Hexagram 47 line 4: Oppression, yang in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 47 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 29, The Abysmal: Danger repeated, as water in a ravine: the way through is sincerity, and going through rather than around.

Read together, the reading moves from Oppression toward The Abysmal. A lake with no water: exhaustion, confinement, and the strength of character that carries a person through. Water below, water above: the same trigram doubled, a gorge within a gorge. The Abysmal is the hexagram of danger, and it is not a warning to avoid it. 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 47 changing to 29 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

Come to help even if your position makes it slow and awkward. In love and relationships, Hexagram 47 reads: A drained, hemmed-in stretch, and a time when explaining yourself does not work because words are not believed. Do not argue. Hold your integrity and wait. The lines say oppression is survived by what a person is, not by what they say.

Career

Come to help even if your position makes it slow and awkward. In career, Hexagram 47 reads: Exhaustion and confinement: blocked, unheard, worn down. The reading advises against making your case now; it will not be heard. Keep your standards, conserve your strength, and let your conduct speak until words can again.

Money

Come to help even if your position makes it slow and awkward. In money, Hexagram 47 reads: Resources drained, options narrow. Endure without panic, avoid desperate moves, and do not try to talk your way out; act quietly and correctly. The tradition promises that the person of character comes through.

A decision

Come to help even if your position makes it slow and awkward. In decisions, Hexagram 47 reads: Not a time to decide anything large, and not a time to persuade. Choose the option that costs least and preserves your integrity, and wait for the water to return.