Transformation · lines 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6
Fleeting Success becomes Decline
What this change means
Heaven and earth separate: five lines move, and only the third stays still. That still line of 12 Decline carries the reading: things will get better gradually, and what's needed is patience while justice takes its course.
This is the turn the starting hexagram warned about. The favorable season gives way to a time of withdrawal, with adverse people and situations around you. The resulting hexagram counsels against getting involved with them, whatever they offer, and asks you to keep a low profile until conditions change. The still line adds hope: the slide doesn't last forever, and improvement comes gradually. If you took precautions during the good months, now is when they help. Watch for despair and for rash moves to escape the situation; patience, distance from the wrong people, and trust in slow improvement are what this movement asks of you.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 3 of 12 Decline, which stays still
Little by little things will improve; it's a matter of waiting patiently for justice to be done.
Embracing shame.
- The judgment of 19 Fleeting Success
A period of luck, fortune and well-being is coming. Make the most of it, because it will last only eight months; after that, conditions will change. If you can pay attention, read the signs and take care and precautions before the decline arrives, you won't avoid it, but you will lessen its effects while circumstances change.
Great success. Constancy is favorable. When the eighth month comes, misfortune.
- Line 1 of 19 Fleeting Success
If you join with the right people, you'll have support and backing when the decline comes.
Drawing near together. Constancy brings good fortune.
- Line 2 of 19 Fleeting Success
Recognizing that every situation is impermanent will let you move through each phase not from fear, but trusting that you have what you need to get through it.
Drawing near together. Good fortune; nothing that is not favorable.
- Line 4 of 19 Fleeting Success
Joining with the people under you and supporting them will help you stay stable.
Drawing near all the way. No fault.
- Line 5 of 19 Fleeting Success
Surrounding yourself with capable collaborators and respecting what they do, encouraging their autonomy, will bring you a stable achievement.
Drawing near with wisdom: what befits the great ruler. Good fortune.
- Line 6 of 19 Fleeting Success
Being generous in times of power and plenty, helping others improve, will keep your success going.
Drawing near with generosity. Good fortune, no fault.
- The judgment of 12 Decline
You're surrounded by adverse people and situations. Avoid getting involved with those people, no matter what they offer you. Circumstances aren't good for acting or making decisions; it's time to withdraw to a safe place and wait for conditions to change. It's time to keep a low profile.
Stagnation: these are not worthy people. The constancy of the noble person is not favorable. The great goes, the small comes.
The trigrams
The way back
12 Decline → 19 Fleeting Successlines 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6
Other transformations of Fleeting Success
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.