解Xie · Release
In one sentence
The difficulty is lifting; you can breathe out.
Like all things stretching out after a thunderstorm, what has been holding you is coming loose. If it is over, go back to normal life and stop stirring things up. If something is still unfinished, get it done soon. Be a little more lenient, with others and with yourself.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- The difficulty pressing on you is loosening, and you can breathe out. Once the matter is settled, go back to a normal rhythm and stop stirring things up. If anything is still unfinished, deal with it early and do not drag it out. Let other people's past mistakes go where you can, and stop being hard on yourself too.
- Love
- The knot between the two of you is coming undone, like the air after a thunderstorm. Forgive past wrongs where you can, and stop bringing up old scores. If nothing more needs doing, simply live ordinary days well; if something is still unsaid, say it soon. If you are single, put the last relationship down and be a little easier on yourself.
- Money
- The tightest time with money is passing. Once you have recovered, go back to an ordinary, steady way of living and do not start stirring things up again. Any unsettled accounts or unfinished business, clear them early. Where others owe you some small thing, be a little lenient if you can.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsOnce the difficulty is released, it is favorable to return to a plain and quiet place. If nothing needs doing, come back and settle down: good fortune. If there is still something to do, go early and be back early: good fortune.
The Tuan commentary
解，險以動，動而免乎險，解。解利西南，往得眾也。其來復吉，乃得中也。有攸往夙吉，往有功也。天地解，而雷雨作，雷雨作，而百果草木皆甲坼，解之時大矣哉！
Xie: there is danger, and so movement; by moving one escapes the danger. This is Xie. In Xie "the southwest is favorable": going, one wins the many. "Coming back brings good fortune": one then holds the center. "With somewhere to go, going early brings good fortune": going brings achievement. Heaven and earth release, and thunder and rain arise. Thunder and rain arise, and the seed husks of every fruit, grass and tree split open. Great indeed is the time of Xie.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
雷雨作，解。君子以赦過宥罪。
Thunder and rain arise: Xie (Release). The noble one pardons mistakes and deals leniently with offenses.
The lines
Six at the beginning
Text无咎。No blame.In plain wordsThe difficulty has only just lifted, and someone above responds to you. No blame. More on this line →
Nine in the second place
Text田獲三狐，得黃矢，貞吉。In the hunt, three foxes are caught and a yellow arrow is gained. Staying true brings good fortune.In plain wordsOut hunting, you catch three foxes and also come by a yellow arrow. Get rid of the flattering, cunning people around you, and hold to what is central and correct yourself: good fortune. More on this line →
Six in the third place
Text負且乘，致寇至，貞吝。Carrying a load on the back while riding in a carriage: this brings the robbers. Persisting brings humiliation.In plain wordsCarrying a load on your back, yet riding in a carriage — holding a place you are not fit for and parading it about, you bring the robbers on yourself. Even if you came by the position properly, it is humiliating. Only by stepping aside can you escape. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text解而拇，朋至斯孚。Release your big toe. Then the friend arrives, and there is trust.In plain wordsShake off the person clinging to your big toe. Only when you break with those you should not be close to will real friends come, and trust you. More on this line →
Six in the fifth place
Text君子維有解，吉。有孚于小人。The noble one brings about release. Good fortune. It is borne out in the petty people.In plain wordsThe noble one can cut off what ought to be cut off: good fortune. The way to check: see whether the petty people have withdrawn. More on this line →
Six at the top
Text公用射隼于高墉之上，獲之，无不利。The duke shoots a hawk on top of a high wall and takes it. Nothing that is not favorable.In plain wordsThe duke, up on the high wall, shoots that vicious hawk and hits it with one arrow. Nothing that is not favorable. Get ready, and wait for the right moment before you strike. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Xie belongs to the first pentad of Spring Equinox, “Swallows return” (March 21 to March 25, 2027).