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Hexagram 25: Innocence

䷘ 無妄 (Wú Wàng) · Innocence. Act naturally, without scheming.

sincerity, naturalness, spontaneity, trust

Lower trigram: Thunder ☳ · Upper trigram: Heaven ☰

The judgment

Act from a clear, natural heart, without hidden plans. What you do sincerely and in step with the moment tends to go well. But innocence is not carelessness: if your motives are off, even good luck turns sour, so check them first.

The image

Thunder rolls beneath the open sky and every living thing wakes as it should. In the same way, give each person and each task what it truly needs, in its own season.

The six lines

Read only the lines that changed in your casting, counting from the bottom.

• Line 1 (bottom): Acting from a pure, unforced impulse brings good fortune. Trust your first honest instinct.
• Line 2: Plow without counting the harvest; clear the field without already spending what it will yield. Do the work for its own sake, and you can go ahead.
• Line 3: Something goes wrong that you did not cause, like a passer-by leading off a cow tied up in your village. Luck is sometimes unfair; don't let it make you bitter.
• Line 4: Stay with what is truly yours. If you keep steady on your own ground, you cannot go wrong.
• Line 5: A trouble that was not of your making often clears up on its own. Don't reach for drastic fixes that create new problems; give it time.
• Line 6 (top): Even innocent action is out of season now. Wait quietly instead of pushing; nothing would come of acting.

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