Hexagram 51 for love and relationships: The Arousing

震 Zhèn · Love & relationships

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.

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.

Advice: Hold your composure through the shock, and let the fear become the review that sets things in order.
Warning: Acting from terror, in the first roll of the thunder, drops the very thing the shock was testing you to keep.

The changing lines, read for love and relationships

If your cast of Hexagram 51 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a love question, and where each leads.

Line 1 · changes into 16 Enthusiasm
Shock comes, oh, oh. Then follow laughing words, ha, ha. Good fortune. Feel the fright fully; the laughter follows.
Line 2 · changes into 54 The Marrying Maiden
Shock comes bringing danger. A hundred thousand times you lose your treasures and climb the nine hills. Do not go in pursuit. After seven days you will get them back. Do not chase what the shock scattered; withdraw to high ground and it comes back.
Line 3 · changes into 55 Abundance
Shock comes and makes one distraught. If shock spurs to action, one remains free of misfortune. You are shaken; move anyway, and the movement keeps you clear of harm.
Line 4 · changes into 24 Return
Shock is mired. If the shock has bogged you down, the work is inner firmness; nothing outside will lift you.
Line 5 · changes into 17 Following
Shock goes to and fro. Danger. But nothing is lost; there are things to be done. The shocks keep coming; keep your centre and do the work in front of you.
Line 6 · changes into 21 Biting Through
Shock brings ruin and terrified gazing around. Going ahead brings misfortune. If it has not yet touched one's own body but only the neighbour's, no blame. Comrades have something to talk about. If the shock has hit the neighbour, learn from it and step back; ignore the talk.

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