Hexagram 22 changing to 26: Grace to Great Taming

Where it starts: 22 Grace

Form and beauty in their proper place: adornment that serves substance, and knows its limits. Fire below, mountain above: fire lighting the mountain from beneath, making it beautiful. Grace is about form: manners, presentation, art, the way things look and are arranged. The tradition's judgement is favourable in small matters, and the qualification is the whole point. Beauty of form is right and good and it is not the same as substance. The reading says the situation calls for care in how things are presented, that this care is worth taking, and that it must not be mistaken for the thing itself. Grace clarifies small matters; it does not decide great ones.

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 2

   Lends grace to the beard.

   The beard has no life of its own; it moves with the chin. The line describes form that is entirely dependent on something else, an ornament following its wearer. Fine, as long as it knows it is the beard and not the face. If your role is to adorn, follow the substance you adorn.

What is changing. The situation of Grace is moving toward Great Taming. Give form its due care, keep it in proportion, and decide large matters on substance. As the change completes: Store your strength under discipline, prepare thoroughly, then undertake the large task.

love and relationships

Now: Attention to how things are done: courtesy, gesture, the setting. It matters and it is enjoyable. The reading warns against mistaking the surface for the bond, and its last line points at plain, unadorned sincerity as the highest grace. 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: Presentation counts: how you frame the proposal, how the work looks, the manners of the negotiation. Take the care. Do not let polish stand in for content, and do not make a large decision on the strength of appearances. 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: Good for matters of style, display and small refinement; poor for major financial decisions, which should not be made on how something is presented. Look past the packaging. 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: Fine for small choices of form and manner. For a large decision, strip away the presentation and decide on substance. The reading explicitly does not support deciding great matters by appearances. 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.