Hexagram 21: Biting Through

噬嗑 (Shì Kè)

Decisive action to remove obstacles and achieve justice.

Overview

This situation looks like one that brings new obstacles. Getting past them is how you rise to the next step in your growth.

This sign says that in any situation you meet there will be an obstacle, and that clearing it will take a lot of time and effort.

Where does this resistance come from? Look closely and you will see that it was there before, but the conditions did not let it show. Now the world around you has changed so much that all the contradictions in your life and your work have come into view.

How should you behave, so as not to lose what you have won and still gain something new? First look again at what you do, without closing your eyes to the things and events you find unpleasant. Admit to yourself that you should not count on quick results.

People around you

As soon as you see what blocks your way, start to clear it. It may be that the people around you create many of these obstacles. So one of the most important parts of rethinking your values will be to sort out your relations both with the people who interest you and with those who are indifferent to you.

Why? Because in your present state you cannot see clearly what lies ahead, and you cannot judge how much each person means to you. It is worth being careful.

Work and rest

When you divide your time between work and rest, remember to expect difficulties. Do not be afraid that obstacles will ruin your plans. But the first results will probably take their time.

You have been warned now about the kind of events ahead, so unpleasant surprises need not frighten you.

And if you think in advance about how to correct mistakes, you can make your situation better.

Your wish

How soon your wish comes true depends mostly on how you adapt to the new conditions of life. Do not forget that there are forces slowing you down. Then you can react quickly when an obstacle appears. Go around it, and your goal should be right in front of you.

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 21 is Fire over Thunder. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Water over Mountain. What the eight trigrams mean.

Upper trigram (lines 4–6): Lí · Fire Clinging and bright
Lower trigram (lines 1–3): Zhèn · Thunder Arousing and moving
Upper nuclear (lines 3–5): Kǎn · Water Deep and dangerous
Lower nuclear (lines 2–4): Gèn · Mountain Still and stopping