Hexagram 17 line 3: Following, yin in the third place

What changes when line 3 moves

Line 3 of Hexagram 17 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 49, Revolution: The moulting of a skin: a necessary, well-timed change that is believed only once it is done.

Read together, the reading moves from Following toward Revolution. Following what is right, and being followed: influence that comes from adapting to the time. Fire below, lake above: fire and water in conflict, each trying to destroy the other, like two daughters who cannot share a house. Revolution describes fundamental change, the kind that cannot be reformed into existence and must be made. 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 49 →

Line 3 in context

Love & relationships

Give up the comfortable thing for the worthwhile one, and stay with it. 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

Give up the comfortable thing for the worthwhile one, and stay with it. 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

Give up the comfortable thing for the worthwhile one, and stay with it. 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

Give up the comfortable thing for the worthwhile one, and stay with it. 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.