Otto fissazioni/en

The eight fixations are, in the original synthesis that the School of the Paret Method proposes as one of the central contributions of the wiki's third axis, a trans-traditional family of maps that describe — each with its own vocabulary and era — the eight fundamental patterns of pathological stabilization of the human psyche. The maps described present a remarkable structural convergence across twenty-five centuries of European history and beyond, and it is in this convergence that the School recognizes a strong empirical clue of the existence of anthropological constants in the psychology of types.

The eight fixations are not a new typology that the School proposes as an alternative to others: they are the recognition that existing typologies — the eight logismoi of Evagrius Ponticus (4th century), the eight planetary sub-types of the astrological-medieval tradition, the nine types of the contemporary enneagram in its operational reduction, the doubled four temperaments of classical medicine, and the Eysenckian map of 20th-century experimental psychology — say convergent things about a common ground. The page presents the five maps and indicates their correspondence with the primary typology of the School of the six character types.

I. Why eight and not six or nine

The typological maps of humanity do not agree on the exact number of categories. The School of the Paret Method primarily uses the map of six types (three pure + three binary + the seventh integrated) because it corresponds to the polyvagal map of Porges (three pure states + three mixed states + higher integration). But many other traditions have found eight or nine operational categories.

Analysis shows that the number of categories depends on the level of granularity at which one works:

Three basic categories: the three Paracelsian principles / the three guṇa / the three fundamental polyvagal states. They are the structural grid.
Six categories (three pure + three binary): the School's operational map, sufficient for non-verbal diagnosis and for guiding clinical work. Plus seven if the integrated state is included.
Seven categories (the four Hippocratic humors + three Paracelsian principles; or the seven deadly sins of Gregory the Great): they represent the same ground with a slightly different partition.
Eight categories: the eight logismoi of Evagrius Ponticus, the eight planetary sub-types (four humors × two astral polarities), the eight combinations of the Eysenckian PEN (extraversion × neuroticism × psychoticism binarized). They are the fine partition used in advanced clinical practice.
Nine categories: the contemporary new enneagram (Naranjo, Ichazo, Riso-Hudson). It adds a central integrated category to the eight.

All these partitions read the same ground — the map of stable fixations of the human psyche — with different resolutions. The choice of partition depends on the clinical task: rapid diagnosis (three/four), didactic practice (six), fine analysis (eight/nine).

This page presents the eight-part partition as a bridge between different traditions, showing how the eight fixations of Evagrius, the eight planetary sub-types, the eight Eysenckian combinations, and the nine (or eight) enneagram types describe the same family of patterns.

II. The eight logismoi of Evagrius Ponticus

The oldest and most systematic description of the eight fixations is that of Evagrius Ponticus (4th century) in the Praktikos, detailed in the page Logismoi:

Gastrimargia — gluttony, compulsive craving
Philarguria — love of money, defensive accumulation
Porneia — sexual obsession, genital compensation
Orgè — anger, chronic hostility
Lupé — sadness, melancholy
Akèdia — discouragement, tendentially suicidal depression
Kenodoxìa — vainglory, narcissism
Uperéphanìa — pride, paranoia, identity rigidity

Evagrius describes the eight logismoi as diagnostic symptoms, not as moral faults — a distinction that will be lost in the later versions of Cassian and Gregory the Great and that modernity has had to laboriously rediscover through psychoanalysis.

III. The eight planetary sub-types of the classical tradition

Hippocratic-Galenic medicine, integrated with Hermetic astrology in its medieval-Renaissance version, develops a typological grid that doubles the four classical humors through binary astral influence. Marco Paret presents it in detail in Flux Magnétique (2017) as one of the operational diagnostic grids of the traditional magnetizer.

The four humors are: Sanguine, Bilious (Choleric), Melancholic, Lymphatic (Phlegmatic). Each temperament is declined into two astral polarities:

Temperament	Astral Polarity 1	Astral Polarity 2
Sanguine (hot-moist)	Jovial (Jupiter): jovial, expansive, generous	Venusian (Venus): pleasure-seeking, sensual
Choleric (hot-dry)	Martial (Mars): aggressive, conquering, combative	Solar (Sun): expansive, proud, regal
Melancholic (cold-dry)	Saturnine (Saturn): stable, persistent, austere	Mercurial (Mercury in its introverted face): sensitive, reflective, at times melancholic-creative
Lymphatic (cold-moist)	Lunar (Moon): receptive, fluid, emotional	Neptunian (Neptune, in its modernized version): contemplative, fluctuating, sometimes scattered

Eight sub-types that the traditional magnetizer recognizes in the first minutes of the encounter through non-verbal reading. The grid presents a remarkable correspondence both with the logismoi of Evagrius and with the enneagram types and Eysenck's PEN (see subsequent sections).

IV. The experimental confirmation of Eysenck

Hans Jürgen Eysenck (1916-1997) developed in the 20th century, through factor analysis of large psychometric datasets, a three-dimensional map of personality based on three independent dimensions:

E — Extraversion/Introversion (roughly corresponds to the Sulfur/Salt opposition, activation/quiet)
N — Neuroticism/Stability (corresponds to autonomic system instability)
P — Psychoticism (introduced later, corresponds to system rigidity)

The binarization of the three dimensions (high/low) produces eight combinations (2³ = 8), which correspond remarkably to both the eight logismoi and the eight planetary sub-types.

Marco Paret in Flux Magnétique (2017) explicitly observes that Eysenck's PEN experimentally confirms the ancient typological structure:

«Modern scientific psychology, through Eysenck's work, experimentally rediscovers the same typological partition that the ancient tradition had isolated through clinical and observational means. This convergence is not accidental: it indicates that the human psyche is structured into a few recurrent patterns recognizable independently of vocabulary.»

The correspondence, schematically:

Eysenck Combination	Planetary Sub-type	Analogous Logismos	School Type
E+ N- P-	Sanguine Jovial	Kenodoxìa (positive)	Sulfur+Mercury
E+ N- P+	Solar	Uperéphanìa	Pure Sulfur
E+ N+ P-	Sanguine Venusian	Gastrimargia/Porneia	Excessive Sulfur
E+ N+ P+	Martial	Orgè	Sulfur+blocked Salt
E- N- P-	Lymphatic Lunar	Mild Akèdia	Salt+Mercury
E- N- P+	Melancholic Saturnine	Philarguria	Pure Salt
E- N+ P-	Melancholic Mercurial	Lupé	Mercury+Salt tending to Salt
E- N+ P+	Melancholic-Lymphatic with dissociation	Severe Akèdia	Fixed Salt

The correspondence is not one-to-one — that would be surprising — but the families of configurations that Eysenck identifies with the PEN overlap with those that the planetary and patristic traditions had already identified. The School reads this convergence as empirical confirmation that the same phenomenological ground is read by independent traditions.

V. The contemporary enneagram

The enneagram is a nine-point typological map that has gained widespread contemporary popularity through the works of Óscar Ichazo (1960s), Claudio Naranjo (1970s-80s), and their subsequent popularization by Riso-Hudson and others. Its origins are debated: it probably integrates elements from the Sufi tradition (Gurdjieff introduced it to the West in the early 20th century), the Kabbalah, and Pythagorean traditions.

The nine types of the enneagram are:

Reformer (perfectionist, principled) — corresponds to Orgè / Martial / rigid Sulfur+Salt
Helper (altruistic) — Venusian / caregiving Gastrimargia / Mercury+Sulfur oriented towards the other
Achiever (performer) — Kenodoxìa / Solar / high-performance Sulfur+Mercury
Individualist (romantic) — Lupé / Melancholic Mercurial / creative Mercury+Salt
Investigator (stingy/theoretical) — Philarguria / Saturnine / intellectual Pure Salt
Loyalist (analytical, doubting) — Akèdia from uncertainty / Melancholic with double activation
Enthusiast (epicurean) — Porneia + Gastrimargia / extroverted Venusian / expansive Sulfur+Mercury
Challenger (confrontational) — Uperéphanìa / Martial / Pure Sulfur
Peacemaker (mediator) — Mild Akèdia / Lymphatic Lunar / quiet Salt+Mercury

Here too, the correspondence is not mechanical, because each map has its own specificities. But the families that the different maps identify overlap in a recognizable way.

VI. From nine to eight: the cipher of numbers

The numbers that recur in typological maps — three, four, six, seven, eight, nine — are not random. They reflect natural partitions of the field of typological possibilities according to the combinatorial scheme of the basic principles:

Three (Tria Prima / guṇa / polyvagal) — the pure principles.
Four (Hippocratic humors / Empedoclean elements) — the principles through the binary qualities hot/cold, moist/dry.
Six (three pure + three binary, School map; or: three pure polyvagal states + three mixed polyvagal states) — fundamental operational partition.
Seven (six types + the seventh integrated; or: the seven classical planets; or: the seven deadly sins of Gregory the Great) — the partition that explicitly includes integration.
Eight (Evagrius's logismoi; the eight planetary sub-types; the eight Eysenckian combinations) — the fine partition of pathological fixations.
Nine (enneagram; or: the eight logismoi + the ninth state of integrated apatheia) — partition that makes explicit both the fixations and their overcoming.

The reduction by Evagrius from eight to seven (Cassian, Gregory the Great) and then to six + one (apatheia as an integrated state) corresponds structurally to the passage from the fine partition to the operational partition: concrete pastoral psychology does not use eight categories in rapid diagnosis, it uses six or seven, reserving fine analysis for cases that require it.

VII. The eight fixations as a complementary diagnostic grid in the School

The School of the Paret Method primarily uses the map of six types for rapid non-verbal diagnosis and initial didactics. The eight fixations of the planetary tradition enter clinical analysis when greater granularity is needed — typically in long accompaniment sessions, advanced initiatory work, and supervision among practitioners.

Three situations where the eight fixations are particularly useful compared to the six-type map:

Distinguishing between Martial Sulfur and Solar Sulfur. Both are active types (dominant sympathetic), but the Martial has a conflictual-defensive quality (closer to Orgè) while the Solar has an expansive-proud quality (closer to Kenodoxìa). The working techniques are significantly different: the Martial needs above all relational safety, the Solar needs an adequate mirror.
Distinguishing between Saturnine Salt and Mercurial Salt in melancholic types. The Saturnine is a stable, robust, sometimes austere Pure Salt (closer to Philarguria); the Mercurial is a Salt with creative-introverted qualities (closer to Lupé). The liberation work is different: the Saturnine requires greater mobilization, the Mercurial requires greater expression.
Distinguishing between mild Akèdia and severe Akèdia in dorsal configuration types. Mild Akèdia (Lymphatic Lunar, «Peacemaker» enneagram type) requires gradual activation; severe Akèdia (Melancholic with chronic dissociation) requires completely different protocols that include work on fundamental safety before any attempt at mobilization.

VIII. Convergence with polyvagal theory

The grid of eight fixations also converges with the polyvagal reading of the autonomic nervous system, albeit requiring a higher level of granularity than the three basic states. The polyvagal theory of Porges, in its extended version, describes polyvagal states as dynamic configurations that combine:

the ventro-vagal axis (safety/threat)
the sympathetic axis (activation/quiet)
the dorso-vagal axis (openness/immobilization)

with a third dimension (the quality of ventral tone as containing stability vs. social permeability). Three binary dimensions produce eight configurations — the same eight that the planetary, patristic, and Eysenckian traditions have independently identified.

The School's 2026 Springer papers formalize this reading as a polyvagal trial matrix that includes the eight configurations plus the ninth integrated one, thus explicitly recognizing the convergence with the enneagram reread in a physiological key.

Sources

Patristic tradition

Evagrius Ponticus, Praktikos (4th century).
Jean-Yves Leloup, Écrits sur l'Hésychasme.

Hippocratic and planetary tradition

Galen, De temperamentis.
Marco Paret, Le Flux Magnétique et les Savoirs Anciens (2017), ch. VII.

Experimental psychology

Hans J. Eysenck, Dimensions of Personality (1947).
Hans J. Eysenck, The Structure of Human Personality (1953).
Hans J. Eysenck & Sybil B. G. Eysenck, Personality and Individual Differences (1985).

Enneagram

Claudio Naranjo, Character and Neurosis: An Integrative View (1994).
Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson, Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (1996).
Helen Palmer, The Enneagram in Love and Work (1995).

Polyvagal theory

Stephen W. Porges, The Polyvagal Theory, Norton, 2011.
M. B. Sullivan et al. (with S. W. Porges), «Yoga Therapy and Polyvagal Theory», Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12:67, 2018.

School publications

Marco Paret, Le Flux Magnétique et les Savoirs Anciens (2017).
Marco Paret, Hypnosis, Polyvagal Theory, and Somatic Liberation (Springer chapter in preparation).