🔮 The Oracle Speaks
Winds of thunder stir the hidden seeds to swell and burst forth in verdant surge. Abundance cascades like mountain streams awakened by spring's fervent roar. Heed the gentle breath that amplifies the spark—your harvest awaits the bold bloom.
✨ Essence
Growth surges when dynamic energy meets flexible adaptation, multiplying efforts into tangible abundance. This hexagram signals a fertile window for expansion, where initiative sparks prosperity in ventures, relationships, and personal power. Embrace opportunities to invest time and resources wisely, as returns amplify through aligned action. Yet true increase flows from generosity, not greed, fostering cycles of mutual upliftment.
The lower Thunder trigram ignites with sudden, arousing force from below, shaking stagnation into motion like a storm's first crackle. Above, Wind's subtle, penetrating essence weaves through obstacles, dispersing energy evenly for sustained momentum. Their union births exponential growth: Thunder's raw power, softened and directed by Wind's adaptability, creates an upward spiral of amplification. This interplay teaches that explosive starts, guided by strategic flexibility, yield enduring plenty rather than fleeting bursts.
🖼️ The Image
A colossal oak, roots cracked open by subterranean thunder, reaches skyward as swirling winds carry pollen across vast plains, birthing forests from a single acorn's promise. Leaves multiply in golden cascades, feeding birds and beasts in harmonious feast. This emblem pulses with vitality's chain reaction, where one bold thrust invites endless replication.
🌟 Divination Insights
⚠️ Shadow Warning
Greed twists abundance into scarcity, devouring the very roots of growth. Clinging to gains without recirculation invites stagnation and collapse.
🎁 Gift Revealed
This energy unveils exponential synergy, where personal effort ignites collective prosperity. Embraced, it bestows unearned allies and cascading fortunes.
❓ Question Guidance
This Hexagram Best Answers Questions About:
Investment opportunities; scaling projects; nurturing prosperity
Ask Yourself:
"What seeds of action can I plant today to multiply tomorrow's rewards?"
⏰ Timing
Duration of Influence: 3-6 months of building momentum
Action Window: Within the first full moon cycle after receiving this hexagram
📊 The Six Lines
Line 1: The Foundation
Root your growth in unshakeable intent, channeling initial energy into practical first steps without haste. Small, deliberate actions now compound into mighty gains, like planting seeds in freshly tilled earth. Trust the inner rumble to propel you forward steadily.
When Changing: When this line moves, it signals over-eagerness at the base—pause to realign foundations before pushing ahead, lest momentum scatter prematurely.
Line 2: The Inner Growth
Yield inwardly to receive the gathering force, allowing quiet accumulation to build resilient strength. This is the fertile pause where ideas gestate, drawing allies and resources effortlessly. Nurture vulnerability as the soil for profound expansion.
When Changing: A moving second line urges swift sharing of inner bounty—hoarding stifles flow, but generosity accelerates communal rise.
Line 3: The Threshold
At this pivotal edge, hesitation breeds doubt; cross boldly, integrating thunder's jolt with wind's whisper to breach limits. Challenges here test resolve, forging breakthroughs from friction. Embrace the storm's tumult as the gateway to multiplied horizons.
When Changing: If changing, avoid reckless overreach—step back to consolidate gains, transforming potential loss into strategic pivot.
Line 4: The Outer Beginning
Extend your influence outward with supple grace, adapting to new terrains like wind bending branches. Initial forays into unfamiliar realms yield allies through humility and insight. Flow rather than force to multiply connections exponentially.
When Changing: This moving line warns of dependency traps—sever unwise ties decisively to preserve pure upward trajectory.
Line 5: The Ruler
From the heart of power, direct increase with enlightened benevolence, uplifting all under your sway. Leadership here magnetizes prosperity, as wise decrees ripple into collective thriving. Rule with thunder's vigor tempered by wind's clarity for peak fulfillment.
When Changing: When it shifts, guard against hubris in authority—true sovereignty yields to higher counsel, averting downfall through humble correction.
Line 6: The Culmination
At the apex, warn of excess: cap growth wisely, channeling surplus back to origins lest it wither from overextension. Completion invites reflection, seeding future cycles from harvested wisdom. Celebrate, then release to sustain eternal renewal.
When Changing: A changing top line heralds reversal if unchecked—retreat gracefully, redistributing gains to invite fresh beginnings unmarred by pride.
The classic text — James Legge, 1882
The judgment, the image and the line statements below are James Legge's translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, The Yî King (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), now in the public domain. The judgment and line statements are transcribed from a scan of that printing (Wikimedia Commons, Sacred Books of the East - Volume 16.djvu, scan pages 183 and 184; printed pages 149–150): the scan's machine-read text was corrected line by line against the page images (2026-09-30). The image comes from the scan page named beside it. Legge's notes are left out. Words in round brackets are Legge's own additions to the terse Chinese, and his spellings of Chinese names are kept as printed. The other sections of this page are this site's modern reading, not Legge's.
The judgment
Yî indicates that (in the state which it denotes) there will be advantage in every movement which shall be undertaken, that it will be advantageous (even) to cross the great stream.
The image
From Legge's Appendix II, Treatise on the Symbolism of the Hexagrams: the paragraph he calls ‘the Great Symbolism’, which reads the figure as its two trigrams and draws a lesson from them. It is one of the appendixes, a commentary on the text, not part of the judgment or the line statements. Scan page 353 (printed p. 319), corrected by eye against the page image.
(The trigram representing) wind and that for thunder form Yî. The superior man, in accordance with this, when he sees what is good, moves towards it; and when he sees his errors, he turns from them.
The lines, counted from the bottom
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Line 1 (bottom)
The first line, undivided, shows that it will be advantageous for its subject in his position to make a great movement. If it be greatly fortunate, no blame will be imputed to him.
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Line 2
The second line, divided, shows parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells whose oracles cannot be opposed. Let him persevere in being firm and correct, and there will be good fortune. Let the king, (having the virtues thus distinguished), employ them in presenting his offerings to God, and there will be good fortune.
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Line 3
The third line, divided, shows increase given to its subject by means of what is evil, so that he shall (be led to good), and be without blame. Let him be sincere and pursue the path of the Mean, (so shall he secure the recognition of the ruler, like) an officer who announces himself to his prince by the symbol of his rank.
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Line 4
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject pursuing the due course. His advice to his prince is followed. He can with advantage be relied on in such a movement as that of removing the capital.
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Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject with sincere heart seeking to benefit (all below). There need be no question about it; the result will be great good fortune. (All below) will with sincere heart acknowledge his goodness.
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Line 6 (top)
In the sixth line, undivided, we see one to whose increase none will contribute, while many will seek to assail him. He observes no regular rule in the ordering of his heart. There will be evil.
🌍 Modern Applications
💼 Career & Work
Seize expansion phases like promotions or ventures, investing skills to yield rapid advancement. Network strategically, as alliances amplify your trajectory. Avoid overcommitment—focus on high-leverage moves for sustainable career abundance.
💕 Relationships
Foster bonds through generous acts, allowing mutual support to deepen intimacy. This is prime for commitments that grow together, like shared goals. Give freely to receive profound loyalty and joy.
🏃 Health & Wellness
🧘 Spiritual Growth
Deepen practice through expansive rituals, invoking higher guidance for soul-level multiplication. Study amplifies wisdom; teach to solidify gains. This path accelerates enlightenment via service-oriented awakening.
🎯 Decision Making
Prioritize choices promising scalable returns, weighing long-term multiplication over quick wins. Act with bold yet adaptable strategy. Increase favors decisive, outward-facing resolutions.
🙏 Daily Practice
Daily Ritual
At dawn, stand barefoot on earth; visualize thunder rumbling below as you clap hands thrice to awaken energy. Whisper your growth intention into the wind, then walk forward scattering seeds or notes of gratitude. Conclude by breathing deeply, feeling abundance circulate through your core—repeat for seven days.
Meditation
Envision roots delving into thunderous earth while winds lift branches skyward, multiplying leaves into a thriving canopy. Inhale expansion, exhale limitations, repeating "I amplify what serves." Rest in the golden glow of burgeoning light for five breaths.
Journaling Prompts
What one action today sparks tenfold return? Where can I give to receive growth? How has past increase prepared my next leap?
🔄 Mark the Changing Lines
A cast marks some of the six lines as changing and leaves the rest still. Tick the ones yours marked, counting from the bottom line up, and this works out the hexagram they turn this one into. Each tick flips that line to its opposite — broken becomes unbroken, unbroken becomes broken — and the six lines you are left with are one of the other 63 hexagrams. It resolves as you tick: there is nothing to submit, the arithmetic runs in this page on your own device, and nothing you tick is sent anywhere.
No lines marked as changing. A reading with nothing moving in it stays put: Hexagram 42 is the whole answer and there is no second hexagram to look up.
🔗 Related Hexagrams
Opposite: Hexagram 23 (Splitting Apart)—where Increase builds, it strips away excess foundations.
Companion: Hexagram 1 (The Creative)—pairs primal force with directed amplification for ultimate power.
Evolution: Often transforms into Hexagram 16 (Enthusiasm), channeling growth into joyful expression.
Hexagrams inside and beside this one
Computed from this hexagram's six lines, counted from the bottom. These are structural relations, not part of Legge's translation, and not readings in themselves.
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Nuclear
Hexagram 23: Bō (Splitting Apart)
Formed by taking lines 2–3–4 as the lower trigram (here Earth) and lines 3–4–5 as the upper (here Mountain), so the bottom and top lines drop out. Some readers treat it as the core hidden inside a situation; schools differ on how much weight it deserves.
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Inverted
Formed by turning the six lines upside down, so line 6 becomes line 1. The traditional King Wen order is built on this: 56 of the 64 hexagrams stand side by side with their inversion, as Hexagrams 41 and 42 do. Schools differ on how much weight the inversion carries in a reading.
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Opposite
Formed by flipping every line: each solid line becomes broken and each broken line solid. Some readers use it to see what a situation is not; schools differ on how much weight it carries.