Hexagram 14 changing to 34: Great Possession to Great Power

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: 34 Great Power

Strength in the ascendant: thunder in heaven, and the discipline to use power only in what is right. Heaven below, thunder above: four strong lines rising, two yielding lines retreating above them. Great Power describes a time when strength is with you and growing, and the tradition's whole concern is what you do with it. The judgement is short: persistence furthers. The image adds the rule: the wise person does not tread paths that do not accord with the established order. Power is legitimate when it is used within what is right, and the lines are full of goats butting hedges and getting stuck. The reading says you have the strength; the question is whether you have the restraint that turns strength into power.

The lines that move

1. Line 6

   Blessed by heaven. Good fortune; nothing that does not further.

   The highest line, and one of the most fortunate in the book: possession so lightly held that it is blessed. Someone at the top who honours what is above and remains modest is helped by everything. Hold your fortune lightly and gratefully; everything supports you.

What is changing. The situation of Great Possession is moving toward Great Power. Hold what you have with clarity and modesty, and be generous with it. As the change completes: Use your strength firmly and only within what is right; restraint is what makes it power.

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: You have the upper hand or the stronger feeling, and the reading asks you not to use it to push. Strength in a relationship is shown by what it declines to do. Butting the hedge gets the horns stuck.

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: Momentum and capability are high. Use them within the rules and the proper channels; the reading favours legitimate advance and warns sharply against forcing through obstacles by sheer force. What is right, done firmly, wins.

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: Strong position, growing resources. The discipline is to keep to sound methods rather than to use the strength for an aggressive play. Power that stays within order compounds; power that charges the fence loses.

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 firmly, and choose the option that is both strong and correct. If the strong option requires breaking a rule or forcing someone, the reading says it will stall. Persist within the right.