Hexagram 33
Retreat
遯
Upper
Heaven · 乾
the creative, strong
Lower
Mountain · 艮
keeping still
Contemporary judgment
Retreat. A strategic withdrawal, not a defeat. The inferior is rising in the outer situation; holding ground here costs more than it gains. Step back gracefully, preserve your strength, and choose the ground where your integrity is not compromised. Timing the withdrawal well is itself a mastery.
Image
Heaven above, the mountain below. The superior person keeps the small-minded at a distance: not with anger, but with dignified reserve.
Counsel
Identify what is draining you and step back from it. This is not cowardice; it is the wisdom of living to fight another day. Do not explain yourself excessively or apologize for choosing your own well-being. The right moment will come to re-engage, but it is not now.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A six at the beginning means: At the retreat, at the tail: this is dangerous. One must not want to undertake anything.
Line 2
A six in the second place means: He holds him fast with yellow ox-leather. No one is able to tear him away.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means: A held-up retreat is painful and fraught with danger. To keep people as servants and maids brings good fortune.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means: Voluntary retreat brings the noble one good fortune, the petty one decline.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means: Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 6
A nine at the top means: Cheerful retreat. Everything is furthering.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.