Hexagram 14 changing to 26: Great Possession to Great Taming

Where it starts: 14 Great Possession

Great possession held with modesty: abundance that lasts because its owner does not cling to it. Heaven below, fire above: the sun at its height, illuminating everything. Great Possession is a hexagram of abundance, and its subject is not how to get wealth but how to hold it. One yielding line in the fifth place is the centre of the figure: a modest, receptive ruler whom the strong lines all support. The tradition's point is that possession in great measure is kept by humility and clarity, by seeing clearly what you have and giving evil no place in it. The reading is favourable, and it makes the good fortune conditional on how it is carried.

Where it goes: 26 Great Taming

Great power held and stored: strength restrained by something firm, gathering for a large task. Heaven below, mountain above: heaven's force held within a mountain. Great Taming describes creative power accumulated and disciplined by something solid, and the tradition treats it as very favourable: it is worth crossing the great water, and it is worth not eating at home, which means taking one's talents into public service. The reading says you have, or are gathering, real strength, and that the restraint on it is not an obstacle but the thing that makes it usable. Study, character and stored knowledge are the mountain's contents. The time for the large undertaking is near.

The lines that move

1. Line 4

   One makes a distinction between oneself and one's neighbour. No blame.

   Close to power and wealth, and refusing to compete with it or be inflated by it. The line describes the discretion of someone who knows exactly what is theirs and does not reach past it. Know what is yours and do not measure yourself against the neighbour.

What is changing. The situation of Great Possession is moving toward Great Taming. Hold what you have with clarity and modesty, and be generous with it. As the change completes: Store your strength under discipline, prepare thoroughly, then undertake the large task.

love and relationships

Now: You have something valuable. The reading is about keeping it: with modesty, openness and generosity rather than possessiveness. Do not cling; what is held lightly stays. Then: Strong feeling, held with discipline. The restraint is right for now and it is building something. The reading supports commitment to a substantial relationship and warns against wasting the accumulated strength on impulse.

career

Now: Success and resources are at hand. Lead by clarity and by giving credit, not by dominance. The strong people around you support a modest centre; they leave a proud one. Then: Real capability stored and about to be used. The reading favours the large undertaking and public responsibility. Prepare thoroughly; the restraint you feel is the mountain doing its work.

money

Now: Real abundance, and the responsibility that goes with it. Manage it in the light: transparent accounts, sound stewardship, generosity where it is due. Wealth hoarded in the dark spoils. Then: Accumulation: saving, building reserves, restraining spending so that a large investment becomes possible. The reading supports the big move once the store is sufficient, not before.

decisions

Now: Decide from a position of strength, and decide generously. The reading supports the option that shares the possession and clarifies things, and warns against the one that grasps. Then: Decide for the substantial, well-prepared option. The reading supports crossing the great water. Ask whether the strength has been gathered; if it has, go.