Hexagram 5 line 5: Waiting, yang in the fifth place
I Ching 5.5
Waiting with food and wine. Persistence is fortunate.
A pause in the difficulty, and a chance to recover strength. The tradition approves of enjoying it. Renew yourself, but do not mistake the pause for the end; there is more to come, and steadiness is still required.
Advice. Use the breathing space to restore yourself, and stay ready.
What changes when line 5 moves
Line 5 of Hexagram 5 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 11, Peace: Heaven and earth in communion: a time of flourishing, when the small departs and the great arrives.
Read together, the reading moves from Waiting toward Peace. Confident waiting: the rain will come, and the strong person eats and drinks in the meantime. Heaven below, earth above: the two principles moving toward each other and meeting. Peace is one of the most favourable hexagrams, describing a season when things that belong together are together, when the strong and the gentle cooperate, and when what is petty is on its way out. 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
- Use the breathing space to restore yourself, and stay ready. In love and relationships, Hexagram 5 reads: Something is coming that cannot be hurried. Pushing for an answer now would spoil it. Enjoy what is present, keep your own life full, and let the other person arrive in their own time.
- Career
- Use the breathing space to restore yourself, and stay ready. In career, Hexagram 5 reads: A decision, promotion or result is out of your hands for now. The reading says wait with confidence, keep yourself sharp and fed, and be ready when the moment opens. Agitation gains nothing.
- Money
- Use the breathing space to restore yourself, and stay ready. In money, Hexagram 5 reads: Not yet. Funds, returns or the right opportunity are coming but not here. Do not force a move to relieve the discomfort of waiting; the cost of impatience is higher than the cost of delay.
- A decision
- Use the breathing space to restore yourself, and stay ready. In decisions, Hexagram 5 reads: Delay the decision without anxiety. Gather what you need, stay steady, and decide when the situation has ripened. This is calculated waiting, not avoidance.
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