需 → 離
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 需于沙。小有言。終吉。
Nine in the second place means: Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
Line 4
六四 需于血。出自穴。
Six in the fourth place means: Waiting in blood. Get out of the pit.
Line 5
九五 需于酒食。貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 6
上六 入于穴。有不速之客三人來。敬之終吉。
Six at the top means: One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鵠思其雄，欲隨鳳東。順理羽翼，出次須日。中留北邑，復反其室。
The swan-goose yearns for her mate and would follow the phoenix east. She grooms and preens her feathers; she goes out, then waits for the right day. Lingering at a northern town, she returns again to her home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven give way to doubled fire — the Clinging's twin brightness. A female swan longs for her mate and wishes to follow the phoenix eastward. She preens her feathers and wings, prepares to depart, and awaits the proper day. Yet midway she lingers at a northern settlement and returns to her own chamber. The longing is genuine, the preparation real, but the journey is abandoned. The 'phoenix' she would follow represents an ideal companion or destiny; the 'northern settlement' where she pauses represents the pull of the familiar. From Waiting to The Clinging, nourishment becomes illumination — but double fire also means one flame reflecting another. She sees clearly what she desires yet clings to what she knows, light without forward motion.
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