Hexagram 19: Approach

臨 (Lín)

Leadership approach and the growth of influence and power.

Overview

As the period before was, so the next one is likely to be. How can you make the best use of this time in your life? In the past you cleared away everything that was useless and everything that held you back, because it had to go. Then you lost your bearings and came to a dead end. You stopped growing without seeing it yourself, and went on believing that you were moving forward. It showed in your work and in your mood. Now the road to your goal lies straight in front of you.

Before, you had to clear a path. Now you need different methods, and here is what this sign advises.

Turn to creative work. Take down what is not needed and build what is needed. Creation is where the meaning of this sign lies: approach. In other words, reaching, learning, taking hold of the idea that drives your growth. Go as deeply as you can into that idea of moving on, and stay as close to it as you can.

People around you

Everything in your life has to follow this, including your relationships with the people around you. Act gently and with tact, without pressure. Offer ideas. Let your friends reach their own conclusions. Look for allies who accept what you propose. Doing it alone is much harder.

Work

Get on with your work without fuss. Hurry and needless worry have never helped anyone. Go after what you want with confidence. Remember that rushing and clumsy moves will not make you surer of yourself. Let things be done slowly but well. Then you will not have to do them over.

Your wish

Nothing stands in the way of your wish now, as long as other things do not pull you aside. Think once more: do you really need it? If you are not sure, it is better to drop the plan. If you keep it anyway, it may turn into a burden later on.

This Overview is one traditional reading of the figure, offered as a prompt for reflection and perspective rather than a prediction of a fixed future. Where this material comes from.

New to the sequence? See how lines, trigrams and changing lines work, or cast your own reading with the three-coin method.

Structure

Read from the bottom upward, hexagram 19 is Earth over Lake. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Earth over Thunder. What the eight trigrams mean.

Upper trigram (lines 4–6): Kūn · Earth Receptive and devoted
Lower trigram (lines 1–3): Duì · Lake Joyous and open
Upper nuclear (lines 3–5): Kūn · Earth Receptive and devoted
Lower nuclear (lines 2–4): Zhèn · Thunder Arousing and moving