萃 Gathering
Upper trigram: Lake (the lake) · Lower trigram: Earth (the earth)
Assemble — there is power in gathering what is scattered.
Modern interpretation
Gather people, resources, and energy. There is power in assembly now: organize, celebrate, consolidate. What has been scattered should be brought together under one shared purpose.
The Judgment · 卦辞
亨，王假有庙。利见大人。亨，利贞，用大牲吉。利有攸往。
“In (the state denoted by) Zhui, the king will repair to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous (also) to meet with the great man ; and then there will be progress and success, though the advantage must come through firm correctness. The use of great victims will conduce to good fortune ; and in whatever direction movement is made, it will be advantageous.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
有孚不终，乃乱乃萃，若号，一握为笑，勿恤，往无咎。
“The first line, divided, shows its subject with a sincere desire (for union), but unable to carry it out, so that disorder is brought into the sphere of his union. If he cry out (for help to his proper correlate), all at once (his tears) will give place to smiles. He need not mind (the temporary difficulty) ; as he goes forward, there will be no error.”
引吉，无咎，孚乃利用禴。
“The second line, divided, shows its subject led forward (by his correlate). There will be good fortune, and freedom from error. There is entire sincerity, and in that case (even the small offerings of) the vernal sacrifice are acceptable.”
萃如嗟如，无攸利，往无咎，小吝。
“The third line, divided, shows its subject striving after union and seeming to sigh, yet nowhere finding any advantage. If he go forward, he will not err, though there may be some small cause for regret.”
大吉无咎。
“The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject in such a state that, if he be greatly fortunate, he will receive no blame.”
萃有位，无咎。匪孚，元永贞，悔亡。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows the union (of all) under its subject in the place of dignity. There will be no error. If any do not have confidence in him, let him see to it that (his virtue) be great, long-continued, and firmly correct, and all occasion for repentance will disappear.”
赍咨涕洟，无咎。
“The topmost line, divided, shows its subject sighing and weeping ; but there will be no error.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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