I Ching Gu Meaning: Hexagram 18 Explained

Draw Gu 蠱 and students often wrinkle the face. The character looks like insects, poison, something dirty in the house. Some people say straight: bad luck.

Those two words, bad luck, finish this hexagram and also waste it. Gu is decay, affairs, a stall a predecessor left, a pile no one managed for too long. The judgment still writes great opening, beneficial to cross a great stream. Meaning hard: this stall can be put in order, and after putting it in order you can still cross a river. It is not telling you to burn incense to invite the insects away.

First get the image right. Gu is Mountain over Wind, Work on the Spoiled. Gen 艮 above, Xun 巽 below. Mountain above, Wind below. Wind under the mountain cannot blow; qi sits; things rot; insects are born. So it is called Gu. It is not Wind over Mountain, Jian (Gradual) 漸. Jian is Xun above, Gen below, wind on the mountain: advancing slowly. Gu is wind under the mountain: accumulated ill, decay, having to put a hand to order. Reverse above and below and you misread “a rotten stall that should be repaired” as “slowly will do.” Slowly, and Gu is deeper.

Why after following people there are affairs

The Xugua says: 「以喜隨人者必有事，故受之以蠱。蠱者，事也。」 Those who follow people with joy must have affairs; therefore Gu follows. Gu is affairs. Memorize this sentence. Gu is not putting a curse in some occult sense. It is personnel gone to waste, things rotten, rules decayed, become affairs that must be handled.

People who draw Gu, common scenes: taking over a family business, an old team, finding the books wrong, finding a habit an elder left already harming people, finding three years of unspoken words piled in a relationship. Not that you are unlucky. The stall has arrived in front of you. There is a son, the deceased father has no blame. Someone comes out to work it, and the predecessor can also get out of the excess. No one works it, and Gu keeps being Gu.

The judgment: 「蠱，元亨。利涉大川。先甲三日，後甲三日。」 Great opening: putting this matter in order itself can open. Beneficial to cross a great stream: putting in order is not sweeping the floor. It is crossing a great river, having to move out. Three days before jia, three days after jia. Jia is the first of the ten stems, the day of beginning again. Three days before the start, prepare; three days after the start, watch. End, then there is a beginning. What Gu most fears is a burst of blood working one day, then putting it back.

The Tuan says: 「蠱，剛上而柔下，巽而止，蠱。」 The firm above, the yielding below; Xun and stopping: Gu. Stop under the mountain, follow in the wind; follow and stop, and it rots. What then? 「先甲三日，後甲三日，終則有始，天行也。」 Heaven’s motion is ending then beginning. The stall you take over is an end for the predecessor, a beginning for you.

The Xiang says: 「山下有風，蠱。君子以振民育德。」 Wind under the mountain, Gu. The superior person stirs the people and nourishes virtue. Stir is shaking awake; nourish virtue is filling a person’s bottom. Putting in order is not only scolding, only changing people, only putting up new slogans. After stirring, still nourish. Draw Gu and only know how to tear down, not nourish: in a season insects are born again.

Career and wealth: first clear the insects, then talk of a great river

Ask about career and draw Gu: overall not a lucky hexagram for opening a new game. It is a lucky hexagram for putting an old game in order. Great opening is in working on Gu, not in opening a shop. Good for taking stock, checking books, changing a process, drying a rotten-tailed project, asking for an account of what was not written clearly in a handover. Not good for expanding greatly then, using a new project to cover an old sore.

For wealth, Gu often first shows leaks: bad debts, guarantees, family siphoning, unwritten company rules, insurance not renewed, a contract expired. Looks like losing money; actually insects being turned up. Turned up, then you can work. Three days before jia is checking; three days after is filling. Check and not fill: watching insects. Fill and not check: covering insects.

Beneficial to cross a great stream: putting in order can move the large — restructure, move, change the responsible person, cut a product line. Large, because Gu is already large. Not large for stimulation. Nine in the third, work on the father’s Gu, small regret, no great blame. Putting a predecessor’s stall in order, the move a little large, there will be small regret, not a great excess. What you fear is six in the fourth’s making the father’s Gu ample: too lenient, going forward along the old fault, and you will see cause for regret.

The upper nine, not serving kings and lords, holding the affair high. Put in order to a stage, you can withdraw from the system, do a matter you yourself think high. Draw the upper nine: not necessarily resigning to be a hermit. This time’s working on Gu need not be done to please those above. The affair itself should be higher than a king or lord’s face. Of course, going high before you have finished working: that is fleeing, not the upper nine.

Love and people: Gu in the house is harder to speak than insects outside

Ask about love and draw Gu: there is accumulated ill in the relationship. Not only rotten today. Rotten a while and no one managed. Cold violence piled, money not clear, the boundary with the family of origin rotten, promises expired. Gu at home is often called “personalities do not match.” Those four words, like bad luck, work nothing.

Work on the father’s Gu, work on the mother’s Gu: not necessarily truly parents. Father images the hard stall: rules, career, face, hard errors. Mother images the yielding stall: mood, habit, entanglement that cannot be spoken. Nine in the second, work on the mother’s Gu, must not stay rigidly correct. Putting a yielding problem in order, you cannot be too hard, cannot dead-hold one word, correct, and push. Draw nine in the second: with an elder, with a partner’s emotional account, put it in order by turning, not by talking principle until they shut the door. Must not stay rigidly correct: not that you may be incorrect. That you cannot be hard-correct.

If you are single and draw Gu, first see whether you have an old stall: an ex not cut clean, family matters dragging, a corner of your own life already decayed. Take Gu to meet people and a new connection becomes a nest for the next insect. Work first, then go out the door. Sui is going out to meet; Gu is sweeping before you go out.

Workplace people and Gu: watch whose stall you are taking. There is a son, the deceased father has no blame: you took it, the predecessor’s excess can be finished, and your danger is just starting. Dangerous, luck in the end. The process will be fierce, will offend people, will be told you do not respect tradition. Luck in the end is luck after working, not luck the moment you take over.

Lines: the object of working differs, so the method differs

Gu’s luck is almost all written after the word “work.” Do not work, and those lucks are not there.

Initial six: 幹父之蠱，有子，考無咎，厲終吉. Work on the father’s ill; there is such a son, the father can have no blame. The process is dangerous; the result lucky. Draw the initial six: you may have just taken over, qualifications still shallow. Shallow can still work. Danger is normal; do not stop because of danger. Someone comes out to do it, and the old generation can come out of the excess.

Nine in the second: 幹母之蠱，不可貞. Work on the mother’s ill; must not stay rigidly correct. Draw nine in the second: the object leans yielding, feeling, habit. Hard pushing will split Gu; people scatter, insects still there. This line is most used on: a mother, a female manager, a relationship bound by mood. The method must be Xun, entering, not only Gen.

Nine in the third: 幹父之蠱，小有悔，無大咎. Work on the father’s ill; there will be small regret, no great excess. Nine in the third over-hard, the move easily heavy. Draw this line: changing a system, changing people, saying the words once through: afterward you will regret being too rushing. Let small regret regret. Need not, for perfection, not work. No great blame is the door this hexagram leaves for over-hard people.

Six in the fifth: 幹父之蠱，用譽. Work on the father’s ill, using reputation, a good method that is seen. Six in the fifth in the honored place, yielding: working beautifully, people submit. Draw six in the fifth: you may already have a place. Working on Gu then relies on example and system, not on anger. Using reputation is letting people be willing to repair with you, not letting people fear your repairing.

Upper nine: 不事王侯，高尚其事. Not serving kings and lords, holding what you do as high. Draw the upper nine: putting in order can come to a pause, or turn into work not done to please power. Good for closing, withdrawing, doing a clean matter. The premise is those workings below have already been done. High without working, and Gu is still blowing under the mountain.

In class, how to put a hand to it: do not only shout reform

Draw Gu and I have students split the stall in three piles: the father’s, the mother’s, your own. The father’s is hard rules rotten; the mother’s is soft habits rotten; your own is insects born after you took the stall. Cannot tell them apart, and you will use nine in the third’s hardness on nine in the second’s yielding: the house blows first.

Then do it by before jia, after jia.

Three days before jia: check. Books, contracts, the body, unspoken words: list them. Work without checking is blind work.

Jia day: put a hand to it. Move one that can be moved. Do not open ten fronts at once. Crossing a great stream is direction; crossing a river is still one step into the water.

Three days after jia: watch. The first three days of a new system most easily slide back. Stir the people and nourish virtue: virtue has to be nourished, not putting up a notice and ending.

After Gu is Lin 臨. After there are affairs, then it can be great. The stall put in order, then the situation can become large. If you refuse to work on Gu now, the Lin later is empty: opportunity comes carrying insects too.

Compare: I Ching Sui Meaning | Hexagram 17 How to Read: Following, Whom You Tie To. Follow too gladly, there must be affairs. After Gu, opportunity becomes large: I Ching Lin Meaning | Hexagram 19 How to Read: Approach, How to Receive a Rising Tide. When closed, be thrifty; when decayed, stir. Pi 否 can be compared: I Ching Pi Meaning | Hexagram 12 How to Read: Getting Through Standstill.

I Ching Gu FAQ

Does drawing Gu mean someone is harming me, there is something dirty?

Most of the time it is not a curse. Personnel have gone to waste. First check books, habits, who has long managed nothing. If there truly is harm from outside, you still have to work. You cannot only change a date, change feng shui. What the judgment gives is great opening, putting a hand to it — not scaring yourself.

Work on the father’s Gu: should I turn against my father?

What you work on is Gu, not the father as a person. There is a son, the deceased father has no blame: letting the predecessor have no blame, not pressing the predecessor on the ground. The attitude can be dangerous; the goal is luck in the end, repairing the stall. Turning against is easy. Repairing well is hard.

Nine in the second, must not stay rigidly correct: am I being told not to hold principle?

You are being told not to use one stick to put a soft problem in order. Principle is still there; the method must enter. With mood, elders, habit, turning is more effective than colliding. Must not stay rigidly correct is not that you may be crooked.

The company is a mess, I drew Gu. Should I leave?

You can prepare to go. More often you were called to work this stall. The initial six, nine in the third, six in the fifth are all working, not all fleeing. The upper nine is holding the affair high. Leave without having worked, and Gu will follow you to the next place, because you have not practiced stirring and nourishing.

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