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I Ching · Hexagram 16 Enthusiasm

Hexagram 16 line 1: Enthusiasm, yin in the first place

Line 1 of a hexagram

I Ching 16.1

Enthusiasm that boasts of itself. Misfortune.

Someone with little standing who advertises their connection to power or their excitement about it. The line is blunt: this is self-promotion, and it draws misfortune. Enthusiasm shown off is not the same as enthusiasm felt.

Advice. Do not trumpet your connections or your excitement.

What changes when line 1 moves

Line 1 of Hexagram 16 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 51, The Arousing: Thunder repeated: a shock that terrifies for a hundred miles, and the composure not to drop the ladle.

Read together, the reading moves from Enthusiasm toward The Arousing. Thunder rising from the earth: energy that moves people when it moves with the grain of things. Thunder below, thunder above: the arousing doubled, shock upon shock. The Arousing describes the sudden event that shakes everything: a crisis, a loss, an upheaval, a fright. The primary hexagram describes the situation; the changing line is the point of movement in it; the resulting hexagram is where that movement leads. Both hexagrams belong to the reading, and the changing line is the hinge between them.

Hexagram 16 changing to 51 →

Line 1 in context

Love & relationships
Do not trumpet your connections or your excitement. In love and relationships, Hexagram 16 reads: Real energy and delight between you, and the pull to carry each other along. Enjoy it and keep it honest. The risk named is complacency: enthusiasm that stops noticing the other person and becomes a mood.
Career
Do not trumpet your connections or your excitement. In career, Hexagram 16 reads: Momentum. People are ready to follow and the moment favours action. Organise, appoint helpers, and move while the energy is high. Do not let the mood substitute for the plan.
Money
Do not trumpet your connections or your excitement. In money, Hexagram 16 reads: Enthusiasm is where money is lost as often as made. The reading supports action that follows a real trend, and warns sharply against being carried away by excitement into commitments you have not examined.
A decision
Do not trumpet your connections or your excitement. In decisions, Hexagram 16 reads: Act with the momentum, provided the direction is sound. Ask whether you are moving with the grain of the situation or merely with the feeling. If the former, go.

Hexagram 16 in fullLine 2

Cast your own reading

The topic is pre-selected. The hexagram is not: the coins decide it.

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