AsterNymAsterNym

I Ching · Hexagram 64 Before Completion

Hexagram 64 for decisions: Before Completion

未濟 Wèi Jì · A decision

You are close to resolution. Choose the option that finishes carefully rather than the one that assumes it is already done. The reading favours discernment over speed at the threshold.

Water below, fire above: fire rising and water sinking, the two not yet meeting. Every line is in the wrong place, the exact reverse of After Completion, and the book ends here, on the threshold. Before Completion describes the moment just before a transition is achieved, when the way across is visible and the fox is nearly over the ice. The tradition's judgement is success, and then the warning: if the little fox, nearly across, gets its tail in the water, nothing furthers. The image asks for careful discrimination of things so that each finds its place. The reading says you are near the end of something, that the outcome is favourable, and that the last step needs more care than all the others together.

Advice
The end is near; take the last step with more care than all the others, and set each thing in its place.
Warning
The little fox that thinks it is across before it is gets its tail wet and loses the crossing.

The changing lines, read for decisions

If your cast of Hexagram 64 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a decision question, and where each leads.

  1. Line 1 · changes into 38 Opposition

    He gets his tail in the water. Humiliating. You have rushed and got wet; take it as the lesson and slow down.

  2. Line 2 · changes into 35 Progress

    He brakes his wheels. Persistence brings good fortune. You could go; do not yet. Hold, and it is fortunate.

  3. Line 3 · changes into 50 The Cauldron

    Before completion, attack brings misfortune. It furthers to cross the great water. Do not attack head-on; make the crossing with proper support.

  4. Line 4 · changes into 4 Youthful Folly

    Persistence brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. Shock, thus to discipline the Devil's Country. For three years, great realms are awarded. The struggle is long; persist through it and the reward is real.

  5. Line 5 · changes into 6 Conflict

    Persistence brings good fortune. No remorse. The light of the superior person is true. Good fortune. Your clarity has carried it; the new order is here.

  6. Line 6 · changes into 40 Deliverance

    There is drinking of wine in genuine confidence. No blame. But if one wets his head, he loses it in truth. Celebrate the crossing, and stop before the celebration undoes it.

Hexagram 64 in fullLove & relationshipsCareerMoney

Ask the I Ching about your decision

The topic is pre-selected. The hexagram is not: the coins decide it.

Ask the I Ching →