Hexagram 62 changing to 55: Small Excess to Abundance

Where it starts: 62 Small Excess

The bird that should not fly too high: a time for small things, done with extra care, and for staying low. Mountain below, thunder above: thunder on the mountain, louder than in the sky and smaller in reach. Four yielding lines outweigh two strong ones. Small Excess describes a time when the small predominates and the correct response is to attend to small things with slightly more care than usual: more reverence in conduct, more grief in mourning, more thrift in spending. The tradition's judgement is that small things may be done and great things may not, and its image is the flying bird whose call should go downward, not up. The reading says this is not a time to attempt anything large or to fly high, and that success lies in modesty carried a little past the ordinary.

Where it goes: 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.

The lines that move

1. Line 1

   The bird meets with misfortune through flying.

   Reaching beyond one's capacity in a time that forbids it. The fledgling that leaves the nest too early. The line is a plain warning against the premature attempt. Do not fly yet; the attempt itself is the misfortune.

What is changing. The situation of Small Excess is moving toward Abundance. Do small things with extra care and stay low; this is not a time to fly high. As the change completes: Use the height of abundance decisively and clearly, and do not grieve that noon will pass.

love and relationships

Now: Small things, done with extra care: the gesture, the apology, the attention to detail. Not the grand declaration. The reading favours modesty and warns against flying high; the bird that climbs now is caught in the net. Then: 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.

career

Now: Attend to the details and keep a low profile. Great initiatives are not favoured. Be a little more conscientious than usual in conduct and spending, and let the small, well-done things accumulate. Then: 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.

money

Now: Thrift beyond the ordinary. Small, careful economies rather than large plays. The reading rules out the big move and rewards attention to the details of the accounts. Then: 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.

decisions

Now: Choose the small, careful option and decline the large one. The reading is explicit: small things may be done, great things may not. Decide accordingly. Then: 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.