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Hexagram 45

Critical Mass

cuì

Trigrams:Upper Lake · delightsLower Earth · yields

Reading it as a decision

Water collects low, over open ground — the natural image of everything and everyone drawn to one place at once. The classical judgment describes a formal gathering, significant enough to warrant a real ceremony and a real offering, and it's explicit that this works when the right person is present to lead it. It's a hexagram about convergence: people, resources, and attention arriving together instead of trickling in separately.

This is ground worth holding onto once it's formed, not a cue to scatter back out — the read favors consolidating a gathering you've built rather than dispersing it prematurely. If the decision in front of you is whether to call people together, pool resources, or commit to one coordinated push instead of several separate ones, the guidance leans toward doing it and holding the shape once it's assembled. Classical line texts here split evenly, a reminder that who leads the gathering matters as much as the gathering itself.

The classical text

Judgment (卦辭)

萃,亨。王假有廟,利見大人,亨,利貞。用大牲吉,利有攸往。

Gathering brings success as the king arrives at the ancestral temple; favorable to see the great person and to be steadfast, favorable to advance.

The six lines (爻辭)

  • 初六:有孚不終,乃亂乃萃,若號,一握為笑,勿恤,往無咎。

    Sincerity falters into confusion before the gathering settles; a cry of distress turns into a handful of laughter, no need to worry.

  • 六二:引吉,無咎,孚乃利用禴。

    Being drawn toward others brings fortune and no blame; sincerity makes even a modest offering acceptable.

  • 六三:萃如,嗟如,無攸利,往無咎,小吝。

    Gathering together, then sighing in disappointment; nothing gained, though moving on brings no blame, only minor regret.

  • 九四:大吉,無咎。

    Great fortune, no blame.

  • 九五:萃有位,無咎。匪孚,元永貞,悔亡。

    Gathering people around one's rightful position, no blame; trust not yet complete, but enduring steadiness makes regret disappear.

  • 上六:齎咨涕洟,無咎。

    Sighing aloud with tears and sobs, yet no blame in it.

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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