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I Ching · Hexagram 50 The Cauldron

Hexagram 50 for career: The Cauldron

鼎 Dǐng · Career

Transforming ability into something recognised and worthy. The reading strongly favours the work of refinement and the person who does it well. Correct your position, tend the vessel, and the offering will be received.

Wind below, fire above: wood feeding fire, the flame under the great bronze cauldron in which offerings were cooked. The Cauldron is the pair of the Well: where the Well is raw nourishment from nature, the Cauldron is nourishment transformed by culture, cooked, refined and offered. The tradition's judgement is simply supreme good fortune, success. The image is of the wise person consolidating their fate by making their position correct. The reading says the situation is one of refinement and offering: what you have can be transformed into something of real worth, and the worth depends on the vessel being sound, well placed and carried with care.

Advice
Refine what you have into something worthy, set the vessel on correct ground, and carry it with care.
Warning
A cauldron with broken legs spills the meal meant for the prince; the refinement is undone by a single careless move.

The changing lines, read for career

If your cast of Hexagram 50 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a career question, and where each leads.

  1. Line 1 · changes into 14 Great Possession

    A cauldron with legs upturned. Furthers removal of stagnating stuff. One takes a concubine for the sake of her son. No blame. Empty out the stale before you cook anything new; the disorder is temporary.

  2. Line 2 · changes into 56 The Wanderer

    There is food in the cauldron. My comrades are envious, but they cannot harm me. Good fortune. You have substance; envy cannot harm it if your conduct is clean.

  3. Line 3 · changes into 64 Before Completion

    The handle of the cauldron is altered; one is impeded. The fat of the pheasant is not eaten. Once rain falls, remorse is spent. Good fortune comes in the end. Your worth is real but unreachable for now; it will be recognised, so wait.

  4. Line 4 · changes into 18 Work on What Has Been Spoiled

    The legs of the cauldron are broken. The prince's meal is spilled and his person soiled. Misfortune. Do not take on, or delegate to, what cannot bear the weight.

  5. Line 5 · changes into 44 Coming to Meet

    The cauldron has yellow handles, golden carrying rings. Persistence furthers. Be approachable and firm; that is what lets others carry the work with you.

  6. Line 6 · changes into 32 Duration

    The cauldron has rings of jade. Great good fortune. Nothing that does not further. Hard within, gentle without; everything furthers.

Hexagram 50 in fullLove & relationshipsMoneyA decision

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