Hexagram 48
The Well
井
Upper
Water · 坎
the abysmal, danger
Lower
Wind · 巽
the gentle, penetrating
Contemporary judgment
The well. The well serves all who come to it, but only if it is kept. A neglected well fails in the hour of thirst. Tend your sources of nourishment: your health, your practices, your relationships, your learning. What nourishes you enables you to nourish others.
Image
Wood drawing water upward. The superior person encourages the people in their work and exhorts them to help one another.
Counsel
Examine the wells you draw from daily. Are any running dry? Are any being polluted? Maintain what nourishes you rather than assuming it will always be there. Share your own well freely with those who come in sincerity; the act of giving, from a kept source, does not deplete it.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A six at the beginning means: One does not drink the mud of the well: to an old well no animals come.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means: At the well-hole one shoots fish. The jug is broken and leaks.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means: The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow; for one could draw from it. If the king were clear, one would share the good fortune.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means: The well is lined with stones, no blame.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means: In the well is a clear, cool spring from which one can drink.
Line 6
A six at the top means: One draws from the well without hindrance. It is reliable. Sublime good fortune!
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.