Hexagram 62 line 4: Small Excess, yang in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 62 is yang, a solid line. When it is cast as old yang (a 9) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 15, Modesty: A mountain inside the earth: real substance carried without display, which the tradition rewards above almost everything.

Read together, the reading moves from Small Excess toward Modesty. The bird that should not fly too high: a time for small things, done with extra care, and for staying low. Mountain below, earth above: height held beneath the ground. Modesty is the only hexagram in the book in which every line is favourable, and it describes greatness that does not need to show itself. The primary hexagram describes the situation; the changing line is the point of movement in it; the resulting hexagram is where that movement leads. Both hexagrams belong to the reading, and the changing line is the hinge between them.

Hexagram 62 changing to 15 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

Meet the situation without forcing it; stay on guard, do not act. In love and relationships, Hexagram 62 reads: 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.

Career

Meet the situation without forcing it; stay on guard, do not act. In career, Hexagram 62 reads: 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.

Money

Meet the situation without forcing it; stay on guard, do not act. In money, Hexagram 62 reads: 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.

A decision

Meet the situation without forcing it; stay on guard, do not act. In decisions, Hexagram 62 reads: 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.