# Hexagram 45: Gathering Together

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/45
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Dui 兌](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/dui), Lake, the joyous, open
- **Lower trigram:** [Kun 坤](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun), Earth, the receptive, yielding
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 000110 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Gathering together. People come into one place for a shared purpose. The moment calls for a genuine center: a clear aim, a trustworthy leader, a sincere cause. Without it, a crowd is just a crowd. With it, the gathering becomes something capable of real work.

## Image

The lake rising above the earth. The superior person keeps their weapons in good repair to meet the unexpected.

## Counsel

Clarify your aim so that others can align with it honestly. Lead by real example rather than by demand. Be prepared for the turbulence that large gatherings always create; orderliness and foresight now prevent much later trouble. Gather the right people, and much becomes possible.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> If you are truthful, but not to the end,
> there is now confusion, now gathering.
> If you call, you can after a handclasp laugh again.
> Do not regret. To go there is without blame.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> Letting oneself be drawn brings good fortune and remains without blame.
> If one is truthful,
> it is also favorable to bring a small sacrifice.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> Gathering amid sighs. Nothing that would further.
> To go there is without blame. Small humiliation.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> Great good fortune! No blame.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> If in gathering one holds the necessary position,
> there is no blame.
> If some are not yet truly part of it,
> sublime, lasting perseverance is needed,
> then remorse vanishes.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Lamentation and sighing, tears in streams! No blame.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [53 Development](https://thefreeiching.com/library/53)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [46 Pushing Upward](https://thefreeiching.com/library/46)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [17 Following](https://thefreeiching.com/library/17) |
| Line 2 | [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47) |
| Line 3 | [31 Influence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/31) |
| Line 4 | [8 Holding Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/8) |
| Line 5 | [16 Enthusiasm](https://thefreeiching.com/library/16) |
| Line 6 | [12 Standstill](https://thefreeiching.com/library/12) |

Previous: [44 Coming to Meet](https://thefreeiching.com/library/44). Next: [46 Pushing Upward](https://thefreeiching.com/library/46). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 45: Gathering Together." https://thefreeiching.com/library/45 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/45). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.