Wèi Jì · Before Completion
Upper trigram: ☲ Fire · lower trigram: ☵ Water
Almost at the goal, the fox wets its tail at the crossing; nothing is yet secured. Discern before acting.
The archaic ideogram shows a young fox cub walking cautiously on the thin ice of a frozen river at the end of winter; just as it nearly reaches its goal, its tail clumsily dips into the icy water, forcing it to stop and rethink its strategy. It symbolises the initial disorder, the end that is in reality a new beginning, and the necessity of total discernment in preparing the next cycle.
Creative chaos and the threshold of renewal
This hexagram paradoxically closes the Book of Changes on a total opening: nothing is yet in place, disorder is at its height, but the cards have been redealt. You are on the threshold of a new life or a new project, but you are not yet ready to take the step. The situation demands meticulous preparation and refuses haste.
Use discernment to organise the new departure
The strategy of perfect disorder consists in not plunging in thoughtlessly (the young fox's mistake). The text counsels the Accomplished Being to "distinguish things according to their nature, so as to set each in its right place". Examine your motivations, sort your resources, study the terrain with lucidity, and prepare your plans of action step by step. It is by managing this chaos with intelligence that you will open the way to the success of the coming cycle.
Energetically, the figure is the exact inverse of the previous one: every line is in an incorrect place (the Yang in even places and the Yin in odd places). Fire (Li) is above and Water (Kan) below; the Fire rises ever higher and the Water sinks ever lower, their movements separating and coming apart. It is the triumph of pure movement, which refuses fixity. The only thing that will never change is that everything is always changing: the journey of the Yi Jing can begin again at the first hexagram.
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.