Line 1
初六
履霜，堅冰至。
Frost underfoot; hard ice follows.
Frost marks the bottom line, the first visible trace of hardening. When that line turns firm, Hexagram 24 appears with one unbroken line below five yielding lines.
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Hexagram 2
The Receptive
坤Kūn
Capacity to receive, sustain, and bring into form.
The Judgment
Great success. The mare’s constancy is beneficial. When an exemplary person sets out toward an aim, taking the lead loses orientation; following finds a leader. The southwest gains companions, the northeast loses them. Settled constancy is favorable.
元、亨，利牝馬之貞。君子有攸往，先迷後得，主利。西南得朋，東北喪朋，安貞吉。
The Great Image
Earth’s bearing is receptive. In its image, an exemplary person carries the weight of things through depth of character.
地勢坤。君子以厚德載物。
Bottom to top
The six lines
Line 2
六二
直方大，不習无不利。
Straight, square, and broad. Without deliberate practice, nothing is unfavorable.
Straight, square, and broad describe the centered second place, which produces Hexagram 7 when made firm, leaving one unbroken line within a receptive field.
Read Line 2 in contextLine 3
六三
含章可貞，或從王事，无成有終。
Brilliance held within; constancy can be maintained. In the king’s service, one does not claim the achievement, yet carries the work through.
Line 3 closes the lower trigram while keeping brilliance contained and achievement unclaimed. Made firm, it produces Hexagram 15, with its sole unbroken line at the third place.
Read Line 3 in contextLine 4
六四
括囊，无咎无譽。
A sack drawn closed: no fault, no praise.
The closed sack sits at Line 4, the threshold of the outer trigram. A firm line in that place gives Hexagram 16; the other five lines remain yielding.
Read Line 4 in contextLine 5
六五
黃裳元吉。
A yellow lower garment: greatly favorable.
The yellow lower garment belongs to the centered fifth place; turning this line firm makes Hexagram 8, with its single unbroken line at the center of the upper trigram.
Read Line 5 in contextLine 6
上六
龍戰于野，其血玄黃。
Dragons contend in the open country; their blood is dark and yellow.
The dragons contend at the top, where six yielding places have reached their limit. Firming Line 6 produces Hexagram 23, one unbroken line above five broken lines.
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Structure
One line away
Changes to
One classical protocol
In practice
A cast determines which part of a hexagram governs the reading. When one line moves, that line is read as the focus; other moving-line counts use different focus rules.
Read the changing-line protocol
Cast this properly