Hexagram 56 of 64
旅 lǚ
The Wanderer
离 (lí, Fire) above · 艮 (gèn, Mountain) below
The Judgment 卦辞
You are the traveler — small success only. In foreign territory: be careful, be courteous, keep a light hold, and do not settle into what is not yours.
The Image 大象
Fire on the mountain: the wanderer. The wise person is clear-minded and careful, and does not let disputes linger.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 旅 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
The traveler pinching pennies — smallness that invites its own disaster.
「旅琐琐，斯其所取灾」
Line 2 · 六二
The traveler reaches the inn, funds secure, a loyal servant found. Steady ground abroad.
「旅即次，怀其资，得童仆贞」
Line 3 · 九三
The inn burns; the servant runs. What the traveler built abroad is lost — hold tight now.
「旅焚其次，丧其童仆，贞厉」
Line 4 · 九四
A place to stay, tools and money recovered — yet the heart is not at ease. The traveler's restlessness.
「旅于处，得其资斧，我心不快」
Line 5 · 六五
Shooting the pheasant — one arrow lost. A price paid, and in the end, honor.
「射雉一矢亡，终以誉命」
Line 6 · 上九
The bird's nest burns; the traveler laughs first and wails after. What was let slip at the easy boundary — misfortune.
「鸟焚其巢，旅人先笑后号咷，丧牛于易，凶」
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: 离 (Fire) above — clarity and clinging — insight, illumination, dependence on fuel — over 艮 (Mountain) below — keeping still — restraint, meditation, knowing when to stop. Where those two energies meet, 旅 is born.
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