Hexagram 54 for love
Hexagram 54 Marrying the Younger Sister in love and relationships
Gui Mei is thunder over the lake, the eldest son above the youngest daughter: a relationship on unequal terms, entered through pleasure and carried by the other's movement. The judgment is severe — 'to go forward is ominous, nothing is favourable' — and the Tuan explains why: the places are not fitting and the weak lines ride on the strong. Yet the Tuan also calls this 'the great meaning of heaven and earth', since without such unions nothing would come to be. The hexagram warns about the bond's footing, not the bond.
The lines are six ways of living in it. One does its secondary part so well that it is told to go forward; two sees the mismatch and keeps faith anyway; three holds out for more and settles for less. Four refuses the wrong match and is justified by waiting; five is the higher party who wears plainer sleeves; six is form with nothing inside. A changing line in the lower trigram is about conduct within a lesser role; one in the upper trigram is about timing and whether substance remains.
The hexagram in brief
Thunder over the lake: the younger sister married as a secondary wife. Undertakings bring misfortune; nothing is favourable — a relationship or position entered on unequal terms must be managed with great care.
Know the limits of a subordinate role; keep your dignity, expect little, and don't force what the situation won't give.
The judgment
歸妹：征凶，无攸利。Kwei Mei indicates that (under the conditions which it denotes) action will be evil, and in no wise advantageous.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 歸妹 Marrying the Younger Sister has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningsecondary wife · lame but walking · service
- 九二Nine in the second placeone-eyed sight · the recluse · unchanged constancy
- 六三Six in the third placewaiting to be taken · the wrong footing · settling for less
- 九四Nine in the fourth placemissing the date · deliberate delay · the right time
- 六五Six in the fifth placeDi Yi's sister · plainer sleeves · moon nearly full
- 上六Six at the topempty basket · bloodless sheep · form without substance
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 54, Marrying the Younger Sister, a good sign for love?
- Gui Mei is thunder over the lake, the eldest son above the youngest daughter: a relationship on unequal terms, entered through pleasure and carried by the other's movement. The judgment is severe — 'to go forward is ominous, nothing is favourable' — and the Tuan explains why: the places are not fitting and the weak lines ride on the strong. Yet the Tuan also calls this 'the great meaning of heaven and earth', since without such unions nothing would come to be. The hexagram warns about the bond's footing, not the bond.
- What does Hexagram 54, 歸妹 Marrying the Younger Sister, mean?
- Thunder over the lake: the younger sister married as a secondary wife. Undertakings bring misfortune; nothing is favourable — a relationship or position entered on unequal terms must be managed with great care.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).