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Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light

䷣ 明夷 (Míng Yí) · Hidden light. Protect your inner flame in dark times.

adversity, inner light, discretion, endurance

Lower trigram: Fire ☲ · Upper trigram: Earth ☷

The judgment

The light has gone down into the earth, and the times don't reward openness. Keep your inner light burning, but shield it, and let your outward manner be modest and quiet. Holding to what is true in you through a hard stretch is what carries you to the other side.

The image

Fire beneath Earth: the sun has sunk below the ground. Move among others without drawing attention, veiling your brightness while still seeing clearly.

The six lines

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

• Line 1 (bottom): You fly with drooping wings, leaving a place that is turning dark, even if it means going without comforts for a while. People may talk; let them, and keep moving.
• Line 2: You are wounded, but in the left thigh, not the heart. Use whatever strength you have, like a strong horse, to carry yourself and others out.
• Line 3: While hunting in the south, you catch the chief source of the darkness. Don't expect everything to set right at once; old habits take time to change.
• Line 4: You get close to the heart of the darkness and understand it from the inside. That knowledge lets you leave the gate and courtyard behind while there is still time.
• Line 5: Like Prince Ji, who hid his insight to survive a cruel court, you keep your light hidden while staying true. Quiet steadiness is the right stance.
• Line 6 (top): No brightness left, only gloom: what climbed up to the sky has fallen into the depths. Darkness that overreaches undoes itself.

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