I Ching: Week of Monday, October 19

One of the sixty-four hexagrams

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Holding Together

Hexagram 8 is water on the earth, filling every contour, and over a week its question changes from whether to join to who you are joined with. The lines sort the alliances. The first is sincerity like a plain earthen bowl: common pottery, but full. The third is four characters long and says you are holding together with the wrong people. The fifth gives the model of leadership. The king drives the game from three sides and leaves the fourth open, so whatever stays has chosen to. Spend the week looking at the groups you belong to through that line, and ask where people would leave if the side were open. The top line warns of union with no head, nothing at the centre to hold to.

For your star sign

The same reading, taken through each sign of the zodiac.

Aries

You join fast and leave faster. The hexagram wants the second consultation: check that this union is worth it, then join completely. The late arrival is not you; the early departure is.

Taurus

You will wait to see whether the alliance holds before you commit. It holds if you commit. Today, decide by evening, because the Judgment is clear that lateness is the misfortune.

Gemini

You will join and keep three other options open. The water follows every contour without a gap. Today the union is all or nothing, and the gap you leave is where it fails.

Cancer

Holding together is your natural work and the hexagram adds the deadline. Today the offer closes. Say yes properly, or say no properly, before it decides for you.

Leo

You want the union to gather around you. Today it gathers around something else and asks you to join. Do. Being one of the lords kept close is not a demotion.

Virgo

You will examine the alliance for flaws and find some. Consult the oracle again, as the text says, then decide. Perfect unions do not exist and the open door has a closing time.

Libra

Alliance is your subject and the deadline is your problem. Today decide whether to join before the window shuts. Weighing it into next week is the misfortune the Judgment names.

Scorpio

You will test the union's loyalty before you give yours. There is no time for the test. Today, either you are in and holding, or you are late.

Sagittarius

You are already halfway out the door of the alliance you joined last month. Today the hexagram asks you to hold together with something. Pick one and stay.

Capricorn

Union as maintenance is your reading and your method. The addition is the second consultation: before you commit resources, ask once more whether this is the alliance worth them.

Aquarius

You join causes and not people. Today the union is people. Water on earth follows the actual ground, and the actual ground is whoever is in the room offering.

Pisces

You will merge with the union rather than join it. Keep your outline. Water follows the contour but stays water, and the alliance needs you as yourself to be worth having.

For your Chinese animal

The same reading, taken through each animal of the Chinese zodiac.

Rat

You will join when it is clearly the winning side. By then it is late, and the Judgment names lateness as the misfortune. Decide today on what you know, and decide fully.

Ox

You hold together for decades once you commit. Today is the commitment. Consult the oracle a second time, as the text says, and then give the answer that lasts.

Tiger

You will lead the alliance or not join it. Today it is not yours to lead. Join it anyway, fully, and discover that holding together is a different strength from commanding.

Rabbit

Alliance suits you and deadlines do not. Today has both. Decide whether to join by evening, and if yes, without the reservations you usually keep for safety.

Dragon

The states gather round the king and you assume you are the king. Today you are a state. Join the union that is forming and be kept close, which is not the same as being subordinate.

Snake

You will hold together with one person and keep the rest at arm's length. Today the union is broader than that. Water covers the whole ground or it does not hold at all.

Horse

You are in the alliance until something moves. Today, hold. The hexagram is maintenance, not event, and the lords were kept close by staying rather than by arriving.

Goat

You join easily and the hexagram asks you to join deliberately. Ask the second question first: is this worth holding to? Then hold, without the exit you usually leave open.

Monkey

You will find the alliance interesting and then find another. Today pick this one. The closing date is real and the late arrival, the text says, meets misfortune.

Rooster

You will audit the union before joining and the audit takes a week. You have a day. Ask the one question that matters and decide on the answer.

Dog

Holding together is what you do, and the hexagram gives you a discipline: check first that the thing is worth it. Loyalty to the wrong alliance is still the wrong alliance.

Pig

You will join for the company. Fine, but check the terms once, as the Judgment asks. Union that was never examined is the kind that dissolves when the weather changes.

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