Transformation · lines 2 and 5
Fleeting Success becomes Initial Obstacles
What this change means
Clouds and thunder gather where earth and lake used to be, as the second and fifth lines move. The fifth line leads: choose capable collaborators, honor their work and encourage their independence, and you'll reach something stable. The second line offers the inner stance: nothing stays the same, and seeing that lets you meet each phase with trust instead of fear.
The resulting hexagram, 3 Initial Obstacles, says this isn't the moment to act directly. Look for allies who can act on your behalf, and stay alert so you know when to take back the initiative. That suits the fifth line closely: the people you empower become your hands for now. Let them move while you keep watch. Watch for impatience with a slow beginning, and for taking every task back the moment things get difficult; trust, together with attention, is what gets a hard start moving.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- The judgment of 3 Initial Obstacles
This isn't the time to act directly: look for people who can act for you, allies who represent you. Still, stay alert so you know when the time comes to take back the initiative and control.
Great success. Constancy is favorable. Having somewhere to go is of no use yet. It is favorable to install lords.
The trigrams
The way back
3 Initial Obstacles → 19 Fleeting Successlines 2 and 5
Other transformations of Fleeting Success
- 2Passivitylines 1 and 2
- 46Going Uplines 1 and 3
- 36Darknesslines 2 and 3
- 40Clearing Obstacleslines 1 and 4
- 51Shocklines 2 and 4
- 34Great Manifestationlines 3 and 4
- 29Waterlines 1 and 5
- 5Inactionlines 3 and 5
- 58Inner Peacelines 4 and 5
- 4Immaturitylines 1 and 6
- 27Nourishmentlines 2 and 6
- 26Great Achievementslines 3 and 6
- 38Oppositeslines 4 and 6
- 61Inner Integritylines 5 and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.