Xie, six in the fifth placeHexagram 40, line 5 · Xie (Release) · changing to 47
The line
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 The way to check: see whether the petty people have withdrawn.
The Image commentary on this line
君子有解，小人退也。
"The noble one brings about release": the petty people withdraw.
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 made up your mind and cut off what needed cutting, and that is good. How do you know the break is clean? See whether the gossips and those out to take advantage of you have backed off on their own.
- Love
- Whether you have really let go is not about what you say. It is about whether the people and things that drain you and stir up trouble have truly left your life. Once the break is clean, that is good.
- Money
- You have resolved to sort out the messy accounts and cut off unreliable dealings, and that is a good thing. Check it: is anyone still coming to borrow money or pull you into a venture? Only when no one does is the break real.
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 Xie.
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 Xie (Release); when this line changes it becomes Kun (Exhaustion): hexagram 40 changing to 47.
Which text to read with several changing lines →
Resulting hexagram · Kun (Exhaustion)
You are trapped, and right now no one believes anything you say.