Heng, six in the fifth placeHexagram 32, line 5 · Heng (Endurance) · changing to 28
The line
In plain wordsKeeping to the virtue of compliance over the long run is correct. For someone whose role is to assist and cooperate, good fortune; for someone who needs to make their own decisions, misfortune.
The Image commentary on this line
婦人貞吉，從一而終也。夫子制義，從婦凶也。
For a wife, staying true brings good fortune: she follows one to the end. A husband decides what is right: to follow the wife brings misfortune.
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
慎Proceed with care. The text names both a good and a bad outcome: one way of acting leads to each. The result depends on which you choose.
How to read good fortune, misfortune, regret, humiliation and no blame →
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Always going along and cooperating is good for someone in a supporting role; but if you are the one who should make the call, deferring on everything will do harm. First be clear about your role in this.
- Love
- Always giving way and going along with the other person is fine if you are happy to be the one who accommodates. But if you defer even on what is yours to decide, trouble follows. Sort out which things are yours to settle.
- Money
- Sticking to the old rules and following others' arrangements is safe for someone who only carries things out. But if the money decisions are yours to make and you still just do as others say, trouble follows. When it is your call, make it yourself.
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 Heng.
Line position
A yin line in a yang place: it is not in its proper place; it holds the center of its trigram. Its partner is the second line, which is its opposite, so the two answer each other.
Fifth place: the center of the upper trigram, the ruler's seat, a place of achievement. This is where things are decided.
When you get this line
If this is the only changing line in your cast (three inscribed sides, old yin), this line is your answer. The primary hexagram is Heng (Endurance); when this line changes it becomes Daguo (Great Excess): hexagram 32 changing to 28.
Which text to read with several changing lines →
Resulting hexagram · Daguo (Great Excess)
The load is too heavy and the beam is already bent. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.