Hexagram 55 changing to 30: Abundance to The Clinging

Where it starts: 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.

Where it goes: 30 The Clinging

Fire that burns by clinging to what feeds it: clarity, dependence and the care of a cow. Fire below, fire above: light doubled, the sun rising twice. The Clinging is the hexagram of clarity and of dependence: fire is bright, and fire exists only by holding onto what it burns. The tradition's judgement is that persistence furthers and that caring for the cow brings good fortune, the cow being docility, the receptive quality that lets brightness endure without consuming everything. The reading says you have, or need, clarity, and that clarity survives by attaching itself to something sound and by not flaring too hot. Illumination that forgets what it depends on burns out.

The lines that move

1. Line 6

   His house is in abundance. He screens off his family. He peers through the gate and no longer sees anyone. For three years he sees nothing. Misfortune.

   Abundance turned into isolation: the wealthy house shut against everyone, the owner alone inside it. The line is the hexagram's warning made complete: fullness that stops sharing ends in a long emptiness. If your abundance has become a wall, open the gate before three years pass in it.

What is changing. The situation of Abundance is moving toward The Clinging. Use the height of abundance decisively and clearly, and do not grieve that noon will pass. As the change completes: Keep your light steady by tending what it depends on.

love and relationships

Now: 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. Then: Attachment is the theme, and the reading is not against it: fire must cling to something. Ask what you are clinging to and whether it can sustain you. Warmth that is steady and cared for lasts; passion that flares and consumes does not.

career

Now: 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. Then: Clarity of thought and the ability to make things visible to others. Attach yourself to sound work and sound people. The reading warns against brilliance that burns through its own resources and against restlessness dressed as insight.

money

Now: 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. Then: Be clear-eyed about what you depend on. Income that clings to a stable source lasts; a flare of gain that consumes its own fuel does not. Care for the cow: tend the steady thing.

decisions

Now: 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. Then: Decide with clarity, and choose the option that keeps you attached to something that can feed you. The bright, dramatic choice that has nothing to cling to burns out.