Hexagram 57
Hexagram 57: The Gentle
巽 (Xùn)
Wind, gentle penetration, and the power of persistent influence.
Overview
Look first at the situation that shaped your life a short time ago. You were ready to leave behind what you had already achieved and set out for something new.
At first that turn brought no visible gain, because you were only starting out. Now the moment has come when your actions begin to bear their first fruit. You saw into the heart of the situation, and that gave you results. To make good use of what you have gained, take the advice of this sign into account.
People around you
Begin with your relationships with other people, and give your attention to your recent contacts. The new ones matter most here. Why?
Because you can no longer stay at the old, surface level of these relationships, where meetings happen by chance. It is for you to decide whether to take these acquaintances deeper or let them slowly fade away.
Work
In your work, move toward your goals one step at a time. Do not be afraid of mistakes. They cannot be avoided in an unfamiliar business, and things tend to get better a little later.
Your wish
Your wish will come true if it is modest enough. Do not set your hopes on things that cannot happen, and keep the real possibilities in sight.
Put your boldest hopes aside for now. Their hour has not come yet. But a moderate wish is read here as within reach.
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 57 is Wind/Wood over Wind/Wood. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Fire over Lake. What the eight trigrams mean.
- Upper trigram (lines 4–6)
- Xùn · Wind/Wood Gentle and penetrating
- Lower trigram (lines 1–3)
- Xùn · Wind/Wood Gentle and penetrating
- Upper nuclear (lines 3–5)
- Lí · Fire Clinging and bright
- Lower nuclear (lines 2–4)
- Duì · Lake Joyous and open
Related figures
Hexagrams this one is connected to by its structure rather than by its number.
- Opposite:
- 51. The Arousing — Every one of the six lines flipped.
- Reversed:
- 58. The Joyous — The same figure turned upside down.
- Nuclear:
- 38. Opposition — 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.
- Line 1 (yin to yang) 9. Small Taming
- Line 2 (yang to yin) 53. Development
- Line 3 (yang to yin) 59. Dispersion
- Line 4 (yin to yang) 44. Coming to Meet
- Line 5 (yang to yin) 18. Work on Decay
- Line 6 (yang to yin) 48. The Well
Keep exploring
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