Transformation · lines 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6
Darkness becomes Release from Obstacles
What this change means
Wind moves over the water: five lines change, all but the fourth. That single still line of 59 Release from Obstacles points the way: let go of personal allegiances and keep your attention on what you mean to accomplish. Coming from Darkness, where circumstances have kept you among the wrong people, this suggests that some of the ties holding you there are loyalties you've outgrown. Loosening them can release you. The resulting hexagram also asks for sincerity and humility, letting the current carry you instead of fighting it. Watch for staying bound to a group or person out of habit or obligation when it no longer serves the goal. Clarity about what you're aiming for makes it easier to let the right things go.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 4 of 59 Release from Obstacles, which stays still
Free yourself from personal loyalties and focus on what you want to achieve; this will lead you to success.
Scatters its band: great good fortune. The scattering forms a hill: not what ordinary people imagine.
- The judgment of 36 Darkness
It's a dark time: circumstances force you to live alongside the wrong people. If you know how to protect yourself, hold on to your integrity, and go unnoticed, without openly showing your light and your talents, you'll stay safe until better times come. However hard they seem, hard times pass too.
Constancy in hardship is favorable.
- Line 1 of 36 Darkness
Trying to move ahead right now will only show you obstacles. Keep persevering on the right path, the one your heart moves you along, without straying from your goal and advancing as far as you can.
The wounded light, in flight, lowers its wings. The noble person is on the road: three days without eating. There is somewhere to go; the host grumbles.
- Line 2 of 36 Darkness
Difficulties are growing and circumstances affect you directly, but your firm resolve, acting for a greater good, and contributing as you're able will lead you to victory.
The wounded light: wounded in the left thigh. Rescued with a strong horse. Good fortune.
- Line 3 of 36 Darkness
A small stroke of luck lets you move forward, but the obstacles aren't overcome yet, so don't celebrate too soon. Stay alert until they're fully defeated.
The wounded light on the southern hunt: the great chief is taken. Constancy must not be hurried.
- Line 5 of 36 Darkness
For now you can't withdraw to better circumstances, so you have to stay where you are, with your mind fixed on your goal and a low profile so you don't draw attention.
The wounded light of Jizi. Constancy is favorable.
- Line 6 of 36 Darkness
If you keep persevering, quietly and without drawing attention, the bad situations and the people behind them will fall under their own weight.
No light, darkness. First it climbs to heaven; later it goes into the earth.
- The judgment of 59 Release from Obstacles
You can free yourself from the obstacles that hold you back if you're able to act sincerely and bring opposites together around shared goals. The tension has arisen because selfishness rules. To move forward, be humble and let the current carry you rather than going against it.
Success. The king goes to his temple. It is favorable to cross the great river. Constancy is favorable.
The trigrams
The way back
59 Release from Obstacles → 36 Darknesslines 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6
Other transformations of Darkness
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.