Shihe, nine in the fourth placeHexagram 21, line 4 · Shihe (Biting Through) · changing to 27
The line
In plain wordsGnawing dried meat on the bone and finding a bronze arrowhead. The opponent is tough, but you handle it with the right balance of firmness and gentleness. Treat it as a hard task and keep to the right course, and there is good fortune.
The Image commentary on this line
利艱貞吉，未光也。
"It is favorable to stay true through hardship. Good fortune": it does not yet shine.
The small Image commentary is the earliest explanation of the line texts. It usually explains a line from its position: where it stands, whether it holds the center, and which line answers it.
Verdict
吉Favorable. This text describes a good outcome. Act the way it says and the matter can succeed. The promise has a condition: keep to the right course.
How to read good fortune, misfortune, regret, humiliation and no blame →
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- You have run into a tough bone to chew: the opponent or the problem is hard. You know how to combine firmness with flexibility, but treat it as a hard task and handle it seriously. Hold to your principles, neither giving in nor forcing it, and good comes of it.
- Love
- There is a hard problem between the two of you that is difficult to talk about. You know how far to go, firm without being hurtful. Treat it as the hard thing it is and keep talking it through patiently and honestly; that is the right way.
- Money
- What is stuck is a tough dispute or unpaid debt, and the other side is hard to deal with. Stick to the rules while leaving some room, fight it as the hard battle it is, and keep to proper methods without resorting to crooked ones. Then it turns out well.
This is how to read it when this is the only changing line. With several changing lines, first see which text governs; for the hexagram as a whole, see Shihe.
Line position
A yang line in a yin place: it is not in its proper place. Its partner is the first line, which is also yang, so there is no answer from it.
Fourth place: next to the ruler, a place of caution. Serve those above with care.
When you get this line
If this is the only changing line in your cast (three backs, old yang), this line is your answer. The primary hexagram is Shihe (Biting Through); when this line changes it becomes Yi (Nourishment): hexagram 21 changing to 27.
Which text to read with several changing lines →
Resulting hexagram · Yi (Nourishment)
The key question: what are you using to nourish yourself, and to nourish others?