EN (English)
䷬
Hexagram 45 of 64
Gathering Together
萃 · Cuì
A lake collected on the earth's surface. The hexagram is about assembly: crowds, congregations, organisations, and the conditions under which a gathering holds.
gathering
assembly
leadership
common purpose
- King Wen number
- 45 of 64
- Above
- ☱ Duì · Lake
- Below
- ☷ Kūn · Earth
- Composition
- Lake over Earth
- Lines, bottom to top
- Broken · broken · broken · solid · solid · broken
- Chinese
- 萃 · Cuì
The Judgment
Success. The king approaches his temple. It helps to see the great person. This brings success, and it rewards steadfastness. Great offerings bring good fortune. It helps to undertake something.
The temple is the point. A gathering needs a centre outside the individuals in it, or it is only a crowd.
The Image
The lake risen above the earth: Gathering Together. So the noble person overhauls their weapons against the unforeseen.
The book's least sentimental note on crowds. Where large numbers collect, so does the possibility of trouble.
What it means
Cui is the hexagram of assembly, and its Judgment puts a temple at the centre. The king approaches the ancestral hall, and the classic's point is structural: people gather around something, and the something has to be outside any of them. A shared purpose, a founding story, an offering made in common.
The Image is characteristically unsentimental. Where crowds collect, so does the potential for disorder, so the noble person checks their weapons. The classic likes gatherings and does not romanticise them.
The lines look at assembly from several positions. Someone wavering at the edge, cured by calling out and being met with a handclasp. Someone drawn in by invitation, which the text prefers to pushing in. Someone sighing outside a group that has already closed. And, at the fifth, someone holding the central position and discovering that office gathers people without persuading them; the rest takes lasting steadiness.
The top line is unexpected. Floods of tears, and no blame. The classic makes room for the person who wanted to be part of it and is not, and does not tell them they were wrong to want it.
In a reading
Gathering Together as an answer concerns groups: joining one, forming one, or leading one.
Its counsel is to identify what the group is actually gathered around, and to make that explicit. If you are joining, let yourself be drawn rather than forcing entry. If you are leading, the fifth line is the warning: the position collects people, and only time and consistency convince them.
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.
-
Six at the top
Lamenting and sighing, floods of tears. No blame.
Grief at being outside the assembly, and no blame attached to it. The classic lets the feeling stand.
-
Nine in the fifth place
Gathering around a position: no blame. For those not yet sincere, lasting and fundamental steadfastness is needed. Then regret disappears.
Authority by office, which gathers people but does not convince them. The rest has to be earned over time.
-
Nine in the fourth place
Great good fortune. No blame.
Six characters. Working for the gathering without holding the central position, and the text does not qualify it.
-
Six in the third place
Gathering amid sighs. Nothing furthers. Going is without blame. Slight humiliation.
Being on the outside of a group that has already formed. Awkward and worth doing anyway.
-
Six in the second place
Letting yourself be drawn in brings good fortune and no blame. If you are sincere, even a small offering serves.
Joining because you were invited rather than because you pushed. The small offering is enough again.
-
Six at the beginning
Sincere, but not to the end: sometimes confusion, sometimes gathering. Call out, and after one clasp of hands you can laugh again. Do not fret. Going is without blame.
Wavering at the start, cured by simply asking. The handclasp is the whole remedy.
Related figures
Latest Posts
Discover the ancient wisdom of tarot cards and unlock the mysteries of your spiritual journey. Our blog is your gateway to understanding the rich symbolism, meanings, and practical applications of tarot reading.
