Hexagram 54
The Marrying Maiden
歸妹
Upper
Thunder · 震
the arousing, movement
Lower
Lake · 兌
the joyous, open
Contemporary judgment
The marrying maiden. Entering a position that is not entirely your own ground. Much depends on tact, humility, and the understanding of what your actual role is here. Forcing the situation into one you would prefer invites loss; accepting the real situation with grace invites quiet benefit.
Image
Thunder above the lake. The superior person understands the transitory in light of the eternal.
Counsel
Know your place in this particular situation: not forever, but now. Do not overreach; do not also sell yourself short. Behave with dignity, cultivate the patience to let your real contribution show itself over time. Beginnings that respect their context become durable; ones that do not, do not.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means: The marrying maiden as concubine. A lame person who can tread. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means: A one-eyed person who can see. Favorable is the perseverance of a solitary person.
Line 3
A six in the third place means: The marrying maiden as slave. She marries as concubine.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means: The marrying maiden delays the term. A late marriage comes in its time.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means: The sovereign I gives his daughter in marriage. Then the embroidered clothes of the princess were not as splendid as the clothes of the serving-maid. The moon that is almost full brings good fortune.
Line 6
A six at the top means: The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man pierces the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that would further.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.