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Hexagram 11

Open Exchange

tài

Trigrams:Upper Earth · yieldsLower Heaven · initiates

Reading it as a decision

The trigrams here sit in an inverted arrangement — heaven's energy naturally rises, earth's naturally sinks, so placed this way the two move directly toward each other instead of drifting apart. The classical judgment describes it as a small outlay returning a large one: what goes out doesn't just balance what comes back, it's outweighed by it. This is the pattern of things circulating freely — plans meeting less resistance than expected, effort compounding instead of stalling, communication actually landing on the other end.

iYarrow's read on the decision side is more measured than the classical text alone suggests: the signal here is mixed rather than a clear green light, so this calls for watching how things actually move before committing fully — even favorable conditions are worth confirming rather than assumed. That doesn't mean sit still; it means let the early exchanges show you whether the circulation is real before you scale up.

The classical text

Judgment (卦辭)

泰,小往大來,吉亨。

Open Exchange: the small departs and the great arrives; good fortune and success.

The six lines (爻辭)

  • 初九:拔茅茹,以其夤,征吉。

    Pulling up cogongrass, roots tangled together with it; advancing brings good fortune.

  • 九二:包荒,用馮河,不遐遺,朋亡,得尚于中行。

    Embracing the wasteland, fording the river on foot, not neglecting the distant, letting go of factions; attaining the middle path.

  • 九三:無平不陂,無往不復,艱貞無咎。勿恤其孚,于食有福。

    No plain without a slope, no going without a return; hardship endured with steadfastness brings no blame. There is fortune in one's food.

  • 六四:翩翩不富,以其鄰,不戒以孚。

    Fluttering down without wealth, together with one's neighbors, trusting without needing to be warned.

  • 六五:帝乙歸妹,以祉元吉。

    Emperor Yi gives his younger sister in marriage; this brings blessing and great good fortune.

  • 上六:城復于隍,勿用師。自邑告命,貞吝。

    The city wall collapses back into the moat; do not send troops. Orders announced from within the town; persisting brings regret.

This is a general reference, not a live reading — it doesn't know your situation. iYarrow casts a fresh hexagram for the actual question you're weighing.

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