Hexagram 44 for love
Hexagram 44 Encounter in love and relationships
Gou is wind moving beneath heaven: one yin line arriving under five yang, the hexagram of an unexpected encounter. The judgment is famously severe — 'the woman is strong; do not take her' (女壯，勿用取女) — and the Tuan explains that this is not about the person but the dynamic: what arrives small and soft here is set to grow, and 'cannot be kept company with for long' (不可與長也). Yet the same Tuan says heaven and earth meeting is how all things come into being. The encounter itself is not the problem; it is the failure to notice what it will become.
For a question about love, read the hexagram as a warning about a new attraction or a new influence inside an existing bond. Line one says put the brake on at once. Line two is the one who can contain it quietly; line four is the partner who loses out through distance; line five shelters from above without touching. A changing line in the lower trigram concerns the thing entering; one in the upper trigram concerns how the established relationship responds.
The hexagram in brief
Wind under heaven: one yin line arriving beneath five yang. An encounter — the woman is strong; do not marry her. Something small and tempting enters; watch it from the start.
Meet what comes with awareness; enjoy the encounter, but don't let a small influence take over.
The judgment
姤：女壯，勿用取女。Kâu shows a female who is bold and strong. It will not be good to marry (such) a female.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 姤 Encounter has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningmetal brake · the first yin · the lean pig
- 九二Nine in the second placefish in the wrapper · containment · not for the guests
- 九三Nine in the third placeno skin on the buttocks · halting · not yet drawn in
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeno fish in the wrapper · lost the people · trouble arises
- 九五Nine in the fifth placewillow sheltering the gourd · hidden brilliance · falls from heaven
- 上九Nine at the topmeeting with the horns · exhausted at the top · regret but no blame
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 44, Encounter, a good sign for love?
- Gou is wind moving beneath heaven: one yin line arriving under five yang, the hexagram of an unexpected encounter. The judgment is famously severe — 'the woman is strong; do not take her' (女壯，勿用取女) — and the Tuan explains that this is not about the person but the dynamic: what arrives small and soft here is set to grow, and 'cannot be kept company with for long' (不可與長也). Yet the same Tuan says heaven and earth meeting is how all things come into being. The encounter itself is not the problem; it is the failure to notice what it will become.
- What does Hexagram 44, 姤 Encounter, mean?
- Wind under heaven: one yin line arriving beneath five yang. An encounter — the woman is strong; do not marry her. Something small and tempting enters; watch it from the start.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).