Hexagram 44 of 64
姤 gòu
Coming to Meet
乾 (qián, Heaven) above · 巽 (xùn, Wind) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Something powerful arrives quietly, uninvited. Do not hand it the keys — meet it, use its moment, but keep your judgment about what you let stay.
The Image 大象
Under heaven, wind: coming to meet. Kings of old shared their wealth with all below, as the seasons share their light.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 姤 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
Bolted to a metal brake — steadiness now is good fortune. Push ahead and see misfortune; even the thin pig stirs restlessly.
「系于金柅，贞吉，有攸往，见凶，羸豕孚蹢躅」
Line 2 · 九二
A fish in the wrapping — no blame, but not for guests. Keep this meeting private.
「包有鱼，无咎，不利宾」
Line 3 · 九三
Sore and slow-moving. Difficulty — but no great blame.
「臀无肤，其行次且，厉，无大咎」
Line 4 · 九四
The wrapping has no fish — what you kept for yourself is gone. Trouble rises from the neglected.
「包无鱼，起凶」
Line 5 · 九五
The melon wrapped in willow leaves, beauty held inward — what falls, falls from heaven itself.
「以杞包瓜，含章，有陨自天」
Line 6 · 上九
The meeting at the hard corner — barren, but no blame. Encounter without warmth.
「姤其角，吝，无咎」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 乾 (Heaven) above — creative force — initiative, clarity, persistence — over 巽 (Wind) below — gentle penetration — gradual influence, flexibility, patience. Where those two energies meet, 姤 is born.
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