I Ching Gui Mei Meaning: Hexagram 54

Draw Gui Mei 歸妹 and the most dangerous classroom reaction is a smile: Gui Mei, a younger sister is to marry — is that not joy.

Take the smile back first. Gui Mei does speak of marriage, of belonging, and the judgment writes 「征凶，無攸利」— to campaign is unfortunate; nothing is beneficial. Campaign is pushing forward: unfortunate. No advantageous direction. A younger sister marrying is the righteousness of Heaven and Earth. This hexagram happens to write righteousness and misfortune together. Ask about marrying, see Gui Mei, and take it as great fortune: you heard the first half of the Tuan and threw the second.

Gui Mei is Thunder over Lake, Zhen above Dui. Zhen above — thunder, movement; Dui below — lake, speech. Speech that moves: glad, talked into it, and you walk forward: that is Gui Mei. Above and below cannot reverse. Reverse it and you have Sui 隨, Lake over Thunder: following, not this marriage. Jian (Gradual) 漸 is the one that says a woman’s marriage is fortunate. Jian is Wind over Mountain, stop then Xun, station by station. Gui Mei is thunder moving above, the mouth pleased below: moving too early, returning not correctly. The two hexagrams must be read against each other, or a marriage will be read backward.

Gui Mei: advance must have somewhere to return — and this hexagram’s return is hard to walk

The Xu Gua says: 「進必有所歸，故受之以歸妹。」 Advance must have somewhere to return, so Gui Mei follows. Before it is Jian (Gradual). People walking forward must in the end land in a seat, a house, a belonging. So after Jian comes Gui Mei. Gui Mei’s Tuan fills the speech: 「歸妹，天地之大義也。天地不交而萬物不興。歸妹，人之終始也。說以動，所歸妹也。征凶，位不當也。無攸利，柔乘剛也。」 Gui Mei: the great righteousness of Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth not exchanging, the ten thousand things do not flourish. Gui Mei: a person’s end and beginning. Speech that moves: that is Gui Mei. To campaign is unfortunate: the seat is not fitting. Nothing beneficial: the yielding rides the firm.

The first half is righteousness: man and woman returning to each other, like Heaven and Earth exchanging, things flourish, a person’s end and start is here. The second half is this hexagram’s illness: using speech to drive movement, the seat not fitting, yin pressing on yang. The righteousness is right. This hexagram’s way of walking is not. So on the board I write only one sentence: Gui Mei is not great fortune in marriage. Righteousness is there. Fortune is not. Fortune is to be found in Jian, or in Jia Ren 家人, truly ordering the house.

Xian 咸 is influence making a pair, Dui above Gen, youngest son and youngest daughter, feeling first. Gui Mei also has Dui, and above is Zhen: already from feeling to movement, from speech to marrying. Ask about love: Xian asks whether the heart’s movement is correct. Gui Mei asks whether this marriage has name and substance, ritual, whether it is as a secondary wife, overdue, whether the basket is empty. Take Gui Mei as Xian and be glad, and you will ignore to campaign is unfortunate.

Career and wealth: first treat it as advance with an incorrect title

Ask about career and draw Gui Mei: not necessarily a wedding. Often the seat is side, the contract is attached, the way of entering looks like a secondary wife, not a principal. The initial nine: 「歸妹以娣，跛能履，征吉。」 Returning as a younger sister / secondary wife; lame, still able to walk; to campaign is fortunate. Going as a concubine-attendant, lame and still able to walk: going forward that way is instead fortunate. In career: a deputy, a backup plan, an informal channel. You recognize this seat, and lame you can still walk. Force this line into being principal, the main signer, and you make “as a secondary wife” into usurpation.

Nine in the second: 「眇能視，利幽人之貞。」 One-eyed, still able to see; beneficial for a recluse’s persistence. The eye is dim, still able to see; beneficial for a hidden person’s persistence. Ability has a lack, the title is not bright, and you can still see the stretch that should be kept. Draw nine in the second: do not fight for exposure, do not grab the main seat. Hidden is not without prospects. It is one of the few beneficial ways of walking in this hexagram.

In wealth, Gui Mei rarely gives thick profit in the open. It looks more like attached income, money that came through relations, conditions where name and substance do not match. Six in the third: 「歸妹以須，反歸以娣。」 Returning as if waiting to be principal; sent back as a secondary wife. Wanting to be the principal, waiting into being the elder sister, and still returned to a secondary seat. Ask about promotion, a proper post, converting to formal: draw six in the third, the hope is principal, the result is still side. First accept the secondary, then talk the next step. More useful than fighting for a name in a meeting.

Upper six: 「女承筐無實，士刲羊無血，無攸利。」 The woman bears a basket with no substance; the man cuts a sheep with no blood; nothing beneficial. The woman’s basket empty, the man’s sheep stabbed with no blood. Ritual there, content empty. In career: an empty contract, empty title, empty celebration. It looks as if it succeeded; open it, no goods. Wealth most fears this line: books have it, the warehouse does not. To campaign unfortunate, nothing beneficial: at the upper six, emptiness cashed.

Gui Mei in love: you can talk marriage — do not be glad at first sight

Ask about love and draw Gui Mei: the topic is right, the verdict cannot be sweet. It often points to marriage not correct, as a secondary wife, overdue, name without substance. Not correct includes ritual incomplete, family not knowing, one side already having a principal, using speech-moving in place of gradual advance. As a secondary wife includes being a third party, a spare, “stay first, talk later.” Overdue is should return and not returning, dragged past the time. An empty basket is wine held, papers taken, daily life empty.

Nine in the fourth: 「歸妹愆期，遲歸有時。」 Returning overdue; a late return still has its time. Past the term, late return still has a time. This line is not telling you to drag without limit. The time has not arrived; a little later is instead right. Ask about marrying and draw nine in the fourth: you can wait for conditions, ritual, yourself not being the burst of being talked into it. Read it as “play a few more years,” and you make “there is a time” into no time.

Six in the fifth: 「帝乙歸妹，其君之袂不如其娣之袂良。」 Di Yi marrying off a younger sister; the lady’s sleeves are not as fine as the secondary wife’s. A royal house marrying a sister: the principal’s sleeves not as handsome as the attendant’s. A high seat is not necessarily the most ornate; the one beside is instead fitting. In love this line often advises: do not be fooled by the sleeves of a title. The side that looks more principal may not have better conditions. The side that looks secondary sometimes is the one you can live. Six in the fifth is a ruler’s Gui Mei, with the fortune of a moon almost full — not telling everyone to be a secondary wife. It teaches quality, not grabbing a side household’s color.

If you are already together, Gui Mei checks three things. First, is this stretch speech that moves: glad and then living together, a fight and then talking marriage, afraid and then registering. Second, is someone being a secondary wife: heart, household registration, money, body — is there a line that never enters the principal seat. Third, is there substance in the basket: is a shared life actually being lived. Two of three empty, and campaigning is unfortunate. Do not cover it with “we have been so long.”

If you are single and draw Gui Mei, it is not a life without marriage. Matches you meet in this stretch easily are not correct, fast, empty. You can know them. Do not return at once. Take the person toward Jian: meet the parents, put speech correct, walk station by station. The other person only willing to speech-move, not willing to walk ritual: that is Gui Mei’s Dui below pulling you. Follow or not: look at whether you want righteousness or that burst of gladness.

In class one sentence must be written clear: Gui Mei is not a joy hexagram

I have students put three hexagrams on the table. Xian: influence, asking the heart’s movement. Jian (Gradual): a woman’s marriage is fortunate, asking advance by ritual. Jia Ren: Wind over Fire, asking whether the house is in order, inner and outer correct. Gui Mei sits after Jian: the topic is returning, the answer is to campaign is unfortunate. All four may appear in a marriage matter. Only Gui Mei is most easily misread as joy.

Why the misreading? On the surface there is younger sister, returning, the great righteousness of Heaven and Earth. Righteousness lets people relax. The Tuan then strikes: the seat is not fitting, the yielding rides the firm. The place is wrong, yin on yang: push this matter forward and it is unfortunate. Divination is not who has a theme near marriage. It is whether this hexagram allows you to campaign. Gui Mei does not.

As a secondary wife, overdue, an empty basket: three common illnesses. Being a spare and thinking yourself principal: as a secondary wife without knowing it. Should walk procedure and drag with “when fate arrives it will complete”: treating overdue as romance. Wedding held, status changed, days still each living each: bearing a basket with no substance. The three illnesses can stack. Stacked and still campaigning: nothing beneficial is not empty talk.

If you ask about ordering the house, read Jia Ren. If you ask whether you can walk a marriage station by station through, read Jian (Gradual). If you ask whether the heart has feeling, read Xian. Draw Gui Mei: treat it as a medical record first, not an invitation. Treat the illness, and marriage can still complete. Treat the illness as joy: this hexagram’s most common tuition.

How Jian walks station by station: I Ching Jian (Gradual) Meaning | Hexagram 53 How to Read: Development, How to Advance Station by Station. How a house orders: I Ching Jia Ren Meaning | Hexagram 37 How to Read: The Family, Marriage and Ordering the House. Drop the posture so a relationship can live; Modesty is useful: I Ching Qian (Modesty) Meaning | Hexagram 15 How to Read: All Six Lines Fortunate.

I Ching Gui Mei FAQ

If I draw Gui Mei, can I not marry?

Not that you cannot marry. You cannot marry this way. To campaign is unfortunate: pushing with speech-moving, an incorrect title, an empty ritual. Patch the ritual, recognize a secondary seat clearly, wait overdue until there is a time, put substance in the basket: the matter can still return. Stopping a wedding the moment you see Gui Mei, and laying wine the moment you see Gui Mei: the same coarseness.

Returning as a secondary wife: is there always a third party?

The image is often side, deputy, the principal seat not at you. It can be a third party. It can also be a spare at work, someone in a family brought in to fill a gap, an attached clause on a contract. Asking about marriage, you do need to check whether there is a third person, a seat that cannot enter the household register. Check: not convicting on the first move.

Overdue: is fate not yet arrived, wait a little more?

Nine in the fourth says a late return has a time: there is still a time. Not without limit. Time is ritual complete, people correct, yourself not the heat of being talked into it. Use overdue as an excuse not to take responsibility, and the basket stays empty. Use overdue as a reason to wear the other person down: also a kind of the yielding riding the firm.

Gui Mei, Jian (Gradual), Jia Ren: how do I choose which to look at?

Ask “should this marriage walk down by ritual”: Jian. Ask “can the house live, is anyone managing inner and outer”: Jia Ren. Ask “is this return incorrect, empty, side, too fast”: Gui Mei. Original Gui Mei, resulting Jian: from incorrect toward correct, worth patching procedure. Original Jian, resulting Gui Mei: correct advance sliding into speech-moving, brake. Do not, because the name has return, house, read it as a greeting.

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