Hexagram 42
Increase
Wind over Thunder
The judgment
利有攸往。利涉大川Wind and thunder arrive together and the gain lands below. Increase helps when it reaches the need, and turns to waste when it goes to whoever asked loudest.
The image
Wind and thunder add to each other and the field below gets the weather. The gain shows up at the bottom of the shape.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. A line that moves is read here, and read again in the hexagram it becomes.
- 初九Line 1
利用为大作，元吉，无咎
The gain has just arrived and is meant to be spent on something large; the means are thin, but this is the cheapest moment to build.
Marked in the textauspiciousno blame
- 六二Line 2
或益之，十朋之龟弗克违，永贞吉。王用享于帝，吉
Benefit arrives from outside, past what the firmest proof could refuse; holding your original course is what receives it. The king offers this in sacrifice to the High Lord, lifting it upward to meet heaven.
Marked in the textauspicious
- 六三Line 3
益之用凶事，无咎。有孚中行，告公用圭
Bad news turns into a doorway; caught at the edge of leaving, the only move is to speak honestly from the middle. Jade tablet in hand, the report goes up to the duke, the words laid before the one who must hear them.
Marked in the textominousno blame
- 六四Line 4
中行，告公从。利用为依迁国
Close to the seat of power, fear notwithstanding: stand in the middle, speak plainly, and the duke nods and follows. On that backing the whole capital can move, and the migration finds ground to land.
- 九五Line 5
有孚惠心，勿问元吉。有孚惠我德
Holding sincerity toward others, no need to ask the outcome; that heart returns on its own.
Marked in the textauspicious
- 上九Line 6
莫益之，或击之，立心勿恒，凶
No one adds any more, and someone strikes instead; with your mind wavering, the position no longer holds.
Marked in the textominous
Where each changing line leads
Flip one line and it is a different hexagram. These are the six it becomes.
This page is for reference. To get a hexagram from six throws, cast your own.
The classical text is the Zhouyi, public domain, checked against a Wikisource transcript. The readings are ours. Daily hexagram