Hexagram 60 changing to 29: Limitation to The Abysmal

Where it starts: 60 Limitation

Water in a lake with a bank: limits that give form and save strength, provided they are not galling. Lake below, water above: a lake that holds only so much, and overflows past its limit. Limitation describes measure: the boundaries, rules and economies that give a life or an undertaking its shape. The Chinese character is the joint of a bamboo stalk, the division that makes the whole strong. The tradition's judgement is that limitation brings success, and that galling limitation must not be persisted in. Limits are good when they fit and harmful when they crush. The image is of the wise person creating number and measure and examining the nature of virtue and conduct. The reading says the situation asks for limits, chosen deliberately, and asks you to set them where they strengthen rather than where they strangle.

Where it goes: 29 The Abysmal

Danger repeated, as water in a ravine: the way through is sincerity, and going through rather than around. Water below, water above: the same trigram doubled, a gorge within a gorge. The Abysmal is the hexagram of danger, and it is not a warning to avoid it. Water does not avoid the ravine; it flows into it, fills every hollow, and moves on. The tradition's judgement says that with sincerity there is success in the heart, and that action brings esteem. The reading describes a situation that is difficult, possibly for a while, and it says the way through is to be like water: honest about the depth, undramatic, consistent, and unwilling to stop. Repetition is the teacher here. The danger returns until you have learned to move through it plainly.

The lines that move

1. Line 1

   Not going out of the door and the courtyard is without blame.

   Restraint at the beginning: staying within one's own bounds when the moment for going out has not come. Knowing when to stop before starting. The line approves of the self-limitation. Stay within your bounds for now; it is the right time to hold back.

What is changing. The situation of Limitation is moving toward The Abysmal. Set limits deliberately, where they give form and save strength, and keep them; loosen any that gall. As the change completes: Be like water: honest about the depth, consistent, and willing to go through rather than around.

love and relationships

Now: Boundaries, agreed and kept: what each of you needs, what each of you will not do, how much is enough. The reading favours limits that both of you accept and warns against ones that gall. The right measure makes the relationship strong at the joints. Then: A hard stretch, and possibly a repeated one. The reading does not promise it ends soon. It says that sincerity, meaning saying what is true and staying, is what carries a relationship through the ravine. Avoiding the difficulty is what deepens it.

career

Now: Discipline and economy: the scope defined, the hours set, the standard fixed. The reading favours clear limits that people can work within, and warns against constraints so tight that they break the people they were meant to shape. Then: Real difficulty, perhaps the same difficulty returning. Do not seek a way around it; work through it steadily and honestly, one hollow at a time. Consistency under pressure is what earns esteem here.

money

Now: Budget. The reading is for thrift and measure, limits set deliberately and kept. It warns against both extravagance and a stinginess so severe it becomes its own harm. Find the proportion. Then: Risk and constraint. Do not take on more; move through what is already there with discipline and truthfulness. The reading warns against clever escapes and rewards steady, honest handling.

decisions

Now: Choose the option with clear, bearable limits. Decide how much is enough before you decide anything else. The reading is against open-ended commitments and against ones so restrictive they cannot be kept. Then: Not a moment for the bold or the evasive option. Choose the one that goes straight through the difficulty with honesty and can be sustained. Expect to pass this way more than once.