歸妹 → 旅
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 6).
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.
Line 2
九二 眇能視。利幽人之貞。
Nine in the second place means: A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a solitary man furthers.
Line 3
六三 歸妹以須。反歸以娣。
Six in the third place means: The marrying maiden as a slave. She marries as a concubine.
Line 6
上六 女承筐无實。士刲羊无血。无攸利。
Six at the top means: The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man stabs the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that acts to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
西賈巴蜀，寒雪至轂。欲前不得，還反空屋。
Trading westward in Ba and Shu; snow buries the cart to its hubs. Wishing to press on but unable; he turns back to an empty house.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake meets fire over mountain: the maiden's hasty commitment encounters the Wanderer's rootless sojourn. Trading westward to Ba and Shu, deep snow buries the cart axles. Unable to advance further, the merchant returns to an empty house. The route to Ba and Shu, the ancient Sichuan basin, was notoriously treacherous, immortalized in Li Bai's later poem 'The Road to Shu is Hard.' The verse captures a commercial venture defeated by terrain and weather: ambition outpaces geography, and the trader comes home with nothing. From the Marrying Maiden to the Wanderer, fire perches atop the mountain, burning bright but impermanent. The Wanderer finds no lasting home, and the merchant's empty return embodies this transience perfectly.
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