Hexagram 51 line 4: The Arousing, yang in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 51 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 24, Return: The turning point: light returns after the darkest day, and the beginning must be treated gently.

Read together, the reading moves from The Arousing toward Return. Thunder repeated: a shock that terrifies for a hundred miles, and the composure not to drop the ladle. Thunder below, earth above: movement stirring under the ground at the winter solstice. One yang line has entered at the bottom beneath five yin lines. 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 51 changing to 24 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

If the shock has bogged you down, the work is inner firmness; nothing outside will lift you. In love and relationships, Hexagram 51 reads: 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.

Career

If the shock has bogged you down, the work is inner firmness; nothing outside will lift you. In career, Hexagram 51 reads: 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.

Money

If the shock has bogged you down, the work is inner firmness; nothing outside will lift you. In money, Hexagram 51 reads: 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.

A decision

If the shock has bogged you down, the work is inner firmness; nothing outside will lift you. In decisions, Hexagram 51 reads: 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.