I Ching Wei Ji Meaning: Hexagram 64

Wei Ji 未濟 is the last of the sixty-four hexagrams. Fire above, water below: Fire over Water, Wei Ji. The stove fire burns above, water flows below: the two have not met into a scene you can cook, can cross. The matter is not yet complete.

Not yet complete is not failure. Failure is a kind of ending. Wei Ji is not yet ended, so it can still open downward. The Xu Gua said this sentence dead: 「物不可窮也，故受之以未濟終焉。」 Things cannot be exhausted, so it is received by Wei Ji, and there it ends. The Changes do not close with Ji Ji 既濟, do not close with completeness. They end at Wei Ji. In class this sentence is harder than any chicken soup: the world does not let you stop in completion. After completion, still unfinished.

First take the picture apart from Ji Ji. Wei Ji: Li above Kan, fire above, water below. Ji Ji: Kan above Li, water above, fire below. Water over fire: Ji Ji. Fire over water: Wei Ji. Look at the lines: Wei Ji, six lines all not in position, yin in yang places, yang in yin places. Ji Ji, six lines all in position. Wei Ji looks very bad. The Tuan still says opening, because the yielding obtains the center. Six in the fifth is yin, in the center of the upper trigram: a superior person’s light. Not in position, still able to open. This is what Wei Ji most must teach: the seats not yet set right does not mean there is no road.

Writing this pair backward is a divination teacher’s professional accident. Treat Wei Ji as Ji Ji, and you tell people to guard a pot not yet boiling. Treat Ji Ji as Wei Ji, and you tell people, in a place already complete, to keep crossing like a small fox at random. Recognize the hexagram: first recognize water and fire, above and below. Do not guess by “I feel complete or not.”

Wei Ji: a small fox almost across — almost over, the tail wet

The Tuan says: 「未濟，亨，柔得中也。小狐汔濟，未出中也。濡其尾，無攸利，不續終也。雖不當位，剛柔應也。」 Wei Ji: opening, the yielding obtains the center. A small fox almost across, not yet out of the middle. Wetting the tail, nothing beneficial: not continuing to the end. Though not in position, the firm and yielding answer. Opening, because six in the fifth, the yielding, obtains the center. A small fox almost about to cross, not yet out of midstream. The tail wet, nothing beneficial, because the ending cannot be continued. Though six lines not in position, the firm and yielding have answering: first and fourth, second and fifth, third and upper, all yin and yang answering. What is disordered is the seat. What opens is answering. Draw Wei Ji: people often feel everything is wrong. The hexagram says: the seat is wrong, answering is still there. There are still people you can match, still a matter you can continue. Do not treat unfinished as all wrong.

The judgment: 「亨。小狐汔濟，濡其尾，無攸利。」 Opening. A small fox almost across, wetting the tail; nothing beneficial. It can open. A small fox’s way of crossing: nothing beneficial. Almost there, the tail wet, merit short. Qi 汔 is almost. Almost is Wei Ji’s most vivid point in time. Not difficulty from zero. Difficulty in the last length. Draw Wei Ji: many students have actually done eighty percent, stuck at the tail. Then fear two things most: one, thinking already Ji Ji, starting to drink and celebrate; two, the tail wet once and giving up, calling it failure. The true use is continuing to the end: finish that last length by the right method.

The Xiang says: 「火在水上，未濟。君子以慎辨物居方。」 Fire over water, Wei Ji. The superior person carefully distinguishes things and places them in their quarters. Fire above, water below: things not yet each in their seat, so carefully distinguish: what should be put where. An unfinished stage most needs sorting, placing, putting people and matters on a square. Not passion most. Passion drives a small fox into deep water: the tail will certainly wet.

Career still in the river; wealth: do not treat it as already ashore

Ask about career and draw Wei Ji: a project not delivered, a product not steady, a seat not correct, funds not through the last mile. You can do it, and the Tuan says it can open. The strategy is not “gamble once more and it ends.” It is distinguishing things and placing them: which piece has no place yet, give it a place first. Six lines not in position: someone is still in the wrong chair. Setting chairs right looks more like Wei Ji than twenty more hours of overtime.

The initial six: 「濡其尾，吝。」 Wetting the tail; regret. At the start the tail already wet. Force not enough, the back end wet first. Regret. Draw the initial six: do not charge deep water the moment you are on the road. Ability, funds, hands: which is the tail, guard it first. Wei Ji’s first line already wet: after, continuing is harder.

Nine in the second: 「曳其輪，貞吉。」 Drag the wheel; persistence fortunate. Hold the wheels, persist, then fortunate. Ji Ji’s initial nine also drags the wheel: that is a brake after completing. Wei Ji’s nine in the second drags the wheel: not yet complete, first control speed so you can truly cross. Two dragging wheels: one after Ji Ji, one in the midst of Wei Ji. Draw nine in the second: fortune is in persisting, in dragging — not in accelerating.

Six in the third: 「未濟，征凶，利涉大川。」 Wei Ji; to campaign is unfortunate; beneficial to cross a great stream. Not yet complete, campaigning then unfortunate; and it says beneficial to cross a great stream. It looks contradictory. In class I take it apart this way: campaigning at random, hard fighting: unfortunate. Crossing a great stream the right way (prepared, answering, distinguishing things): instead beneficial. Wei Ji is not a ban on walking. It bans blind campaigning. Draw six in the third: change “campaign” into “cross”: a boat, a direction, people answering, then go. Without these: campaigning unfortunate.

Nine in the fourth: 「貞吉，悔亡。震用伐鬼方，三年有賞于大國。」 Persistence fortunate; regret vanishes. Using Zhen to attack the Demon Region; in three years, a reward in a great state. Correct, then fortunate; regret can vanish. Use shock to campaign, three years, a reward. In Wei Ji there is still a long hard fight. Able to fight it through: a reward in a great state. In career: admit unfinished will consume years, not weeks. The number three years also appears in Ji Ji’s nine in the third. Complete and not complete may both take three years. The difference: Ji Ji’s three years is overcoming; Wei Ji’s three years is a reward in a great state, still seeking a recognized result.

In wealth, Wei Ji is not no money. Money not yet in place, the cycle not walked through, a last payment still in the river. Nothing beneficial points at a small fox’s crossing: almost obtained, procedures not finished, the tail wet, money stuck again. Treat a contract, an invoice, the last stamp, as a tail to guard. The upper nine is most dangerous: 「有孚于飲酒，無咎。濡其首，有孚失是。」 There is sincerity in drinking wine; no blame. Wetting the head; there is sincerity, losing what is right. Trust still there, used for drinking: originally no blame. The head wet, and trust loses what is right. Money just in (or thought about to come in) drunk away, spent first, treating completion as already complete: the head will wet. Wei Ji’s wine is not a ban on wine. It bans treating wine as Ji Ji’s salute.

Wei Ji in love: not yet complete is not without light

Ask about love and draw Wei Ji: the relationship not yet settled — a title not fixed, two places not joined, a house not yet made, words not finished. Six lines not in position: two people may both still be in the wrong seat. One wants fast, one wants to flee; one plays host, one is still a guest. The firm and yielding answer: still able to match. No answering is truly scattering. Answering and the seat not correct is Wei Ji: it can be adjusted.

If you are single and draw Wei Ji, the match may be in “almost”: almost together, almost said, almost meeting the parents. A small fox almost across. Rushing it into Ji Ji then most easily wets the tail. Do that last length right: speak clearly, distinguish the square of life, let the seat be a little more correct. Almost most fears adding wine, adding a play.

If you are already together, six in the fifth is a good line: 「貞吉，無悔。君子之光，有孚，吉。」 Persistence fortunate; no regret. A superior person’s light; there is sincerity; fortunate. In a hexagram not in position, six in the fifth obtains the center: there is light, sincerity, fortunate. Love walking to Wei Ji’s fifth is often: not yet complete, and one side (or the relationship itself) already has a superior person’s light. Correct, there is trust: fortunate. Need not wait until all conditions are Ji Ji before admitting this relationship has value. An unfinished relationship can also have light. No light, only drinking: the upper nine.

The upper nine walks Wei Ji into a wet head: thinking it is soon, beginning to indulge; trust still there, right and wrong already lost. Drinking in love is celebrating a title that has not happened, using passion in place of placing. There is sincerity, losing what is right: trust still in the mouth, right and wrong already gone. Draw the upper nine: put the cup down, speak clearly “which square are we actually in.”

These lines: whether you can continue differs in tail and head

Initial six: 濡其尾，吝. At the start the tail already wet. Force not enough. Draw the initial six: shrink the first crossing. Cross a small stream first. Do not a great stream on day one. Regret is a reminder, not yet the upper six’s danger.

Nine in the second: 曳其輪，貞吉. The firm obtains the center below. Drag the wheel. Persistence fortunate. Draw nine in the second: controlling rhythm is fortune. Fortune in Wei Ji rarely comes from accelerating.

Six in the third: 未濟，征凶，利涉大川. Not yet complete, campaigning then unfortunate; a crossing with a way is still beneficial. Draw six in the third: ask yourself, this time campaign or cross. Campaign is proving yourself. Cross is getting the river done.

Nine in the fourth: 貞吉，悔亡。震用伐鬼方，三年有賞于大國. Long, shock, a reward. Draw nine in the fourth: accept the unit of years. Regret vanishes because you did not use a small fox’s method to seek completing in a day.

Six in the fifth: 貞吉，無悔。君子之光，有孚，吉. The light of the whole hexagram. The yielding in the center. Draw six in the fifth: use the light on correctness and sincerity: light people clearly, light yourself clearly. Unfinished, you can still be a superior person. This is Wei Ji’s line most able to encourage. What it encourages is light, not fake completion.

Upper nine: 有孚于飲酒，無咎。濡其首，有孚失是. Trust in drinking: can get through; the head wet, right and wrong lost. Draw the upper nine: stop the banquet, come back to continue to the end. Ji Ji’s upper six also wets the head: too far after completing. Wei Ji’s upper nine is too far before completing. Two wet heads: one past success, one past not-yet-success. Neither should be wet.

In class I treat Wei Ji as the Changes’ opening door, not a full stop

The last of sixty-four, fire above water below, not met into Ji Ji. Many books love to write this very mystically. I only teach three real things.

First, unfinished is not failure. It can still open downward. You are still in the river: you still have the right to cross. Giving up is making Wei Ji into exhaustion yourself.

Second, a small fox almost across, the tail wet. Look at the tail, not the mood. Papers, the body, the sentence in a relationship not finished, the sum on the books not in: all tails. Guarding the tail looks more like Wei Ji than issuing a manifesto.

Third, six in the fifth has a superior person’s light. An unfinished person can also shine. Light comes from persisting, from sincerity — not from pretending Ji Ji. The upper nine drinking past measure and wetting the head: drinking the light away.

The Changes do not close with completion. They open with Wei Ji. So draw Wei Ji: need not hate yourself for not yet being complete. Complete Ji Ji, and the next hexagram is still Wei Ji. A life looks more like these two hexagrams taking turns: complete, hold; unfinished, continue. Holding and continuing both look at who is above, water or fire.

Related reading must first pair Ji Ji: I Ching Ji Ji Meaning | Hexagram 63 How to Read: After Completion, How to Guard What Has Succeeded. Unfinished, and you must go a small step to act: I Ching Xiao Guo Meaning | Hexagram 62 How to Read: Preponderance of the Small, Small Matters Yes, Great Matters No. When it does not open, how to get through: I Ching Pi Meaning | Hexagram 12 How to Read: Getting Through Standstill. Sudden movement: I Ching Zhen Meaning | Hexagram 51 How to Read: Thunder, How to Meet Sudden Shock.

I Ching Wei Ji FAQ

If I draw Wei Ji, will this matter fail?

Not failure. Unfinished. Opening is still there. Failure is campaigning to force through, or wetting the head and drinking right and wrong away. Guard the tail, drag the wheel, distinguish things and place them: the matter can continue. Treat Wei Ji as “no hope”: then truly nothing beneficial.

Wei Ji and Ji Ji: water and fire, above and below — which is right?

Wei Ji: Li above Kan, Fire over Water, fire above, water below. Ji Ji: Kan above Li, Water over Fire, water above, fire below. Remember “Ji Ji is water over fire” and it is enough. Pair “Ji Ji in position, Wei Ji not in position.” The two pairs match, and you will not write them backward.

A small fox almost across: does that mean hold a little more and it succeeds?

Almost is not a guarantee. Hold more: look whether what you hold is guarding the tail or stretching the head again. Guard the tail, drag the wheel: looks able to complete. Drinking, campaigning, wetting the tail at once: looks like nothing beneficial. Almost is a dangerous time, not a time you can loosen. People who loosen: the tail wets most easily.

Why do the sixty-four hexagrams not end at Ji Ji, and stop at Wei Ji?

Because things cannot be exhausted. Close with Ji Ji, and people think completeness is an endpoint. An endpoint appears, and disorder appears. Ji Ji itself says fortunate at first, disorder at the end. Ending at Wei Ji leaves the door: you can still continue, still distinguish things, still have a superior person’s light. In divination, meeting life’s “not yet”: this hexagram is the main text, not an appendix.

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