Hexagram 64 of 64
未济 wèi jì
Before Completion
离 (lí, Fire) above · 坎 (kǎn, Water) below
The Judgment 卦辞
The last crossing is not yet made — the fox is almost over, tail still in the water. Nothing is settled, everything is possible: careful persistence now, and the light wins.
The Image 大象
Fire over water: before completion. The wise person carefully distinguishes things, so each finds its place.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 未济 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 tail drags in the water. Hesitating at the start of the last crossing — small trouble.
「濡其尾，吝」
Line 2 · 九二
Braking the wheel — steadiness brings good fortune. Hold back a little longer.
「曳其轮，贞吉」
Line 3 · 六三
Not yet across: marching is fatal — yet the great river favors the crossing. Timing is everything.
「未济，征凶，利涉大川」
Line 4 · 九四
Steady — regret gone. Thunder deployed against the Demon Country; three years, then reward from the great power.
「贞吉，悔亡，震用伐鬼方，三年有赏于大国」
Line 5 · 六五
Steady — no regret. The light of the wise, held with real trust. Good fortune.
「贞吉，无悔，君子之光，有孚，吉」
Line 6 · 上九
Trust that drinks its fill — no blame. But the head under water: trust that forgot the measure.
「有孚于饮酒，无咎。濡其首，有孚失是」
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 坎 (Water) below — the abysmal — depth, danger, flow through difficulty. Where those two energies meet, 未济 is born.
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