Dǐng · The Cauldron
Upper trigram: ☲ Fire · lower trigram: ☴ Wind
The sacred vessel that turns the raw into the cooked; to nourish the wise, to refine. Supreme success.
The ancient character draws the outline of the ritual bronze cauldron standing on its three legs, with its two ears through which the carrying rods were passed — the sacred vessel in which food was cooked and offered to the spirits and to guests of honour. It symbolises the instrument of transformation par excellence: the receptacle that refines raw matter into nourishment, and raw talent into accomplished culture.
Consecration and qualitative transformation
This hexagram describes a phase of major accomplishment and refinement. After the destruction of the revolution (hexagram 49), the Cauldron comes to consolidate the new order by giving it a spiritual and institutional dimension. It is the moment to nourish your noblest ambitions, to stabilise your position and to act as a receptacle of wisdom for those around you.
Rectify one's position and honour the forces of the spirit
The strategy consists in making sure of the solidity and purity of one's instruments: "Thus the Accomplished Being, by rectifying their position, consolidates their destiny". See that your motivations are irreproachable and put your abilities in the service of a high work. It is by welcoming spiritual nourishment (the upper trigram) that one acquires an unquestionable and lasting legitimacy.
Energetically, the figure superposes the trigram of Wind/Wood (Xun, the fuel, the bellows) below, beneath the trigram of Light/Fire (Li, the cooking, clarity) above. The Wood feeds the Fire under the Cauldron, allowing a slow, continuous and perfect transformation of the elements. The challenge is to maintain this sacred fire without letting it go out or race away.
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.