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䷿
Hexagram 64 of 64
Before Completion
未濟 · Wèi Jì
The last hexagram of the classic, and the one where every line sits in the wrong place. The book ends not with completion but with the moment just before it.
transition
not yet
care
the last step
- King Wen number
- 64 of 64
- Above
- ☲ Lí · Fire
- Below
- ☵ Kǎn · Water
- Composition
- Fire over Water
- Lines, bottom to top
- Broken · solid · broken · solid · broken · solid
- Chinese
- 未濟 · Wèi Jì
The Judgment
Success. The little fox, almost across, gets its tail wet. Nothing that furthers.
The whole book closes on an unfinished crossing. Almost across is the classic's final position, and the tail is the last thing to clear the water.
The Image
Fire above water: Before Completion. So the noble person is careful in distinguishing things, so that each finds its place.
Fire rises and water sinks, so nothing is where it should be. The work is sorting, patiently, until things sit right.
What it means
Wei Ji closes the classic, and it does so deliberately on an unfinished note. Every line is in the wrong position, the exact opposite of hexagram 63, and the little fox has almost crossed the river when its tail goes into the water.
That the book ends here rather than with After Completion is its final statement. Nothing is concluded. The order arrived at in hexagram 63 has already dissolved, the crossing is under way again, and the work of distinguishing things so that each finds its place is beginning over.
The lines are more optimistic than the arrangement suggests. The failure is placed first, at the bottom, so that the rest of the hexagram is a recovery from it. Braking the wheels is rewarded. The third line refuses force and endorses the crossing in the same breath. The fifth is one of the clearest good lines in the book: the light of the noble person is true.
Then the last line of the classic, and it is a drink. Wine taken in good faith, no blame, and a warning against soaking your head in it. The book that opens with a hidden dragon ends with a party and a caution about the last glass.
In a reading
Before Completion as an answer says you are nearly there and not there. The situation is unfinished, and the most likely failure is at the final step.
Its counsel is care at the end: slow down, sort out what is still in the wrong place, and do not force the last stretch. The hexagram is broadly favourable. It simply refuses to let you treat the crossing as already made.
The six lines
Read a line's text only when the cast made it a moving line. They are listed from the top of the figure down, the way the hexagram is drawn.
-
Nine at the top
There is drinking of wine in genuine confidence. No blame. But if he soaks his head, even in good faith he loses it.
The last line of the book. Celebration is permitted, and overdoing it at the finish is not.
-
Six in the fifth place
Steadfastness brings good fortune, no regret. The light of the noble person is true. Good fortune.
The ruling line and the brightest in the hexagram. Clarity that has been earned rather than assumed.
-
Nine in the fourth place
Steadfastness brings good fortune and regret disappears. Shock, used to discipline the Devil's Country. After three years, great realms are awarded.
The long campaign again, from the other side. Three years of effort and a substantial reward.
-
Six in the third place
Before completion: attacking brings misfortune. It helps to cross the great water.
A flat contradiction on the surface. Force fails and the crossing is still worth making.
-
Nine in the second place
He brakes the wheels. Steadfastness brings good fortune.
Deliberate slowing near the end. The same image as hexagram 63's first line, here rewarded outright.
-
Six at the beginning
He gets his tail in the water. Humiliating.
Failing at the last stretch. The classic puts the failure first so that everything after it is a recovery.
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