Hexagram 17 line 1: Following, yang in the first place

What changes when line 1 moves

Line 1 of Hexagram 17 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 45, Gathering Together: The lake gathering on the earth: people assembling around a centre, with the resources to make the gathering matter.

Read together, the reading moves from Following toward Gathering Together. Following what is right, and being followed: influence that comes from adapting to the time. Earth below, lake above: water collecting on the land, a reservoir. Gathering Together describes assembly: people collecting around a leader or a cause, resources pooled, a community formed. 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 17 changing to 45 →

Line 1 in context

Love & relationships

Adapt to the change and go out to meet people unlike yourself. In love and relationships, Hexagram 17 reads: Go along with the other person's rhythm for now, and choose carefully whom you follow. Devotion to someone worth it is strength; devotion to anyone who asks is the error the lines describe.

Career

Adapt to the change and go out to meet people unlike yourself. In career, Hexagram 17 reads: Adapt to the direction of the organisation or the leader, if the direction is sound. If you lead, you keep followers by being worth following, not by insisting. Rest when the day ends.

Money

Adapt to the change and go out to meet people unlike yourself. In money, Hexagram 17 reads: Follow the trend that is real rather than fighting it, and follow advice that is proven. The reading favours flexibility and warns against clinging to a position out of pride.

A decision

Adapt to the change and go out to meet people unlike yourself. In decisions, Hexagram 17 reads: Choose the option that adapts to the situation as it is. If it means following someone else's lead, do it wholeheartedly or not at all; half-following is the worst of both.