I Ching · Hexagram 49 Revolution
Hexagram 49 line 5: Revolution, yang in the fifth place

I Ching 49.5
The great person changes like a tiger. Even before questioning the oracle, he is believed.
The leader whose change is so clear in its pattern, like the stripes of a tiger, that it needs no justification. The line describes revolution with complete clarity of purpose, recognised by everyone at once.
Advice. Make the change so clearly that no one needs to be persuaded.
What changes when line 5 moves
Line 5 of Hexagram 49 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 55, Abundance: The sun at noon: abundance at its height, with the certainty that noon does not last and the instruction not to grieve about it.
Read together, the reading moves from Revolution toward Abundance. The moulting of a skin: a necessary, well-timed change that is believed only once it is done. Fire below, thunder above: clarity and movement together, lightning and thunder at full strength. Abundance describes the peak, the moment of greatest fullness. 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.
Line 5 in context
- Love & relationships
- Make the change so clearly that no one needs to be persuaded. In love and relationships, Hexagram 49 reads: Something between you has to change fundamentally, not be patched. Prepare it, time it, and do it for reasons the other person will recognise afterwards even if they do not in advance. Do not revolt in a temper.
- Career
- Make the change so clearly that no one needs to be persuaded. In career, Hexagram 49 reads: Radical change: a restructuring, a departure, a new direction that cannot be reached by adjustment. The reading supports it on conditions: the time must be ripe, the case must be sound, and you must be the right person to make it.
- Money
- Make the change so clearly that no one needs to be persuaded. In money, Hexagram 49 reads: A fundamental change of approach rather than a tweak. Make it once, deliberately, after preparation; a revolution made twice loses everyone's trust. Expect to be believed only when the results show.
- A decision
- Make the change so clearly that no one needs to be persuaded. In decisions, Hexagram 49 reads: The decision is for real change, and the reading asks three questions before you make it: is it necessary, is it timely, and are you the one to do it? If all three are yes, decide and do not look back.
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