Pǐ · Standstill
Upper trigram: ☰ Heaven · lower trigram: ☷ Earth
Heaven and earth draw apart, beings no longer communicate. The great departs: withdraw and hold firm.
The archaic graph shows a barrier or an impassable obstacle blocking a traveller's road, joined to the repeated negation of any possibility of movement. It visually symbolises complete closure, the stagnation of flows and the paralysis of communication. It is the graphic expression of a hostile climate in which the values of life are inverted, and the forces of dislocation prevail over harmony.
The total closing of prospects
This hexagram describes the exact opposite of the previous one: a phase of absolute blockage in which nothing gets through any more. Your projects run into a wall of incomprehension, dialogues turn into deaf monologues, and the outer environment becomes sterile or threatening. It is the moment when malevolent people or destructive logics dominate the field, rendering any action or attempt at persuasion completely inoperative.
Upright withdrawal and the safeguarding of values
The only valid strategy in the face of this closure is the categorical refusal to compromise one's integrity. Trying to force a way through or to negotiate in this corrupt climate would only expose you to massive losses. The Accomplished Being must withdraw with dignity into the shadow, "hide their light" and refuse the easy honours that would demand renouncing their principles. This retreat is not a defeat, but a necessary act of self-preservation: it is a matter of preserving your inner strength and patiently waiting for this cycle of darkness to exhaust itself.
Structurally, the hexagram places Earth (Kun, retraction) below, and Heaven (Qian, expansion) above. Heaven rises toward the heights while Earth sinks downward; the two movements draw irremediably apart, creating a relational void and a total absence of contact. Everything detaches and comes apart: it is non-communication. The challenge for the consultant is to accept this rupture without yielding to despair, understanding that the outer blockage invites a deep work of introspection to fortify one's own foundations while waiting for the flow to return.
Each line is read only if it is changing in your cast. A changing line transforms the figure: the link under each text shows which hexagram it leads to.
Three-coin or yarrow-stalk cast, changing lines, outlook figure — computed on your device, no account.