Hexagram 19 for love
Hexagram 19 Overseeing in love and relationships
Lin is earth above the lake, the shore looking down on the water and the water rising to meet it: two strong lines growing from below, welcomed by the yielding lines above. For a relationship it is the hexagram of approach — one party drawing near, the other receiving — and the judgment gives it the full 'great success, favourable to be steady'. Its one warning, 'in the eighth month there will be evil', is the Tuan's reminder that what is growing now will one day wane, so the time of approach should be used well rather than taken for granted.
The lines sort the ways of coming close: together and sincerely (lines one and two), by charm that does not hold (line three), directly (line four), wisely (line five) and generously (line six). The stance it recommends is warmth with substance behind it. If the changing line is in the lower trigram you are the one approaching; in the upper trigram, you are the one deciding how to receive.
The hexagram in brief
Earth over the lake: looking down from the shore. Yang grows and influence approaches — supreme success now, with a warning that the eighth month brings a turn.
Lead with care and generosity while your influence grows, and plan for the season when it wanes.
The judgment
臨：元，亨，利，貞。至于八月有凶。Lin (indicates that under the conditions supposed in it) there will be great progress and success, while it will be advantageous to be firmly correct. In the eighth month there will be evil.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 臨 Overseeing has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningapproach together · steadiness · a right will
- 九二Nine in the second placecentral strength · every advantage · not merely obeying
- 六三Six in the third placesweet approach · no advantage · worry saves it
- 六四Six in the fourth placedirect approach · right place · receiving the strong
- 六五Six in the fifth placewise approach · the great ruler · the middle way
- 上六Six at the topgenerous approach · the top turns inward · good at the end
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 19, Overseeing, a good sign for love?
- Lin is earth above the lake, the shore looking down on the water and the water rising to meet it: two strong lines growing from below, welcomed by the yielding lines above. For a relationship it is the hexagram of approach — one party drawing near, the other receiving — and the judgment gives it the full 'great success, favourable to be steady'. Its one warning, 'in the eighth month there will be evil', is the Tuan's reminder that what is growing now will one day wane, so the time of approach should be used well rather than taken for granted.
- What does Hexagram 19, 臨 Overseeing, mean?
- Earth over the lake: looking down from the shore. Yang grows and influence approaches — supreme success now, with a warning that the eighth month brings a turn.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).