Other titles: Standstill, The Symbol of Closing, Stagnation, Obstruction, The Wife, Obstructed, Decadence, Disjunction, Impasse, "Yin supporting yang which is wrong, they part company. Bad prospects for marriage or partnership. " -- D.F. Hook
Judgment:
Legge: Divorcement means there is a lack of communication between the different classes of men. This is unfavorable to the superior man. The great has departed and the inferior has arrived.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Standstill . Evil people do not further the perseverance of the superior man. The great departs; the small approaches.
Blofeld: Stagnation (obstruction) caused by evil doers. Although the omen portends ill for the Superior Man, he must not slacken his righteous persistence. The great and the good decline; the mean approach. [When heaven and earth cease to co-operate, no growth is possible and stagnation results. The trigram (earth), when in intercourse with heaven, has the auspicious meaning of glad acceptance; but, when separated from heaven, it represents weakness and darkness, etc.]
Liu: Stagnation. Stagnation is of no benefit, although not of man's doing. The superior man carries on (according to his principles). The great is departing. The small is arriving.
Ritsema/Karcher: Obstructing it , in-no-way people. Not Harvesting: chun tzu, Trial. the great going, the small coming. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of being blocked or interfered with. It emphasizes that accepting the hindrances that temporarily interrupt the flow of life and thwart communication is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: accept obstruction!]
Shaughnessy: The wife's non-persons; not beneficial for the gentleman to determine; the great go, the little come.
Cleary (1): Obstruction’s denial of humanity does not make the superior person’s rectitude beneficial. The great goes and the small comes.
Cleary (2): … Does not make the leader’s correctness beneficial, etc.
Wu:Stagnation is destined to cause obstruction of normal course of action. It is not beneficial to the jun zi who takes a persevering stand. The great goes out and the small comes in.
The Image:
Legge: Heaven and earth are estranged -- the image of Divorcement. The superior man preserves his virtue by withdrawing from evil, and refuses both honor and wealth.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and earth do not unite: the image of Standstill. Thus the superior man falls back upon his inner worth in order to escape the difficulties. He does not permit himself to be honored with revenue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven and earth cut off from each other. To conserve his stock of virtue, the Superior Man withdraws into himself and thus escapes from the evil influences around him. He declines all temptations of honor and riches. [To understand why the trigrams for heaven and earth arranged in what seems to be their natural positions have this inauspicious significance, see notes on the preceding hexagram, (Harmony).]
Liu: Heaven and earth are not united, symbolizing stagnation. The superior man restrains himself to avoid danger. He seeks neither honor nor wealth.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven, earth, not mingling. Obstruction. A chun tzu uses parsimonious actualizing-tao to cast-out heaviness. A chun tzu uses not permitting splendor to use benefits. [Actualize-tao: Ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos ... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): When heaven and earth do not commune, there is obstruction. The superior person therefore is parsimonious with power and avoids trouble, not susceptible to elevation by emolument.
Cleary (2): … Leaders … should not prosper on wages.
Wu: … The jun zi practices the virtue of frugality to alleviate difficulties, but does not allow himself to be honored with official salary.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The unfavorable auspice of Divorcement is because heaven and earth are not in communication, and all things consequently fail to unite. High and low, superior and inferior, do not meet in union, and there are no well- regulated states in the kingdom. The lower trigram consists of magnetic lines, and the upper of dynamic lines: darkness is within, clarity without; weakness within, strength without. The lower trigram represents the advancing inferior men, the upper trigram represents the retreating superior men.
Legge: The form of Divorcementis the exact opposite of Harmony, and much of what has been said on the interpretation of that will apply to this. Divorcement is the hexagram of the seventh month when the process of growth has ended and increasing decay may be expected. The trigram of Earth is below and that of Heaven is above, and since it is always proper for the lower trigram to take the initiative, how can Earth take the place of Heaven? As in nature, it is Heaven that originates, not Earth, and in a state the upper classes must take the initiative, and not the lower.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The time is out of joint -- decadence waxes and virtue is mocked.
The Superior Man refuses to participate in the prevailing disorder.
If the preceding hexagram images the fruitful union of heaven and earth in a holy marriage, this figure shows their Divorcement.
Divorcement: The act, process, or an instance of separating things closely joined -- the state of being separated.
To receive this figure without changing lines suggests that you are separated from truth or virtue, or that for the moment at least, the situation at hand affords no possibility of reconciliation. During such conditions it would be the height of folly to "wed oneself" to the prevailing disorder.
Note however that every line but the third shows some kind of effort to reunite that which has been separated. The first shows an alliance of closely related elements bent on serving the Work; line two depicts a kind of holding action which is necessary to allow a superior element to prevail. The third line identifies recalcitrant forces which prevent union, and four depicts another alliance -- a higher octave of its first line correlate. Line five images nearly complete re-unification and six shows the end of Divorcement. These images suggest that although disunion prevails, the energy in the situation is promoting connection.
As regards the Judgment:
Plato seems to have expressed Confucius' idea perfectly. In The Republic he makes Socrates say that the true philosopher, finding himself in an evil environment, "will not join in the wickedness of his fellows, but neither is he able singly to resist all their fierce natures, and therefore seeing that he would be of no use to the State or to his friends, and reflecting that he would have to throw away his life without doing any good either to himself or others, he holds his peace, and goes his own way ... he is content, if only he can live his own life and be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good-will, with bright hopes." H.G. Creel -- Confucius and the Chinese Way
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, suggests the idea of grass pulled up, and bringing with it other stalks with whose roots it is connected. With firm correctness on the part of its subject, there will be good fortune and progress.
Wilhelm/Baynes: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Perseverance brings good fortune and success.
Blofeld: When grass is uprooted, what is attached to it is pulled up as well. Righteous persistence brings good fortune and success. [Although this hexagram is ominous, the first line is auspicious. This sort of contradiction is common with bottom and top lines, which are often held to precede or follow after the main situation.]
Liu: When ribbon grass is pulled out, its roots come with it. They are of the same kind. Continuing leads to success and good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Eradicating thatch-grass intertwined. Using one's classification. Trial: significant. Growing.
Shaughnessy: Plucking the cogon-grass stem with its roots; determination is auspicious; receipt.
Cleary (1): Pulling out roots of a reed takes others with it. It is good and developmental to be correct.
Cleary (2): … Correctness is auspicious and successful.
Wu: Like pulling reeds with all their connecting roots, it will be persevering, auspicious and pervasive.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The will of the parties intended is bent on serving the ruler. Wilhelm/Baynes: The will is directed to the ruler. Blofeld: The omen is favorable owing to continued loyalty to the rule. [The ruler is now surrounded by evil men or men of mean attainments, but the Superior Man continues to help him.] Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose located-in a chief indeed. Cleary (2): The will is in the leader. Wu: Because the aspiration is to serve the king.
Legge: Naturally we should expect the advance of the first of the three magnetic lines to lead to evil. But if she sets herself to be firm and correct, she will bring about a different issue. She is one of the cluster of inferior forces who are able to change their mind, and set their hearts to love their ruler.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the inferior people are advancing. The man retires from public office in order to preserve his integrity. He brings along his associates, who are like the sod clinging to the uprooted grass.
Wing: If it is not possible to change or influence the current environment while preserving the principles that have formed your character, then withdraw completely. Success will come to you in a more profound sense than could be realized from a compromising situation. Important associates may leave with you. Good fortune.
Editor: Compare this with the first line of the preceding hexagram. In some circumstances the meaning can be similar to the proverb: "Birds of a feather flock together." In another sense, if "grass roots" are the foundation, source, bare essence of something, then the first line can represent the roots of the lower trigram, which is seen as a clump of grass or "cluster of inferior forces." The image suggests the separation of oneself from an entrenched position and moving upward. Confucius sees this movement as being in accord with the will of "the ruler" -- in psychological terms: the will of the Self.
Endeavor to ascend into thyself, gathering in from the body all thy members which have been dispersed and scattered into multiplicity from that unity which once abounded in the greatness of its power. Bring together and unify the inborn ideas and try to articulate those that are confused and to draw into light those that are obscured. Porphyry
A. A fundamental change for the better, or the first step toward unity: grass-roots support.
B. An ascent from a fixed position. A confederation of lower elements combines to serve a greater whole.
C. Form follows function. Stay connected with your origins/basic values in context of hexagram’s meaning in Judgment and Image.
D. Action follows perception.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject acting in accordance with the ordination of Heaven, and committing no error. His companions will come and share in his happiness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He who acts at the command of the highest remains without blame. Those of like mind partake of the blessing.
Blofeld: Whatever is done in response to a command from on high cannot be a wrong. His companions are also made illustrious and blessed. [Yet, according to Confucius, if a ruler is wholly evil, he may be regarded as a bandit and removed. Short of that, however, obedience to authority had to be unquestioning.]
Liu: He whose actions are in accord with the orders of the highest receives no blame. His fellows share in his blessing.
Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing fate, without fault. Cultivating radiant satisfaction.
Shaughnessy: There is a command; there is no trouble; blessings fastened to the split-log.
Cleary (1): If there is an order, there is no fault. The companions attain felicity.
Cleary (2): If there is order, there is no blame. The companions cleave to blessings.
Wu: Having received the command from the above is without blame. Those of a like kind will share the blessing.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The purpose of his mind can be carried into effect. Wilhelm/Baynes: What is willed is done. Blofeld: Those carrying out commands are obeying the ruler's will. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose moving indeed. Cleary (2): Because the will is carried out. Wu: His aspirations will prevail.
Legge: The action of the subject of the line, whose activity is tempered by his magnetic position, will be good and correct, and issue in success and happiness. The fourth line is just below the ruler's place, and yielding to the will of Heaven, or the ruler, he gets his purpose carried out.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A turn for the better occurs. To succeed in creating order and making progress, however, the man must be given the requisite authority to do the task. He will fail if he proceeds on his own initiative and judgment.
Wing: It is possible to change the entire situation to one of progress and order. If you sincerely hear a calling to the task and are in harmony with the cosmos, you and your associates will benefit. If you simply appoint yourself to the position of leader, confusion could result.
Editor: Psychologically, the idea here is that when the ego follows the principles of the Work, or the will of the Self (which amounts to the same thing), other elements within the psyche ("his companions") are thereby induced to fall into line.
[Once unity has been achieved] the work of destiny can be commenced, which is the functioning as a part of God’s evolving Universe which [the individual], as a spirit, undertook to carry out in the first place... And how does he work out his destiny? By being himself -- literally. By acting from within the center of his being, his essential self. Not by acting according to the dictates of his mind, his emotions or his instincts, but by using them according to his and their needs. G. Knight -- The Work of a Modern Occult Fraternity
A. Obey the principles of the Work, and disparate elements will follow your lead.
B. You are in harmony with your duty/destiny/Work.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows him who brings the distress and obstruction to a close -- the great man and fortunate. But let him say: "We may perish! We may perish!" So shall the state of things become firm, as if bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Standstill is giving way. Good fortune for the great man.
"What if it should fail? What if it should fail?" In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
Blofeld: Stagnation (obstruction) is now coming to an end and fortune favors the Superior Man, but he must not forget the situation is so dangerous that collapse may yet occur. Accordingly, he must strengthen himself as mulberry trees are strengthened by tight bindings.
Liu: Stagnation is coming to an end. The great man has good fortune. "Will it fail, will it fail?" He ties it to the mulberry shoots.
Ritsema/Karcher: Relinquishing Obstruction. Great People significant. Its extinction, its extinction. Attaching tending-towards bushy mulberry trees.
Shaughnessy: Beneficent wife; for the great man auspicious; it is lost, it is lost, tied to a bushy mulberry.
Cleary (1): Ending obstruction, great people are fortunate, but tie themselves to a tree trunk lest they go to ruin.
Cleary (2): Putting a stop to obstruction, great people are fortunate. But they still keep destruction in mind.
Wu: Stagnation will soon be brought to a close. This is auspicious for the great man. Would the nation perish? Would the nation perish? It is like having tied it to the trunk of a mulberry tree.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune of the great man arises from the correctness of his position. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is correct and appropriate. Blofeld: That fortune now favors the Superior Man is indicated by the suitable position of this line. [A firm line with other firm lines on either side.]Ritsema/Karcher: Situation correcting appropriate indeed.
Cleary (2): The fortune of great people is when their position is truly appropriate. Wu: Because his position is proper.
The master said:"He who keeps danger in mind is he who will rest safe in his seat; he who keeps ruin in mind is he who will preserve his interests secure; he who sets the danger of disorder before him is he who will maintain the state of order. Therefore the superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget the possibility of ruin; and when all is in a state of order, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is kept safe, and his states and all their clans can be preserved. This is according to what the I Ching says: `Let him say, "Shall I perish? Shall I perish?" So shall this state be firm, as if bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees.'"
Legge: The dynamic fifth line in his correct central place brings the distress and obstruction to a close. Yet he, as ruler, is warned to maintain his caution in two lines of rhyme: "And let him say, `I die! I die!' -- So to a bushy clump his fortune he shall tie."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man brings order and progress to the situation. He exhibits cool-headedness and caution during the transition and maintains contingency plans in readiness.
Wing: A sweeping change for the better is indicated. Things can improve and progress. Yet this is the very time to feel cautious and reserved. With such an attitude your success is doubly insured and a strong foundation is established for the new times.
Editor: The image in the first line is of the entangled roots of grass plants. The differences between line one and line five are the differences between roots and stalks -- one is a cause, the other is an effect. The roots are entangled naturally, the stalks must be bound together by a conscious act of will: one is a hidden natural association, the other is an overt willed association.
The affairs of men are often spoiled within
an ace of completion,
by being careful at the end as at the beginning
failure is averted.
Tao Te Ching
A. Be careful during a time of transition.
B. Advance with care out of stagnation.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows the overthrow and removal of the condition of distress and obstruction. Before this there was that condition. Hereafter there will be joy.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The standstill comes to an end. First standstill, then good fortune.
Blofeld: Stagnation (obstruction) has now been overcome and is followed by great joy.
Liu: Stagnation ends. First there is stagnation, later good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Momentary wife; at first negative, later happy.
Cleary (1): Overturning obstruction: first there is obstruction, afterward joy.
Wu: Stagnation is ousted, etc.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: How could it be prolonged? Wilhelm/Baynes: When standstill comes to an end, it reverses. One should not wish to make it permanent. Blofeld: In the end it must be overcome. How could it endure forever? [The process of change is continuous. This is the last line, which is held to have emerged from the evil symbolized by the hexagram as a whole.]Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore permitting long-living indeed? Cleary (2): What can last? Wu: How could it last?
Legge: There is an end to the condition of distress. It was necessary that that condition should give place to its opposite; and the dynamic line in the topmost place fitly represents the consequent joy.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Stagnation and disintegration give way to happiness and progress. But they may not last long.
Wing: The opportunity to change a situation from Stagnation to progress is at hand. It will not happen of its own accord. A strong and continuing sense of purpose is necessary to achieve and maintain the greatest possible heights of success.
Editor: When this line changes the hexagram becomes number forty-five: Contraction. This suggests that when an impasse is finally broken, the energy released begins to accumulate for a new cycle of growth.
When one has learned to live with the manifestations of the "not-I" in an attitude of concrete acceptance, bearing one's seemingly inferior personal characteristics as a burden rather than identifying with them and at the same time humbly remaining open to the demands of hitherto unrealized transpersonal powers, a new phase of psychological transformation is initiated. The instinctual drives themselves may change character and consequently the needs for suppressive discipline or sublimation can be lessened. Much of what formerly seemed evil, or at least compulsively disturbing, reveals itself as merely primitive and therefore capable of constructive growth. The instinctual drives thus transformed and matured cease to be sources of moral danger, temptation or sin; instead they become the originators of new creative impulses and possibilities of expression which eventually widen the scope of the personality and with it the whole life. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. The situation is about to improve. Once the lessons of an impasse are integrated, one moves on to other things.
Other titles: The Turning Point, The Symbol of Returning, Revival, Recovery, To Repeat, Renewal, Restore, Return to the Way, Cyclic Repetition, "Return to virtue or happier conditions." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Progress and freedom of action are found in Return. Goings and comings are unimpeded, and friends approach without error. Return to repeat the proper course. Seven days returns the cycle to its beginning. There is advantage in choosing one's path.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Return. Success. Going out and coming in without error. Friends come without blame. To and fro goes the way. On the seventh day comes return. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Blofeld: Return. Success! All going forth and coming in is free from harm. [For it is only when the whole series is completed that we can understand the reasons for many things (death, winter and so on) which, at the time, seemed unproductive, negative or positively evil.] Friends arrive and no error is involved. They return whence they came, spending seven days in all upon their coming and returning. It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination).
Liu:Return:success. One goes out and comes back in without harm. Friends arrive without blame. Going to and fro is the way. Returning on the seventh day. It benefits one to go anywhere. [Return or Revival signifies a bad time becoming better... Anyone receiving this hexagram should prepare for a great opportunity...]
Ritsema/Karcher:Returning, Growing. Issuing-forth, entering, without affliction. Partnering coming, without fault. Reversing Returning one's tao. The seventh day coming: Returning. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of something that is re-emerging. It emphasizes that going back to the starting point in order to begin anew is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the times you are told to return!]
Shaughnessy:Returning: Receipt; in exiting and entering there is no illness; when the burying comes there is no trouble; turning around and returning to its way, in seven days it comes in return; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1): Return is developmental. Exiting and entering, there is no ill. When a companion comes, there is no fault. Reversing the path, returning in seven days, it is beneficial to have a place to go.
Cleary (2):Return is successful, etc. … Returning back on the path, etc.
Wu:Renewal is pervasive. He who comes and goes will have no error. Friends come without harm. The course repeats itself. In seven days, one cycle of reversion completes. There will be advantage to have an undertaking.
The Image
Legge: Thunder in the middle of the earth -- the image of Return. Thus the ancient kings closed the passes on the day of the winter solstice to prevent travelers from pursuing their journeys, and princes from inspecting their states.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder within the earth: the image of The Turning Point. Thus the kings of antiquity closed the passes at the time of the solstice. Merchants and strangers did not go about, and the ruler did not travel through the provinces.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder in the bowels of the earth. [The component trigrams in this position suggest thunder coming from under the earth; but the trigram of thunder also means to sprout or quicken; it is this concept of a quickening within the earth that makes this hexagram generally favorable.] The ancient rulers closed the passes during the solstices [The solstices were times for solemn sacrifice; it has always been the practice in China for people to return to their homes for the celebration of the great yearly festivals. Return in this sense is highly auspicious.] and the merchants were unable to travel. Even the rulers abstained from touring their territories at those times.
Liu: Thunder in the earth symbolizes Return. Thus in ancient times the kings closed the roads during the winter solstice. Merchants and travelers ceased traveling. And rulers would not visit their territories.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder located-in earth center. Returning. The Earlier Kings used culminating sun to bar the passages. Bargaining sojourners [used culminating sun] not to move. The crown-prince [used culminating sun] not to inspect on-all- sides.
Cleary (1): Thunder is in the earth; Return. Thus did the kings of yore shut the gates on the winter solstice; caravans did not travel, the ruler did not inspect the regions.
Wu: Thunder is inside the earth; this is Renewal. Thus on the day of the winter solstice, the ancient kings ordered the city gates closed, so that merchants and travelers could take a break of their journeys; the kings refrained from performing official duties.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Return shows the coming back of the dynamic principle. His actions show movement directed in accordance with the natural order. Such is the movement of the heavenly cycle. The dynamic lines are growing and increasing. Do we not see inReturn the mind of heaven and earth?
Legge: Return symbolizes the idea of coming back or over again. The previous hexagram showed the ascendancy of inferior forces, when all that is good in nature or society yields before what is bad. But change is eternal, and here we see the beginnings of recovery from the former situation. Return is associated with the time of the winter solstice when the sun begins its journey back toward summer. In harmony with these cycles in nature are the cycles in human affairs.
The dynamic bottom line is the first line of the trigram of Movement, and the upper trigram is that of Docility. The dynamic returning line will meet with no resistance and all the magnetic lines above it will be transformed into allies. The bright quality will be developed brighter and brighter from day to day and month to month.
"In seven days brings return" refers to the idea of a new cycle commencing when each of the six lines of a hexagram has changed -- the "seventh line," or seventh day begins a new cycle just as Sunday begins a new week.
Thunder in the midst of the earth is thunder shut up and silent, just able to make its presence felt. So it is with the first stirrings of life after the winter solstice and the first returning steps of the wanderer to virtue. As the spring of life has to be nurtured in quietness, so also the purpose of goodness.
Wilhelm: The hexagram of RETURN, applied to character formation, contains various suggestions. The light principle returns; thus the hexagram counsels turning away from the confusion of external things, turning back to one’s inner light. There, in the depths of the soul, one sees the Divine, the One. It is indeed only germinal, no more than a beginning, a potentiality, but as such clearly to be distinguished from all objects. To know this One means to know oneself in relation to the cosmic forces. For this One is the ascending force of life in nature and in man.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The Work is recycled, perfected and refined over and over again.
The Superior Man pauses before he begins anew.
The mention of seven days in the Judgment and the winter solstice in the Image tells us that the hexagram of Return deals with cyclic progression.
In the I Ching, the hexagram fu, signifying the Return (one yang line beneath five yin lines) is the symbol of the rebirth of the Yang. At the winter solstice, the Yang seems to have disappeared, whereas the Yin is at its full; but this is the moment when the Yang is reborn and begins its return. Symmetrically, at the summer solstice the Yang is at the apogee of its power while the Yin prepares to return. The alteration of the Yin and the Yang is a going away and a coming back. Max Kaltenmark -- Lao Tzu and Taoism
Seven days is one-quarter of a lunar cycle and the module upon which a week is based. The Sabbath day is the seventh day and a day of rest in the Hebrew tradition, as was also the day of the new moon. The "closing of the passes" in the Image is another expression of the idea of resting at the beginning of a new cycle. To refrain from activity at these times was a sacrifice and a spiritual obligation. The concept behind it is the acknowledgment of one's Source, a review of the past cycle and a meditation upon the new cycle just beginning. Psychologically interpreted, forces in the unconscious psyche demand a pause before their dance can resume.
A special atmosphere of solemn celebration surrounded the Sabbath, which was thoroughly pervaded with Kabbalistic ideas about man's role in the unification of the upper worlds. Gershom Scholem -- Kabbalah
Although the Chinese observed no “Sabbath” that I am aware of, the idea of a rest at the commencement of a cycle is clearly intended in this hexagram. In terms of the Work, one eventually becomes aware of cycles and rest periods, even if one never noticed them previously. When one learns how to synchronize conscious awareness with these inner rhythms, the tempo of the Work begins to accelerate.
"There is advantage in choosing one's path" is rendered by Wilhelm as: "It furthers one to have somewhere to go." The idea is that when you are consciously on a path, the cycles begin to work in your favor. Instead of a monotonous round of inconclusive and random events, one's life takes on structure and purpose and inner progress becomes discernable.
Conforming to the rhythm of the universe is the prerequisite of wisdom in all Chinese thinking. But the Taoist mystic has greater ambitions than his ordinary compatriots: the question for him is not merely of adapting his ritual and hygienic observances to the alternation of the seasons; he intends to escape from the determinism of life and death by transcending it. This is what enables him to attain inner emptiness: he does not merely witness the return of all creatures to their origin, he precedes them to that origin. Max Kaltenmark -- Lao Tzu and Taoism
Every line of this hexagram refers to returning to the proper path, so the hexagram can imply that perhaps you have strayed from the Work to one degree or another. Without changing lines, it can mean to rest at the beginning of a cycle, or to get back on course: re-attune yourself with the current phase of the Work.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. Black Elk