I Ching · Hexagram 36 Darkening of the Light
Hexagram 36 for love and relationships: Darkening of the Light
明夷 Míng Yí · Love & relationships
A dark stretch, possibly with someone whose behaviour makes honesty dangerous. Keep your inner clarity and do not lay it out where it will be used against you. Endure with your integrity hidden but intact, and watch for the time to leave or the light to return.
Fire below, earth above: the sun sunk beneath the ground. Darkening of the Light describes a time when a bad situation or a bad leader makes it dangerous to be seen clearly, and the tradition's counsel is to veil one's light without extinguishing it. The judgement says that in adversity it furthers to be persistent. The image is precise: the wise person deals with the crowd by veiling their light, and yet shines. The reading is a survival strategy for a dark period: keep your inner clarity, do not display it where it will be attacked, and endure. The tradition's model is a prince who feigned madness to survive a tyrant.
- Advice
- Veil your light without putting it out; keep your inner clarity and outlast the dark.
- Warning
- Shining brightly in a time that punishes brightness invites the injury the hexagram is named for.
The changing lines, read for love and relationships
If your cast of Hexagram 36 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a love question, and where each leads.
Line 1 · changes into 15 Modesty
Darkening of the light in flight; he lowers his wings. The superior person goes three days without food. Where he goes, people gossip. Leave early, accept the hardship and the talk; it is the right time.
Line 2 · changes into 11 Peace
Darkening of the light injures him in the left thigh. He gives aid with the strength of a horse. Good fortune. You are hurt but not disabled; use what strength you have to help.
Line 3 · changes into 24 Return
Darkening of the light during the hunt in the south. Their great leader is captured. One must not expect persistence too soon. The root of the trouble is removed; do not expect the effects to vanish overnight.
Line 4 · changes into 55 Abundance
He enters the left side of the belly and reaches the heart of the darkening; he leaves gate and courtyard. Once you have seen how deep it goes, leave.
Line 5 · changes into 63 After Completion
Darkening of the light as with Prince Chi. Persistence furthers. If you cannot leave, hide your light entirely and keep it alive inside.
Line 6 · changes into 22 Grace
Not light but darkness. First he climbed to heaven, then plunged into the earth. The darkness has reached its height; its fall is next.
Hexagram 36 in fullCareerMoneyA decision
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