Hexagram 63: After Completion

既濟 (Jì Jì)

Success achieved but requiring continued vigilance to maintain.

Overview

A name like this can frighten and please at once. Should you be glad that the road to your cherished goal is almost behind you? Or sad that you now face the outcome of your hopes?

Think back over the past. You took on the task of building your own character, with your own goals in life and your own view of the world. Step by step you have come a long way, and the journey is nearing its end. You stand on the threshold now, ready to step out of one situation into a new one. This is not one ordinary situation changing into another. You are rising to a whole new stage of development and of understanding yourself as a person. The old stage is already over.

Life asks you to take responsibility for the decisions that come next. You can no longer act without thinking and then blame your own immaturity or lack of experience.

You really have become a developed person, and you know it yourself, which asks a great deal of you. This stage will be good for your plans if you do not take it lightly and do not ignore the advice of this sign.

People around you

Your friendliness and your ability to understand people have helped you build good relationships with the people around you. Keep going the same way, and your plans stand a good chance of ending well.

But the sign points to a time soon when many old ties break, while others grow stronger and firmer.

The reason for this change is inside you. Do not blame yourself, as if you had done something wrong. It is not in your power to change anything here.

Work

Big changes at work are likely as well. An old situation is giving way to a new one, so there may well be surprises and disappointments. Meet both with dignity. The main thing is to keep your self-control and your composure in every circumstance. That will protect you from emotional overload.

Your life is going through changes. You need tact both in talking with people and at work. While there is no firm ground under your feet, do not start a relationship and do not give in to your emotions. Avoid anything that could turn into a conflict. This way of acting will bring you many benefits.

The usual supports under your feet are crumbling. Do not be afraid of that. It is time to move to new ground in your life. Do not fuss, but do not put the change off either. Everything should be done at the right time.

Your wish

This looks good for your wish, and it need not be a long wait. Your effort has been building results you cannot see yet. Be patient a little longer, and things should end the way you want them to.

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

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

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

Opposite, Reversed and Nuclear:: 64. Before Completion — Every one of the six lines flipped, the same figure turned upside down and the figure formed by the four inner lines.