In love
Taking the warmth and passing none back leaves you isolated, then struck from an unexpected quarter. Steady the heart and resume the giving before the bond closes on the wrong side. Full love reading
Hexagram 42 · Line 6
Increase Withheld
Hexagram 42 · Line 6 meaning
"He brings increase to no one — indeed, someone strikes him. He does not keep his heart steady. Misfortune."
Parent hexagram
42
I is the season of blessing in full flow: what is above sacrifices to what is below, and the people rejoice; wind and thunder amplify one another as gales feed storms. Progress that lately cost everything now comes with help — a sense of inner and outer independence, and a following wind behind every worthy undertaking. Great crossings, long deferred, are open.
Direct answer
Hexagram 42 line 6 is the season's terminal warning: increase hoarded at the top, passed to no one below. The heart, unsteadied by acquisition, forgets the law that began the flow — the above giving downward — and the current reverses. Isolation comes first, then a blow from an unexpected quarter. This is misfortune. The correction is to resume the giving.
The image explained
As the sixth line — the end, the excess — the whole hexagram turns against itself. Increase began with the above giving to the below; at the top, one who receives everything and passes nothing down breaks that founding law, and a current only flows while it circulates. The unsteady heart is both cause and symptom: acquisition has replaced the steadiness that humility kept. First comes isolation, as generosity's withdrawal empties the space around you; then the blow, "someone strikes him," because hostile forces gather wherever giving has stopped. The season doesn't punish having — it punishes hoarding.
What to do now
Do take the warning seriously: if you've been taking without passing anything on, stop and reverse it now — steady the heart, open the hands, resume the giving downward before the season closes on the wrong side of it. Don't tell yourself the flow is permanent or purely your own doing; that story is exactly the unsteadiness the line names. And don't wait for the blow to teach you — the isolation is already the first instalment. Rejoin the circuit while you still can.
Transformation
The change toward Hexagram 3
When this line moves, the situation travels toward Hexagram 3, Difficulty at the Beginning — the turbulent, blocked chaos from which new life must struggle to emerge. The link is stark: hoard the increase and the flowing season collapses back into difficulty, the path tangled and jammed. But Difficulty at the Beginning holds the remedy — don't force anything alone; enlist helpers and untangle the threads. The generosity you withheld is exactly what rebuilds the allies you'll depend on. Resume it, and the beginning becomes workable.
This line in context
In career
Hoard the credit and gains, mentor no one, and the flow reverses into isolation and a sudden blow. Resume passing it downward now. Full career reading
For a decision
The terminal warning — pass nothing on and the current reverses into isolation and a blow; steady the heart, resume the giving, rejoin the circuit. Full timing reading
Reflection
What have I been receiving and passing on to no one?
Where is my heart unsteady with holding, and what would it take to open my hands?
Read this line well
Keep the line inside the full reading
A changing line becomes useful when you read it in the right order and keep it tied to the wider hexagram pattern.
1. Start with Hexagram 42
Read the parent hexagram first so Line 6 stays anchored in the actual situation rather than floating as a detached slogan.
2. Stay with Line 6
Let this line show where the pressure, correction, or opening is most active right now. It is usually the sharpest instruction in the cast.
3. Then read the direction of change
Only after that should you compare the transformed figure and decide what movement this changing line is pointing toward.
If you want the wider method behind this sequence, read how to consult the I Ching or go deeper with the changing-lines guide.
All six lines
Read the full line sequence
Line 1
Great Deeds Are Favoured
"It is favourable to accomplish great deeds. Supreme good fortune. No blame."
Hexagram 42 line 1 means the increase has reached even your low starting place, and it comes with a commission: help received obliges great undertakings. Act on the scale the season permits, selflessly and for the general good, and the extraordinary succeeds. There's even room for honest error — mistakes made in sincere effort correct themselves now. Build large.
Read line 1 in full
Line 2
The Increase None Can Oppose
"Someone increases him indeed; ten pairs of tortoise shells cannot gainsay it. Constant steadfastness brings good fortune. The king presents him before God: good fortune."
Hexagram 42 line 2 means blessing so aligned with the order of things that no oracle could contradict it — the receiving side of Decrease's fifth line. It comes to whoever loves the good for its own sake, not just for relief from hardship. Hold that love with constant steadfastness, and what was lost is restored.
Read line 2 in full
Line 3
Enriched Through Misfortune
"One is enriched even through unfortunate events. No blame — if you are sincere, walk in the middle, and act with the authority of a true commission."
Hexagram 42 line 3 means the season's strangest gift: in a time of increase, even the blows enrich you. Adversity now carries instruction and strength — but only under three exact conditions: stay sincere, walk the middle path, and act as if sealed by a true commission rather than improvised by the ego. Met so, misfortune itself joins the increase.
Read line 3 in full
Line 4
The Trusted Intermediary
"Walking in the middle and reporting to the prince, one is followed. It is favourable to be used in great removals."
Hexagram 42 line 4 means you are the trusted intermediary — the mediator between powers, the translator between above and below, entrusted with the weightiest transfers because of your proven balance. Walk the middle, report faithfully, and you'll be followed. Everything rests on impartiality that never bends the message toward your own desire. Serve the transmission, not yourself.
Read line 4 in full
Line 5
Kindness That Does Not Ask
"A truly kind heart need not ask — supreme good fortune. Kindness will be recognised as your virtue."
Hexagram 42 line 5 means the apex of increase: generosity become nature. A kindness this real springs from inner necessity — it doesn't calculate returns, seek recognition, or require penitence before it forgives. It never asks to be acknowledged, and precisely therefore it is. Act with such unmeasuring goodness, and the virtue unadvertised becomes the virtue known everywhere.
Read line 5 in full
Line 6
Increase Withheld
"He brings increase to no one — indeed, someone strikes him. He does not keep his heart steady. Misfortune."
Hexagram 42 line 6 is the season's terminal warning: increase hoarded at the top, passed to no one below. The heart, unsteadied by acquisition, forgets the law that began the flow — the above giving downward — and the current reverses. Isolation comes first, then a blow from an unexpected quarter. This is misfortune. The correction is to resume the giving.
Current line
Situation meanings
Read this hexagram in context
Love meaning
Love's season of increase — build boldly and give generously.
Open interpretation
Career meaning
A season of increase — build boldly and pass the gains downward.
Open interpretation
Business meaning
A tailwind season — build boldly, and pass the gains downward.
Open interpretation
Family meaning
The household's season of increase — build boldly and give downward.
Open interpretation
Money meaning
Money's season of increase — build boldly, keep it flowing.
Open interpretation
Personal growth meaning
The wind is with you — imitate good, root out faults, build.
Open interpretation
Learning meaning
Learning flies with a tailwind now — attempt the hard thing.
Open interpretation
Creativity meaning
A fertile season with a tailwind — build boldly, give freely.
Open interpretation
Decision and timing meaning
Act now — the wind is with you; cross the great water.
Open interpretation
Spirituality meaning
A season of blessing — use it, and pass it downward.
Open interpretation
Friendship and community meaning
A season of growing circles — build boldly, give generously.
Open interpretation
Life transitions meaning
A change with a tailwind — build boldly, and pass it on.
Open interpretation
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Return to steadiness
A quiet place to keep returning
Beyond a single reading: True Essence is a daily pause to steady the mind and return to clearer judgement — a seven-day return, free to begin, then a practice that continues day by day.
Begin the 7-day return →Oracle
Consult the I Ching with Hexagram 42 in mind
If Line 6 is active in your reading, use the oracle to revisit the full pattern and any additional changing lines in your live situation.