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Hexagram 38: Opposition symbol.

Hexagram 38

Hexagram 38: Opposition

睽 (Kuí)

Conflict and misunderstanding that can be resolved through patience.

Overview

This period can go well. If you have been giving your family enough attention lately, you will have no mistakes to correct. If you have not, the situation is different.

You are likely to learn what went wrong through unpleasant moments you cannot avoid. If you were not fair enough and not firm enough in your own intentions, events will now take their own course, outside your control. Like it or not, that asks you to rethink your intentions and plans and look for better ways to carry them out.

To avoid more serious mistakes, put the big problems aside for a while. If you keep pushing, you can run into real trouble.

Deal with what is in front of you today. Here progress is possible, even if it is small.

People around you

How will this period affect your relationships? Keep to a policy of "no alliances". Try to stay out of whatever is going on around you, even if at first glance there is nothing wrong with it.

Some people may be hurt by this and may not understand you. Behave with tact and restraint, but do not step back from your intentions. If you get drawn into anything serious, trouble is certain.

Work and rest

The main thing now is to concentrate on present problems. Decide what you have to do in the near future. Spend time with friends or with colleagues you like, so that you do not sink into low spirits. Plan your time so that not a minute is left for sad thoughts. Better to be tired than to worry about the future.

Your wish

Your wish is not close yet, and this sign holds no pleasant surprises this time. Gather your strength and be patient. A change for the better may take some waiting.

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 38 is Fire over Lake. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Water over Fire. What the eight trigrams mean.

Upper trigram (lines 4–6)
Lí · Fire Clinging and bright
Lower trigram (lines 1–3)
Duì · Lake Joyous and open
Upper nuclear (lines 3–5)
Kǎn · Water Deep and dangerous
Lower nuclear (lines 2–4)
Lí · Fire Clinging and bright

Hexagrams this one is connected to by its structure rather than by its number.

Opposite:
39. Obstruction — Every one of the six lines flipped.
Reversed:
37. The Family — The same figure turned upside down.
Nuclear:
63. After Completion — The figure formed by the four inner lines.

If one line changes

A reading with a single changing line moves from this figure to one of these, counting from the bottom line up.

  1. Line 1 (yang to yin) 64. Before Completion
  2. Line 2 (yang to yin) 21. Biting Through
  3. Line 3 (yin to yang) 14. Great Possession
  4. Line 4 (yang to yin) 41. Decrease
  5. Line 5 (yin to yang) 10. Treading
  6. Line 6 (yang to yin) 54. Marrying Maiden

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