歸妹 → 解
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
Line 1
初九 歸妹以娣。跛能履。征吉。
Nine at the beginning means: The marrying maiden as a concubine. A lame man who is able to tread. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
三羖五䍧，相隨俱行。迷入空澤，循谷直北。經涉六駁，為所傷敗。
Three black rams and five spotted sheep follow together in a line. Straying into the empty marsh, they follow the valley straight north. Passing through terrain of six-striped beasts, they are wounded and defeated.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake shifts to thunder over water: the maiden's muddled commitment meets Deliverance's promise of release. Three black rams and five castrated goats travel together, wander into an empty marsh, and follow the valley northward. Crossing through six dappled rapids, they are mauled by predators. The journey of the flock is a study in misdirection: entering a trackless waste, choosing the wrong route, and meeting destruction at the river crossing. From the Marrying Maiden to Deliverance, thunder and rain should clear the air and pardon past errors. Yet the verse shows deliverance failing because the flock cannot find the correct path. Deliverance demands swift, decisive action once the storm breaks; hesitation and wandering invite ruin.
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