Hexagram 42 line 4: Increase, yin in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 42 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 25, Innocence: Acting without calculation: doing what is right because it is right, and accepting what comes.

Read together, the reading moves from Increase toward Innocence. The top gives to the base and everything grows: a time of increase, to be used well and used now. Thunder below, heaven above: movement in accord with heaven. Innocence describes action that springs from an honest nature rather than from scheming, and the tradition ties it to the unexpected: what comes to the person who acts without ulterior motive cannot be planned and is not always pleasant. 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 42 changing to 25 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

Be the fair go-between; it earns the trust for large work. In love and relationships, Hexagram 42 reads: A time of growth and giving. Invest in the relationship generously; the conditions favour it and the giving comes back. The reading warns that increase is a season, and that taking without giving, at the end, leaves you alone.

Career

Be the fair go-between; it earns the trust for large work. In career, Hexagram 42 reads: Expansion. The reading supports the ambitious project and the big crossing. Use the help coming from above, give it forward, and improve what can be improved while the wind is behind you.

Money

Be the fair go-between; it earns the trust for large work. In money, Hexagram 42 reads: Growth, and the moment to act on it: invest, undertake, build. Use the increase for lasting good rather than display. The reading is favourable and time-limited; use it while it lasts.

A decision

Be the fair go-between; it earns the trust for large work. In decisions, Hexagram 42 reads: Take the expansive option. The conditions support undertaking something substantial. Decide now; the reading says increase is a moment, and moments pass.