Hexagram 55 changing to 34: Abundance to Great Power

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: 34 Great Power

Strength in the ascendant: thunder in heaven, and the discipline to use power only in what is right. Heaven below, thunder above: four strong lines rising, two yielding lines retreating above them. Great Power describes a time when strength is with you and growing, and the tradition's whole concern is what you do with it. The judgement is short: persistence furthers. The image adds the rule: the wise person does not tread paths that do not accord with the established order. Power is legitimate when it is used within what is right, and the lines are full of goats butting hedges and getting stuck. The reading says you have the strength; the question is whether you have the restraint that turns strength into power.

The lines that move

1. Line 2

   The curtain is so thick that the polar stars can be seen at noon. Going meets with mistrust and hate. Arousing through truth brings good fortune.

   Darkness at midday: the person in charge has been surrounded by intriguers and cannot see. Direct approach meets suspicion. The line's remedy is the inner power of truth, which reaches through the curtain when argument cannot. You are not believed; do not argue, be true, and the truth reaches through.

What is changing. The situation of Abundance is moving toward Great Power. Use the height of abundance decisively and clearly, and do not grieve that noon will pass. As the change completes: Use your strength firmly and only within what is right; restraint is what makes it power.

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: You have the upper hand or the stronger feeling, and the reading asks you not to use it to push. Strength in a relationship is shown by what it declines to do. Butting the hedge gets the horns stuck.

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: Momentum and capability are high. Use them within the rules and the proper channels; the reading favours legitimate advance and warns sharply against forcing through obstacles by sheer force. What is right, done firmly, wins.

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: Strong position, growing resources. The discipline is to keep to sound methods rather than to use the strength for an aggressive play. Power that stays within order compounds; power that charges the fence loses.

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 firmly, and choose the option that is both strong and correct. If the strong option requires breaking a rule or forcing someone, the reading says it will stall. Persist within the right.