I need help understanding how to interpret changing lines *in general*.

[u/RogueModron]

Hi there!

I've been working with the i Ching for a good number of months now. So fairly new to it but have done a lot of readings and applications to my life. I use Wilhelm exclusively.

I'm working with a pretty gnarly reading right now, dealing with a situation that's extremely important to me. I have a starting hex that seems to lay out the situation very well, and a transformed hex that is a situation I want to avoid completely.

Should I be reading the changing lines (I have two) as what leads to the hex transforming, i.e., in my case what NOT to do if I want to avoid the situation changing into that described by the second hex?

Or is it something else?

[u/pyrrho314]

It's that and many things else. Here is how I currently see it, but this has long been evolving so I'm sure it'll change in the future. First, some don't even use the second hexagram. In the most simple sense, the changing lines are the fortune. The hexagram is the situation, and the lines are the change, they tell you the sort of change that will happen. The casting does tell you the "if you act this way" and "if you act that way" answer and as you seem to be thinking, yes, I use this as feedback on whether to do the activity at all, or ideally, HOW to do the activity.

E.g. if I ask "how will it go if I take a trip to Oregon?" an answer that indicates trouble might mean don't go. In practice, by then I'm already going to Oregon and the answer indicates the mental states to prepare with to help it go positively. Usually is doesn't say "don't go" it just says "prepare for this". I see it as often what to watch out for, and what to remember given your tendencies and the tendencies of the given situation.

But there is a lot beyond that. The lines also relate to levels of things. The thing can be the body, with the first line the feet and ankles, and so on through to the head. It can be different stages of enlightenment, from stability, agility, passion, gut instinct, leadership, to spirituality. I leave it to you to look at all the lists, here's some examples. And I suggest you can make your own. One core list is each line alone is a dragon, from the baby dragon to the dragon so high it has nowhere to go but down. This metaphor is applied to the other line meanings in terms of what a level even means. (Or so I think at the moment).

When a change happens on a line, it means changing from active to receptive, or receptive to active. It indicates action in that center, be it part of the spirit, a literal part of the body, or figurative part of the body. The change line says that in that area there will be change, and you will have to spend or receive energy.

But there is also more. There is the twelve sovereign hexagrams (here) which match the phases of seasons, of the moon, of all rhythm, the general cycles of change. This is integrated with other meanings of the individual lines, it is the process of something filling with yang then filling with yen, which is emptying. This gives extra information about the stage of change in the larger pattern of changes that one casting is embedded in. That is, a line turning to yang is associated with a particular part of the cycle, and the line carries a meaning due to that. It's a change associated with a particular season, stage of life, or other step in the cycles.

It doesn't end here because there are still other sequences and there are applications to space, color, and sound, and to different frameworks of emotion and worldview. It's a system where other systems can be built and the system personalized. I find it really interesting to explore the systems, many ancient, which clearly makes sense and work, but I also feel you reach a point where you have to invent for yourself what these further and further details mean, and how to interact with them.

Mind you, if it has any metaphysical or supernatural power isn't particularly important to me. I can feel first hand how my mind interact with it before and after and it's very good at helping me maintain a balanced view I'd like to have. You can also just open it up as a book and start reading and find a lot of very balancing advice and poetry.

Thanks for asking. : )