Transformation · lines 1, 5, and 6
Darkness becomes Gradual Progress
What this change means
A tree on the mountain: the first, fifth and top lines move, raising Mountain below and Wind above. Darkness describes being hemmed in by the wrong people and getting through by discretion and steadiness. The resulting hexagram, 53 Gradual Progress, says progress will come step by step, through stages that make it lasting and stable, and that trying to hurry it brings delays. Weighed together, they describe a slow way out of the dark. You don't need a dramatic escape or a sudden break. Keep climbing, one rung at a time, quietly. Watch for impatience that tempts you to leap before you've secured each step. The slower climb tends to hold, and it lets you keep the discretion that's protected you so far.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- 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.
- The judgment of 53 Gradual Progress
You'll make progress, and it will come step by step, gradually, through stages that make it lasting and stable. Trying to speed things up will bring delays and obstacles. Keep at it, one rung at a time.
The woman goes to be married: good fortune. Constancy 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 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 trigrams
The way back
53 Gradual Progress → 36 Darknesslines 1, 5, and 6
Other transformations of Darkness
- 7The Armylines 1, 2, and 3
- 32What Lastslines 1, 2, and 4
- 16Passionlines 1, 3, and 4
- 54A Subordinate Rolelines 2, 3, and 4
- 48Right Actionlines 1, 2, and 5
- 8Unionlines 1, 3, and 5
- 60Thriftlines 2, 3, and 5
- 31Attractionlines 1, 4, and 5
- 43Overflowinglines 2, 4, and 5
- 17Adaptinglines 3, 4, and 5
- 18Loss, Then Gainlines 1, 2, and 6
- 23The Falllines 1, 3, and 6
- 41Decreaselines 2, 3, and 6
- 56The Travelerlines 1, 4, and 6
- 14Wealthlines 2, 4, and 6
- 21Bitinglines 3, 4, and 6
- 9Small Thingslines 2, 5, and 6
- 42Increaselines 3, 5, and 6
- 13Gathering with Equalslines 4, 5, and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.