The Solar Type

The Solar Type

From ‘A Question of Presence’ by Sergio Antonio

The classic Solar type has broad shoulders and wide-spaced eyes, and the skin has a transparent, porcelain-like quality with particularly visible veins. It is a positive and active type, but has an air of fragility and a youthful appearance. This is because the sun is a young being, a child in the stellar world. The endocrine gland that receives the influence of the sun is the thymus, which is located in the solar plexus. The thymus is thought to become almost completely inactive at the onset of puberty—it is also a “child” gland. Peter Pan, the eternal child, is a representation of this type.

Solars can have a bizarre relationship with food (according to other types). They tend not to eat regular meals at regular times, but are fond of sweets or small snacks, at unscheduled times. Their metabolism makes them eat often, like hummingbirds. They may be repulsed by animal foods. The laughter of the Solar is noticeable: often very loud and joyful.

This last type on our list is an exception on many levels.

First of all, the sun is not a planet. It is on a higher level, that of world 12. This doesn’t make the Solar type superior to the other types; it is on the same mechanical level of world 24. But because it is under the laws of a higher world, these laws, manifested in the lower world of essence, create unusual effects.

One of these is that the Solar type often has an androgynous appearance. Another is that it is outside the circulation of the enneagram (you may have noticed that all the places 1-4-2-8-5-7 are already occupied). We can imagine it in the center of the symbol, like the sun.

Another is that it does not have a maximum attraction.

The concept of maximum attraction has not yet been explained. If you refer to the symbol of the enneagram, you see that each type on the left has its corresponding type across the symbol on the right: you thus have three pairs of types. These pairs are subject to the law of maximum attraction, that is, their essences are attracted to one another and therefore tend to form friendships, physical relationships, and so on.

The attractions are: Saturn/Lunar (mental attraction, platonic)

Jovial/Mercurial (social attraction, the two entertain each other)

Martial/Venusian (carnal attraction, as in the myth of Venus and Mars)

The Solar is alone, and under the influences of a different level. This generates a series of imbalances, which make the type appear to be from another world, and, in a way, it is. Solars can be subject to depression because of their loneliness.

Each person can be “centered” in a single type, or a combination of two or sometimes three types. Some will be Lunar, some will be Venusian, and some will be in space between the two types and be Lunar-Venusian, having characteristics of both. However, the combination of two types is only possible between types that appear consecutively in the enneagram: there can be a Mercurial-Saturn, or a Saturn-Martial, but there cannot be a Mercurial-Martial, because the two types are not consecutive.

The Solar type is outside this law, since it is not part of the circulation of the enneagram. The Solar can combine with any type and, in fact, we almost never find a pure Solar (which would be a creature almost too ethereal for this planet). When combined with another type, the Solar makes it more ethereal, and lightens and “Solarizes” its characteristics. A Jovial, for example, may be more slender, a Saturn less serious and more playful, a Martial less powerful and competitive, a Lunar less isolated and more optimistic.

Because the Solar receives energy from world 12, where there are no negative parts, it has undeveloped negative halves of centers. This leads the type to underestimate the denying force in situations. Its chief feature or weakness is naiveté, the feeling that “everything will be all right,” without having taken the necessary measures to make it so.

The delicate, childlike, ethereal aspect of world 12 that shines through in the Solar type can be attractive to other types, who may feel they need to protect the Solar. This can make Solars dependent on others—a dynamic often found in situations where the Solar is given special privileges, is the “favorite,” but one which can have negative effects. A typical example is that of the beautiful young actress “protected,” but also strongly influenced, by her producer. There is in this type a form of helplessness that compels others to help; the attitude of finding it natural to be supported and served.

The Solar type is like an actor in that it needs to be admired and applauded. Here, too, vanity is one of the most common features. Power can also manifest in the Solar type; the Solar will simply assume that what it wants to do is good, and that there could be no possible objection (denying force) to it.

A well-known film star of this type is Marilyn Monroe.

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Image from Google