Hexagram 34 changing to 43: Great Power to Breakthrough

Where it starts: 34 Great Power

Strength in the ascendant: thunder in heaven, and the discipline to use power only in what is right. Heaven below, thunder above: four strong lines rising, two yielding lines retreating above them. Great Power describes a time when strength is with you and growing, and the tradition's whole concern is what you do with it. The judgement is short: persistence furthers. The image adds the rule: the wise person does not tread paths that do not accord with the established order. Power is legitimate when it is used within what is right, and the lines are full of goats butting hedges and getting stuck. The reading says you have the strength; the question is whether you have the restraint that turns strength into power.

Where it goes: 43 Breakthrough

Five strong lines against one weak one at the top: the decisive, open resolution of a last remaining wrong. Heaven below, lake above: a lake risen to the sky, about to burst. Breakthrough describes the moment when what has been building must break: a resolute declaration against a last inferior element, made openly and in the right way. The tradition's judgement is detailed. The matter must be declared publicly and truthfully; there is danger; one must notify one's own city and not resort to arms; it furthers to have somewhere to go. The image warns against hoarding the gains. The reading says the time for resolution has come, that it should be done in the open, by declaration rather than force, and that the last remnant of the old must not be underestimated.

The lines that move

1. Line 5

   Loses the goat with ease. No remorse.

   Giving up the butting, stubborn attitude once the situation no longer requires it, and finding it easy. Softness where strength is no longer needed. There is no regret in letting the goat go. Let go of stubbornness once the resistance has ended.

What is changing. The situation of Great Power is moving toward Breakthrough. Use your strength firmly and only within what is right; restraint is what makes it power. As the change completes: Resolve the matter openly and truthfully, by declaration not force, and share what it frees.

love and relationships

Now: You have the upper hand or the stronger feeling, and the reading asks you not to use it to push. Strength in a relationship is shown by what it declines to do. Butting the hedge gets the horns stuck. Then: Something must be said plainly and finally. Say it openly and without violence, and expect it to be dangerous. The reading favours the clear declaration over both silence and force, and warns against being too sure of the outcome.

career

Now: Momentum and capability are high. Use them within the rules and the proper channels; the reading favours legitimate advance and warns sharply against forcing through obstacles by sheer force. What is right, done firmly, wins. Then: A decisive break with a last remaining problem, a person or a practice. Declare it in the open, through proper means, and do not underestimate the resistance. Share the gains of the resolution rather than keeping them.

money

Now: Strong position, growing resources. The discipline is to keep to sound methods rather than to use the strength for an aggressive play. Power that stays within order compounds; power that charges the fence loses. Then: The moment to resolve a lingering financial wrong, decisively and transparently. Not the moment to hoard the results. Distribute what the breakthrough frees.

decisions

Now: Decide firmly, and choose the option that is both strong and correct. If the strong option requires breaking a rule or forcing someone, the reading says it will stall. Persist within the right. Then: Decide, and decide openly. The reading supports the resolute option provided it is declared rather than forced, and it says to keep a destination in view. Half-measures now leave the last remnant to grow back.