Hexagram 62 line 6: Small Excess, yin in the sixth place

What changes when line 6 moves

Line 6 of Hexagram 62 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 56, The Wanderer: Fire on the mountain, passing on: the stranger in a strange place, who succeeds in small things by courtesy and reserve.

Read together, the reading moves from Small Excess toward The Wanderer. The bird that should not fly too high: a time for small things, done with extra care, and for staying low. Mountain below, fire above: fire burning on a mountain, moving on as the grass is consumed, never staying. The Wanderer describes the condition of being away from home, without standing, dependent on the goodwill of strangers: a traveller, an outsider, someone whose position is temporary. 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 56 →

Line 6 in context

Love & relationships

You have overshot; the bird is gone. Come down at once. 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

You have overshot; the bird is gone. Come down at once. 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

You have overshot; the bird is gone. Come down at once. 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

You have overshot; the bird is gone. Come down at once. 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.