遯 → 離
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初六 遯尾厲。勿用有攸往。
Six at the beginning means: At the tail in retreat. This is dangerous. One must not wish to undertake anything.
Line 5
九五 嘉遯貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
折亡破甕，使我困貧，與母生分，別離異門。
The jar breaks, the vessel shatters; leaving me in poverty. Parted from my mother by fate; separated, through different doors.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain blazes into doubled fire — the Clinging, where brightness depends upon something to cling to. A jar shatters and a vessel breaks, plunging the household into poverty. Mother and child are torn apart, separated and sent through different doors. Every image is one of rupture: the container that held sustenance is destroyed, and the family unit that gave meaning to retreat is dissolved. From Retreat to the Clinging, the mountain's withdrawal becomes fire's desperate need for fuel. Fire without substance to attach to consumes itself. The retreating figure has lost not only material possessions but the very relationships that made withdrawal bearable. Separation from one's mother — the most primal bond — represents retreat carried to its most devastating conclusion.
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