I Ching Ge Meaning: Hexagram 49 Explained

Draw Ge 革 and students most easily do two opposite things: one, revolution at once; two, fright so nothing moves.

Both skew. Ge must change, and Ge itself wrote the time dead: 「巳日乃孚」— on si day there is trust. First take trust, then change. Change without trust is flipping a table, not Ge.

Ge is Lake over Fire, Dui above Li. Dui above — lake, water; Li below — fire. Water above, fire below: water and fire still each other; neither can bear the other, so there must be Ge. Above and below cannot reverse. Reverse it and you have Kui 睽, Fire over Lake: two women opposed, each going each way. The point is division, not changing fate. Ge’s full name is Ze Huo Ge (澤火革). Ask about reform, changing work, divorce, revolution: this hexagram is common, and most easily used too fast.

Why Jing must be followed by Ge

The Xu Gua says: 「井道不可不革，故受之以革。」 A well’s way cannot but be changed, so Ge follows. Jing 井 is a source that feeds people. Used long it silts, becomes habit, an old rule no one may touch. Cannot but change: not that you like changing. Not changing, the well spoils. So drawing Ge, there is often already an old well in front: an old company, an old marriage, an old system, an old identity. Ge at random while the well can still be drunk is smashing the bottle. A well already mud, and still no Ge: thirsting people to death.

The Tuan says: 「革，水火相息。二女同居，其志不相得，曰革。」 Ge: water and fire still each other. Two women live together, their aims do not match: called Ge. Dui is the youngest daughter; Li is the middle daughter. Two feminine trigrams stacked, aims cannot meet. Not that a house cannot have two women. Two tempers, two sets of rules under one eaves, already extinguishing each other. Water and fire still each other: xi 息 is stopping, extinguishing. Occupying the same seat, not changing, they will exhaust each other.

The Tuan continues: 「巳日乃孚。革而信之。文明以說，大亨以正。革而當，其悔乃亡。」 On si day there is trust. Change, and they trust it. Civilization and being pleased; great opening through correctness. Change that is fitting: regret then vanishes. Unfitting, and Ge itself is the regret. Heaven and Earth change and the four seasons complete; Tang and Wu’s revolution: following Heaven, answering people. The two characters for revolution come from here. The original conditions are strict: follow Heaven, answer people, have trust. Missing one is making trouble, not Ge.

Career and wealth: first ask whether trust is there

Ask about career and draw Ge: commonly reform, changing a boss, changing industry, a product rewrite, a team taken apart and rebuilt. The direction is often “the old truly cannot be lived in,” so as a whole it is not telling you to endure. The initial nine already bars you: 「鞏用黃牛之革」— bind it with the hide of a yellow ox. Bound dead with yellow ox hide, you cannot move. Change too early and hide and leather bind you together. New, the seat not yet steady, words not yet believed: advocate revolution now, and you Ge yourself first.

Six in the second then says: 「巳日乃革之，征吉，無咎。」 On si day, then change it; to campaign is fortunate, no blame. Si day: old notes take it as the day trust is taken, conditions ripe. In class I put it earthily: wait until enough people feel it cannot not change, then move. You yourself thinking it through at midnight is not si day. In wealth, Ge can open a new structure of receipts, and can Ge the old cash flow away with it. Changing industry, price, equity: first count “how many months can the old well still feed.” Cannot feed, then change: forced Ge, easily disordered. Still can feed, and you change: there must be trust, or colleagues and clients will take you as willful.

Nine in the third: 「征凶，貞厲，革言三就，有孚。」 To campaign is unfortunate; persistence is dangerous; words of change three times completed, there is trust. Words must be said three times, a plan completed three times, before people trust. Draw nine in the third: a one-shot hard attack is not suitable. A reform plan brought out, sent back: a normal process, not humiliation. Treat “three completions” as being targeted, and you make Ge into campaigning unfortunate.

Nine in the fourth: 「悔亡，有孚改命，吉。」 Regret vanishes; there is trust, changing fate; fortunate. Here fate can truly be changed. Trust is there, fate can change, fortunate. Draw nine in the fourth: post, charter, a partnership, even a life direction, suits the knife. The knife must fall on “there is trust,” not on a temper.

Ge in love: you can divorce; slamming the door at midnight is not Ge

Ask about love and draw Ge: water and fire are already on the same bed extinguishing each other. The old way of being together cannot feed. You can talk separating, rewriting rules, changing the title. And still si day. Go public to war before trust is taken, and family, children, joint property are burned first. You will not even get Ge’s name.

If you are already together, Ge is not necessarily a breakup. It may be Ge-ing a fake peace: from enduring to talking, from each living each to signing again. Six in the second, campaigning fortunate: fortune in changing in time, changing with witnesses. Drag it to the upper six: the superior person can still leopard-change; the small person only changes the face. The face changed, the heart not: the relationship becomes makeup.

If you are single and draw Ge, often you must shed an old identity: shed the last chapter’s wife, husband, resentment, habit. It may also be meeting someone who will change your life’s structure. A match that comes fast: first ask whether this is tiger change or changing the face. Tiger change is stripes growing from the bone; people know the season changed at a look. Changing the face is cooperating on the face. Ask about marriage, living together: want tiger change, not only changing the face.

Ask about divorce and draw Ge: I do not automatically say leave. I ask: are water and fire truly stilling each other, or were you angry this week? Truly stilling each other: six in the second, nine in the fourth can walk law, walk agreement, finish changing fate. Only angry: back to yellow ox hide, bind the impulse first. What Ge fears most is calling a moment’s fire a revolution.

Tiger change and changing the face: these two lines cannot mix

Nine in the fifth: 「大人虎變，未占有孚。」 A great person, tiger change; not yet divined, there is already trust. A great person like a tiger changing coat: no need to divine first; people already trust. Essence changes, atmosphere changes, no self-introduction. Draw nine in the fifth: the reformer is the proof. In career this is reform in position: a new policy, a new brand, a new identity — people have not asked and already feel the season changed. In love, nine in the fifth is the person truly different, not only talk.

Upper six: 「君子豹變，小人革面。征凶，居貞吉。」 The superior person, leopard change; the small person changes the face. To campaign is unfortunate; dwelling in persistence is fortunate. A superior person’s change is like a leopard: the pattern is there, the scale smaller than a tiger, still a true change. The small person only turns the face; the set underneath is still there. Draw the upper six: do not campaign outward further, do not enlarge the range of reform. The change that should be done has reached skin and hair. Campaign further and you go too far. Dwell in persistence: stop in the correct place, let what has changed live there.

The most common classroom misreading is treating a changed face as success. A company changed its mark, a marriage changed its form of address, you changed a catchphrase, friends say you are different. That may only be the face. Tiger change need not announce. Changing the face loves announcing most. Draw Ge: look at the matter you asked. Did bone change, or skin.

The initial nine cannot Ge; six in the second can; nine in the third needs three completions; nine in the fourth changes fate; nine in the fifth, tiger change; the upper six, stop. Six places: only the middle stretch suits moving the hands. Treat Ge as “drew it, so you can reverse,” and you strangle yourself at the initial nine, or at the upper six campaign what had already changed into ruin.

In class, timing Ge, I use only three checks

Is the old truly extinguishing the other? Water and fire still each other: two sets of rules canceling each other. Still can make do, still a length of well that can be drunk: repair the well first, need not move Ge. A well’s way cannot but be changed: the premise is the well’s way has reached cannot-not-change.

Is trust there? Toward above, below, the other person, your own books. No trust, and however pretty the words of Ge, it is still valuing the mouth. Si day is not so superstitious as a calendar si day. It is conditions ripe, witnesses present. That stretch.

Do you want to change fate, or change the face? Changing fate walks nine in the fourth, nine in the fifth. Changing the face does not walk the correct road; the upper six has already warned. Changing industry, divorce, reform: all fate-level matters. A changed face cannot fill in.

After Ge there must be a vessel to hold the new. The next hexagram is Ding. Ge is removing the old; Ding is founding anew, cooking, feeding the worthy. Only Ge, no Ding: the house will be empty. Only Ding, no Ge: last night’s filth is still in the pot.

How Jing feeds, when it must change: I Ching Jing Meaning | Hexagram 48 How to Read: The Well, How to Repair What Feeds People. After Ge, how to found anew: I Ching Ding Meaning | Hexagram 50 How to Read: The Cauldron, How to Found Anew and Nourish Worth. If the house’s order has not yet reached revolution, first read I Ching Jia Ren Meaning | Hexagram 37 How to Read: The Family, Marriage and Ordering the House.

I Ching Ge FAQ

If I draw Ge, must I resign, must I divorce?

Not must. The old structure and water and fire are already stilling each other: change. What you change can be a charter, a shift roster, a way of talking, a living arrangement — not necessarily cutting the relationship or the job with one knife. Even at a fate-changing line, do not sign in a temper. On si day there is trust: take trust first, then put the pen down.

On si day, then Ge: must I really pick a si day to act?

Some old arts truly pick a si day. In class I stress more “the day trust is taken”: a plan accepted, family nodding, legal papers complete, you yourself not running a fever. You can pick a day. Picking a day cannot replace trust. A si day without trust is still reckless movement.

How do I remember tiger change, leopard change, changing the face?

Tiger change is essence changing season; a great person in position; not yet divined, already trusted. Leopard change is a superior person’s ornament complete: looking well and being right — and dwell in persistence, do not campaign further. Changing the face is only the outside. Ask about character, reform, whether a company reform succeeded: match these three layers. More accurate than “is there a new slogan.”

Changing industry, I drew Ge: what is the first step?

Do not drop the present well first. The initial nine, bind with yellow ox hide: bind the impulse. Count clearly how many months the old work can still feed you. Set up trust in the new line: work, a license, people actually talked through. Trust there: walk six in the second, nine in the fourth. Trust not there: words of Ge said ten times is still campaigning unfortunate.

For an online hexagram, try free love divination and match both birthdays with this reading.