I Ching: Wednesday, October 14

One of the sixty-four hexagrams

This is an archived reading, kept as it was published.

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The Clinging

Hexagram 30 is fire above fire, and its name carries two senses: to cling, and to separate. Fire depends on what it burns. So the Judgment's advice for a day of clarity is oddly domestic. Care of the cow brings good fortune. Whatever keeps you lucid, whether sleep, a routine or a particular person, needs tending today more than the brilliance does. The fourth line shows the alternative in four verbs: it comes, it flares, it dies, it is thrown away. Aim for the second line's yellow light, moderate and central, rather than the brightest fire you can manage.

For your star sign

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

Aries

You burn bright and fast, which is the fourth line exactly: it flares, it dies out, it is thrown away. Put fuel under the flame before you show it. The cow in the Judgment is that fuel.

Taurus

The Judgment's instruction suits you better than anyone: care of the cow brings good fortune. Tend the slow, unglamorous thing that keeps you clear-headed. Brilliance in this hexagram is fed, not summoned.

Gemini

Your mind starts out like the first line, footprints crossing in every direction. Attention is what sorts them, and the line says taking it seriously avoids blame. Choose which tracks to follow before the day chooses for you.

Cancer

Fire clings to what it burns, and you know how that feels from the inside. The hexagram does not call dependence a weakness. It asks only that you tend what you depend on, and let it tend you.

Leo

Light is your natural state, and the Image asks you to carry it forward to the four quarters rather than keep it. Clarity in this hexagram is passed along. What matters is who sees better after you leave.

Virgo

Your clarity leans toward the harshest possible scrutiny. The second line prefers yellow light: central, moderate, the colour of the middle. Look at things clearly without lighting them up for inspection.

Libra

Beauty and clarity both sit under this hexagram, and both cling to something. Look at what your sense of balance is resting on. If it rests on other people's approval, the fire depends on fuel that is not yours.

Scorpio

Seeing further than most is your habit, and the top line gives that sight a job: strike the leaders and spare the followers. Clarity here means knowing exactly who the problem is, and leaving everyone else alone.

Sagittarius

Chasing light wherever it is brightest is what the fourth line warns against: a sudden flare with nothing under it. Feed one fire you already have rather than running toward a new one.

Capricorn

Something may be ending, and the third line gives two ways to meet the setting sun. Beat the pot and sing, or lament growing old. The classic marks misfortune for the lament. Choose the song.

Aquarius

Clear thinking matters to you and the sentiment around endings rather less. The fifth line has tears in floods and calls it good fortune. Seeing clearly in this hexagram includes seeing what has been lost.

Pisces

Feeling comes easily to you, and the fifth line approves of it: open grief, nothing hidden, good fortune. Let it be honest, then let it pass, so the light has something to cling to besides the sorrow.

For your Chinese animal

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

Rat

Keeping a careful eye on everything is the first line's virtue: footprints crossing, taken seriously. Sort the tracks early. The clarity this hexagram asks for begins as attention at the start of the day.

Ox

Steady work is the cow in this hexagram, the docile thing that keeps the light fed. That is you, and the Judgment says to look after it. Rest the animal as well as working it.

Tiger

Blazing in is your way, and the fourth line knows it well: it comes, it flares, it is thrown away. Put the fire on something that will hold it, and let it burn at the second line's moderate, yellow heat.

Rabbit

Soft light suits you better than hard, and the second line agrees: yellow light, supreme good fortune. Hold to that moderate clarity, and do not let anyone persuade you that brighter is better.

Dragon

Your brilliance is real, and the hexagram asks what it is burning. Light here cannot exist apart from its fuel. Spend more on the fuel, the routine or support that keeps you lit, and less on the display.

Snake

What you see clearly you mostly keep to yourself. The Image asks for the opposite: carry the light forward so it illuminates the four quarters. Share one thing you have seen clearly with someone who needs it.

Horse

Whatever is brightest draws you at a gallop. The top line uses clarity for discrimination instead, sorting leaders from followers. Before you race after the light, decide exactly what it is showing you.

Goat

Leaning on others makes you uneasy. This hexagram's whole teaching is that fire depends on what it burns and is still fire. Tend the support you rely on, and stop apologising for needing it.

Monkey

Dazzling comes easily to you, and the fourth line has words for brilliance with nothing under it, four verbs in fact. Spend your cleverness on care of the cow, the plain source behind the show.

Rooster

Display comes naturally to you, and this hexagram is generous about light. Its condition is moderation. The second line gives supreme good fortune to yellow light, the colour of the centre, not to the brightest feather.

Dog

Loyalty is a kind of clinging, and this hexagram does not hold that against you. It asks what you are clinging to. Make sure it is something that feeds the light rather than something that dims it.

Pig

When a good thing ends you would rather not think about it. The third line offers the setting sun two responses, and the one it favours is singing over the pot. Enjoy the ending; the complaining is the misfortune.

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