Hexagram 29 line 1: The Abysmal, yin in the first place

What changes when line 1 moves

Line 1 of Hexagram 29 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 60, Limitation: Water in a lake with a bank: limits that give form and save strength, provided they are not galling.

Read together, the reading moves from The Abysmal toward Limitation. Danger repeated, as water in a ravine: the way through is sincerity, and going through rather than around. Lake below, water above: a lake that holds only so much, and overflows past its limit. Limitation describes measure: the boundaries, rules and economies that give a life or an undertaking its shape. 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 29 changing to 60 →

Line 1 in context

Love & relationships

Do not let familiarity with the danger make you careless. In love and relationships, Hexagram 29 reads: A hard stretch, and possibly a repeated one. The reading does not promise it ends soon. It says that sincerity, meaning saying what is true and staying, is what carries a relationship through the ravine. Avoiding the difficulty is what deepens it.

Career

Do not let familiarity with the danger make you careless. In career, Hexagram 29 reads: Real difficulty, perhaps the same difficulty returning. Do not seek a way around it; work through it steadily and honestly, one hollow at a time. Consistency under pressure is what earns esteem here.

Money

Do not let familiarity with the danger make you careless. In money, Hexagram 29 reads: Risk and constraint. Do not take on more; move through what is already there with discipline and truthfulness. The reading warns against clever escapes and rewards steady, honest handling.

A decision

Do not let familiarity with the danger make you careless. In decisions, Hexagram 29 reads: Not a moment for the bold or the evasive option. Choose the one that goes straight through the difficulty with honesty and can be sustained. Expect to pass this way more than once.