Hexagram 31
Mutual Attraction
xián
Reading it as a decision
Lake sits above mountain, drawing moisture down while the mountain holds still and receives it — a picture of attraction that runs both ways rather than one side pursuing and the other resisting. This is the hexagram of resonance: connection, chemistry, or alignment that isn't forced into being but recognized because it's already there. The judgment is genuinely favorable, framed around taking a partner — the kind of pairing that works precisely because neither side had to manufacture the pull between them.
Despite the warm image, the classical line texts skew cautionary, and the position is read as one that doesn't resolve by staying still — mutual attraction left untested or unacted on has a way of drifting rather than settling into anything. Something here needs to move: a conversation had, a step taken, a commitment tested against reality, rather than trusting the pull alone to carry things forward.
The classical text
Judgment (卦辭)
咸,亨,利貞。取女吉。
Mutual response between two brings success through constancy; taking a wife under this sign is fortunate.
The six lines (爻辭)
初六:咸其拇。
A stirring felt in the big toe.
六二:咸其腓,凶,居吉。
A stirring felt in the calf — misfortune if acted on, fortune if one stays still.
九三:咸其股,執其隨,往吝。
A stirring felt in the thigh, clinging to whatever it follows — going forward brings regret.
九四:貞吉悔亡,憧憧往來,朋從爾思。
Constancy brings good fortune and regret fades; thoughts go restlessly back and forth, yet friends follow one's intent.
九五:咸其脢,無悔。
A stirring felt in the upper back — no regret.
上六:咸其輔、頰、舌。
A stirring felt in the jaw, cheeks, and tongue.
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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