Hexagram 51 changing to 55: The Arousing to Abundance

Where it starts: 51 The Arousing

Thunder repeated: a shock that terrifies for a hundred miles, and the composure not to drop the ladle. Thunder below, thunder above: the arousing doubled, shock upon shock. The Arousing describes the sudden event that shakes everything: a crisis, a loss, an upheaval, a fright. The tradition's judgement is famous: the shock comes, oh, oh; laughter, ha, ha. The thunder terrifies for a hundred miles, and the person who does not let the sacrificial spoon and cup fall is the one the hexagram admires. The image adds the response: in fear and trembling, the wise person sets their life in order and examines themselves. The reading says a shock has come or is coming, that it will be frightening, and that the whole test is composure: to be shaken and not to drop what you are holding.

Where it goes: 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. Fire below, thunder above: clarity and movement together, lightning and thunder at full strength. Abundance describes the peak, the moment of greatest fullness. The tradition's judgement is that the king attains abundance, that one should not be sad, and that one should be like the sun at midday. The greatness of the moment is real and so is its brevity. The reading says you are at or near a high point, that it should be used with clarity and decision while it lasts, and that the correct attitude toward its passing is not grief but light. The lines are strange, full of eclipses and curtains: even at noon, darkness can gather, and the hexagram asks you to keep seeing clearly through it.

The lines that move

1. Line 3

   Shock comes and makes one distraught. If shock spurs to action, one remains free of misfortune.

   Bewilderment, and the way out of it: to act, however imperfectly, rather than freeze. The line accepts that the person is shaken and says that movement, even uncertain movement, keeps them safe. You are shaken; move anyway, and the movement keeps you clear of harm.

What is changing. The situation of The Arousing is moving toward Abundance. Hold your composure through the shock, and let the fear become the review that sets things in order. As the change completes: Use the height of abundance decisively and clearly, and do not grieve that noon will pass.

love and relationships

Now: A shock in the relationship: a revelation, a loss, a sudden fright. The reading does not minimise it. It asks you not to drop what you hold: keep your composure, do not act from the first terror, and let the fright become the examination that puts things in order. Then: A high point: fullness of feeling, of shared life. Enjoy it without sadness that it will change. The lines warn about the curtain that can darken even noon: suspicion and misunderstanding at the height of things. Keep seeing each other clearly.

career

Now: Sudden upheaval: a change of leadership, a crisis, a jolt. The people who come through are the ones who keep their heads while the thunder rolls. Do not make big decisions in the first shock; use it to review everything. Then: Peak influence and success. Use it decisively; the image is of judgements made and carried out while the light is strongest. Do not waste the noon in anxiety about the afternoon, and do not let the abundance isolate you from clear sight.

money

Now: A financial shock. The reading's counsel is composure: do not sell in terror, do not act in the roll of the thunder. Examine what the shock reveals about your arrangements and set them in order. Then: Prosperity at its height. Make the decisions that require it now. Do not grieve in advance for its passing, and do not let fullness breed the complacency that the lines describe as a darkening at noon.

decisions

Now: Do not decide inside the shock. Let the thunder pass, hold what you are holding, and decide once the fear has become examination. The reading's laughter comes after the fright, not during it. Then: Decide now, at the height of clarity and resources. The reading favours decisive action in abundance and warns against delay, because noon passes. Act like the sun at midday.