What this change means
Fire in the middle of the lake: four lines move, and the quiet Earth starts to shed its skin. With this many changing, the reading leans on the unmoved second and top lines of the resulting hexagram, 49 Renewal. The second says that when you've tried several things and nothing works, it's time for radical change. The top asks for an honest count of which changes are possible in present conditions; anything too ambitious must wait. So change is due, and it needs a realistic scale. Admit that the old approaches aren't working. Then choose the shift you can truly carry out, not the grand overhaul you imagine. Make that change well, at the right moment. Bigger renewals can follow later, once the ground is ready.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 2 of 49 Renewal, which stays still
When you've tried several things to solve something and nothing works, it's time for radical change.
When the day has come, the change is made. Setting out brings good fortune. No fault.
- Line 6 of 49 Renewal, which stays still
Take stock of the changes you can actually make now, given the circumstances. A change that's too ambitious has to wait for a better time.
The noble person changes like the leopard; the petty person changes face. Setting out brings misfortune. Abiding in constancy brings good fortune.
- The judgment of 2 Passivity
This is not the time to take the initiative to achieve things. It's better to let others guide you and to keep at your projects with patience.
Great success. The constancy of a mare is favorable. The noble person has somewhere to go: going ahead, they lose the way; following behind, they find someone to guide them. It is favorable to find friends in the southwest and to lose them in the northeast. Calm constancy brings good fortune.
- Line 1 of 2 Passivity
Things can decline without anyone noticing. It's time to take precautions so the decline doesn't become total.
Frost underfoot. Firm ice is on its way.
- Line 3 of 2 Passivity
What you do with perseverance and without showing off will be appreciated and recognized.
Holding its brightness within; it can stay constant. If it serves in the king's affairs, no achievement of its own, but a good end.
- Line 4 of 2 Passivity
Staying away from the noise, out of sight, is the best way to get what you want.
A bag tied at the neck. No fault, no praise.
- Line 5 of 2 Passivity
Right now success depends on acting with reserve. Your light shines from within.
A yellow skirt. Great good fortune.
- The judgment of 49 Renewal
You're in a time of renewal, like shedding a skin. Open yourself to change and to new ways of doing things. Success lies in taking each step at exactly the right moment, and in weighing what needs to change and what doesn't, what is no longer doing its job. Don't be afraid to let it go: you need to make room for the new to arrive.
When the day has come, there is trust. Great success. Constancy is favorable. Regret vanishes.
The trigrams
The way back
49 Renewal → 2 Passivitylines 1, 3, 4, and 5
Other transformations of Passivity
- 34Great Manifestationlines 1, 2, 3, and 4
- 5Inactionlines 1, 2, 3, and 5
- 58Inner Peacelines 1, 2, 4, and 5
- 28Excesseslines 2, 3, 4, and 5
- 26Great Achievementslines 1, 2, 3, and 6
- 38Oppositeslines 1, 2, 4, and 6
- 30The Flamelines 1, 3, 4, and 6
- 50The Vessel of Nourishmentlines 2, 3, 4, and 6
- 61Inner Integritylines 1, 2, 5, and 6
- 37The Tribelines 1, 3, 5, and 6
- 57Gentlenesslines 2, 3, 5, and 6
- 25Innocencelines 1, 4, 5, and 6
- 6Conflictlines 2, 4, 5, and 6
- 33Leaving Behindlines 3, 4, 5, and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.