Hexagram 54: Marrying Maiden

歸妹 (Guī Mèi)

Relationships based on attraction rather than deep compatibility.

Overview

The idea of this sign is shown in the image of a bride setting out to join her future husband. In other words, it is about someone who has started a journey toward a goal. That goal is not accidental. There are good reasons behind it, and it shows how serious that person is.

This sign is about moving toward your goal step by step. Do not try to get everything at a single stroke. Haste will do you harm. Show patience and good sense, because these qualities are never wasted.

To arrive safely you need a clear picture of what you want your actions to bring you. Without exact goals and carefully planned ways to reach them, your own doubts will confuse you.

This has happened to you before, when goals and intentions collided, when they could not live side by side, and you were stuck, unable to follow any of them.

So now, out of your many interests and plans, choose one or two that matter most and fit well together. Think that choice over carefully. A great deal will depend on it.

But do not hesitate too long either, or you risk being left behind and losing a fine chance to reach your goal. Find the balance between wanting to act and thinking before you act. Anyone who can do that gets the results they want easily.

People around you

Think hard about your relationships with the people around you. You are in a situation where many of your intentions can be carried out. But watch for the traps that fate likes to set for us sometimes. Before you take anything on, look carefully at the circumstances around you.

The plans and intentions of other people matter more now than ever. If you are careless, you risk turning someone around you against you. That is all the more dangerous because conflict is the last thing you need at the moment. It is better to sort your relationships out at another time.

Work

Begin any new business carefully as well. Rushing into work will not help you now. In the near future you may well have several options to choose between. Weigh what you can do in each case, above all in the one you know well.

If the situation looks difficult, ask more experienced people for advice. But do not put the whole responsibility for your decision on them. The last word should stay with you.

Your wish

The wait for your wish need not be a long one. Do not fuss and do not panic. This sign reads events as turning toward the goal you want. Do not worry over small things.

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

Upper trigram (lines 4–6): Zhèn · Thunder Arousing and moving
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 and Reversed:: 53. Development — Every one of the six lines flipped and the same figure turned upside down.
Nuclear:: 63. After Completion — The figure formed by the four inner lines.