard Rohr, Russ Hudson, Marion Gilbert, and Helen Palmer, and now teaches the Enneagram in workshops and retreats around the world. Chris is an International Enneagram Association Accredited Professional. He and his wife Phileena live in Omaha with their puppy Basil, and you can join him on Facebook and Twitter in his intentions to love on the margins.

Christians Love the Enneagram with Expert Chris Heuertz

Podcast: BadChristian Podcast
Hosts: Matt, Toby, and Joey
iTunes

We talk to Chris Heuertz, best-selling author of “The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth” partially just to find out if this enneagram stuff is legit or not. We discuss whether it was created by humans as a tool for understanding, or is innate to a deeper spiritual truth of how we’re created. Matt shares some BC Music news, and Joey witnesses the potential animalistic tendencies of humans when he waited in line for sandbags in preparing for the approaching hurricane. 

Sacred Enneagram with Chris Heuertz of Gravity Center

Podcast: Voices Podcast
Hosts: Gary Hale & Kyle McKee
iTunes

Episode 12 with Chris Heuertz is all about his newest book, “Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth.” Chris is the co-founder of Gravity, a Center for Contemplation and Action. He speaks all over the world, leads retreats and was named one of Outreach Magazine’s “30 Emerging Influencers Reshaping Leadership.” Chris talks with us about the enneagram, self-reflection and doing deep inner work in our lives. While there are many books on the enneagram, Chris takes you beyond caricatures to how our enneagram type aligns with prayer postures which lead to spiritual growth.

Chris Heuertz on Contemplative Activism | Founding Partner of Gravity & Author of Unexpected Gifts

Podcast: RePlacing Church
Host: Ben Katt
iTunes

In this episode of RePlacing Church, Chris joins Ben to discuss:

    • What the Enneagram is and why it matters
    • How our Western culture affects our understanding of self and personality types
    • Why our desires for wisdom require doing the hard work of self-evaluation
    • The historical context of the Enneagram and it’s present popular usage
    • How greater self-understanding can help us connect with God and people
    • How the Enneagram can help us turn contemplative practices into embodied practices

cocooned

by Debbie Stevenson

In spring 2018 I was on a personal silent retreat. It was one of the last steps before graduating from a 3 year spiritual direction program. During those 3 days of silence, I discovered a desire for expression. I first began to notice this desire during my spiritual direction training and it also arose in sessions with my spiritual director. When I allowed myself to be silent and sit in centering prayer, I noticed a natural creativity flowing within me. I never knew I had any creative abilities. Others have that gift, not me. Or so I thought.

It was after one of those periods of silent listening that this poem came forth. As I live and move as a contemplative in the world, stillness shows me that there is something waiting to be expressed. This poem articulates my experience of discovering, exploring, and expressing a new life as I move through the transformation process. A transformation from closed to opened. Everyday I am more open to all that God has for me as I take flight into wherever that path leads me.

Cocooned By Debbie Stevenson

I have been Cocooned for most of my life,

Dark

Contained

Narrow space

Something is happening in

This space.

Wings form

A light shines

I push to the light

Like an infant pushing

from the womb.

Its wide open here

Spacious

Bright

I feel wings that as I move

are infused with energy,

Ready for flight.

I look back

that cocoon now a tomb

were I to stay any longer.

I look forward

Lift to fly in the direction

Of the one who has called me forth

To this wide world of adventure and love.

I was born again, and again, and again…

 

Debbie Stevenson serves as a School Nurse for a private christian school. She is a recent graduate of Audire The Central Florida Foundation for Spiritual Direction, and a member of Spiritual Directors International. Debbie also serves on the board of Fresh Oil Ministries. Debbie’s many roles include wife, mother, and grandmother. She enjoys sharing contemplative practices with others. Debbie resides in Merritt island, Florida with her husband of 37 years.

born again.

by Kevin Eicher

Many years ago I was deeply involved in what I will call “the church of my youth”. One day a friend asked me a question about my beliefs. That question lead me to other questions and I soon found myself, as I put it then: “lying on the valley floor” beat up and bloody without a single belief I could really hold on to. Over a period of time I developed new beliefs which lead to new questions and new valley experiences until eventually I came to a single unshakable belief: There is a god, and a single question: What’s he like? I have a real heart for the many people I meet that have asked the “questions-that-must-never-be-asked” and found themselves alone and hurting by what they found. I want them to know it’s all part of the journey, and it’s okay. This poem is about the journey of transformation. Transformation…it is painful …it is confusing …it is necessary, I hope it never ends. 

Born again. By Kevin Eicher

I was born into an understanding, of the world around me, 

and my place within it. 

I tried, very hard, to fill that place, in that world. 

 

One day while enjoying the view from the pinnacle of my understanding, 

I caught a glimpse of a distant peak, and the earth moved, 

and I fell, crashing, to a new understanding, with a new place within it. 

I was born again. 

 

One day while enjoying the view from the pinnacle of my new understanding, 

I heard music, and as I listened , my heart broke, 

and I fell, crashing, to a new understanding, with a new place within it. 

I was born again. 

 

One day while enjoying the view from the pinnacle of my new understanding, 

I heard a voice, and my mind doubted the voice, and darkness overcame me, 

and I fell, crashing, to a new understanding, with a new place within it. 

I was born again. 

 

One day while enjoying the view from the pinnacle of my new understanding, 

I felt the waves of the ocean break upon my soul, 

and I was swept away, to a new understanding, with a new place within it. 

I was born again. 

 

One day while enjoying the view from the pinnacle of my new understanding, 

I leaped, heart, mind and soul,  into the view, and the music, and the Word, and the water, 

and I was carried away, to a new understanding, with a new place within it. 

I was born again, and again, and again…

 

Kevin Eicher is a spiritual pilgrim, a thinker, and a creative. He and his wife have used their careers in long distance trucking as an impetus to a simple life and a gateway to relationships and adventures in areas they would otherwise never have encountered.When they are not running the roads or exploring the world, they live in Council Bluffs Iowa with their children and grandchildren. 

metamorphosis

by Allison Cloud

One summer day last year, while repeatedly surrendering to the unraveling of mid-life, I found myself caretaker of two caterpillars, one monarch and one black swallowtail.  As they munched and grew on my screened porch, I was able to watch them molt to their pupa state, the chrysalis.  Did you know that a caterpillar must break itself open to become the chrysalis?  So they can become less themselves and more themselves at the same time?  It was incredible to see.  This liminal space, this in-between became a powerful image to me as I waited and watched throughout the day, meditating and praying with the chrysalis in front of me, but also in my heart, spirit and mind.  I researched what happens to a caterpillar while in the pupa state.  I found scientists who have been able to record the sounds from within a chrysalis.  It is heartbreaking to hear.  Nearly two weeks later, I watched the monarch emerge (I missed the swallowtail, sadly).  The slow and painful process of exiting the chrysalis had me mesmerized.Finally, after the wings had dried, stretched and strengthened, the monarch butterfly took short flights for another hour, then was gone forever.  For my birthday that fall, my husband planted a butterfly garden in our backyard so that I can continue raising them.  Currently, there are hundreds of caterpillar eggs covering the milkweed plants.  I can’t wait to see it all unfold again.

Metamorphosis By Allison Cloud

break me open
wrap darkness around

descend to

despairing

depths
til I

dissolve.

do you hear?
anguished moans
unbearable cries
desperate pleas to

cease

save

still
my suffering.

for I am being
undone
unmade

as I
unlearn
unknown
inside my tomb-womb.

where on the outside all is
jade-green
glittered gold

my tragic beauty

where darkness must become
as light to me

where I must embrace the torment

I consent!
I surrender
to this, my chrysalis.

 

Allison Cloud is a creative and contemplative from Kansas City, who enjoys roles as teacher, leader, wife, mother, gardener, lifelong learner and community theater actress. She serves as Assistant Director of a large KC-area homeschool academy in order to provide them with enrichment and social experiences. When not pursuing these endeavors, Allison raises her four sons, plus butterflies on her porch.  She is beginning spiritual formation and spiritual direction certification through Souljourners and the Benedictine Sisters at Mt. St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas this fall.  Connect with her on Instagram @alcloud.