I Ching Xiao Xu Meaning: Hexagram 9

Draw Xiao Xu 小畜 and students often have two kinds of haste. One: store means save, I will save hugely and do something huge. The other: I am blocked, so this matter is dead.

Read both words of Xiao Xu complete. Store is accumulating, stopping, raising something there. Small: this time the amount stored is not large, and the force blocking you is not large either — like dense clouds, rain not yet falling. Force is held a little by the yielding. You are not crushed by a mountain.

Do not make a great move. Dense clouds without rain: the conditions are not complete. Live Xiao Xu as Da Xu 大畜 and you will go harvest rain before the clouds have blackened through, come back empty, and blame Heaven.

The image: Xun above Qian below, The Taming Power of the Small

Xiao Xu is Xun 巽 above, Qian 乾 below. Wind above, Heaven below: The Taming Power of the Small. Qian is strength, yang that wants to go forward; Xun is wind, yielding, entering. Something with ample yang is gently held by that one yin above. Six in the fourth is the hexagram’s only yin line, storing the firm with the yielding, so it is called small accumulation. Yin has not swallowed yang. Yin has slightly stored yang.

The Xugua says: 「比必有所畜。」 After holding together there must be accumulation. People have gathered, an alliance formed; you always have to store a little grain, credit, capacity, or the holding together is empty. Draw Xiao Xu and the matter often sits at “there is a little, not enough for the next move.”

The judgment: 「小畜：亨。密雲不雨，自我西郊。」 It opens. Xiao Xu is not a dead hexagram. Dense clouds without rain: clouds are dense, rain has not fallen. From our western outskirts: the clouds come from the west. In ancient terms the west is the yielding side of direction: the conditions of this rain come from the yielding, from a place not yet in the center, and have not yet fallen on the field you want.

Dense clouds without rain is the best line for a reading. There is a plan, there are people, there is atmosphere — it just does not fall. The deck is complete; the budget is not approved. Feeling is thick; a name has not been given. The passbook has a number; it is still a stretch from the goal. Take “not falling” as “never,” and you scatter. Take it as “tomorrow it must fall,” and you rejoice in empty air. Xiao Xu says: still in the clouds, keep storing, do not go on campaign chasing rain.

The Tuan says the yielding obtains the place and those above and below respond, therefore it opens. That one yielding line is in the right place; above and below respond to it, so it can store. Draw Xiao Xu and what blocks you is often not a strong enemy. It is something that looks yielding: paperwork, mood, family, a small health issue, a partner’s hesitation. Yielding, so you will not accept it; refuse it and force through, and the cart’s spokes come off, husband and wife turn against each other.

Career and wealth when you draw Xiao Xu

Ask about career and draw Xiao Xu: overall, accumulation is not full; do not make a great move. The shop can first do small; the product can first test small; people can first hire small. Pull the scale in one go to the fantasy value of “I am ready,” and the clouds will laugh at you.

For wealth, Xiao Xu is proper work: saving money, grain, a client list, work. What you store is small. Ask “can I turn my life over on this wave,” draw Xiao Xu, and the answer leans not yet. Turning over is after the rain falls. What you can do now is raise the clouds denser: books clear, reserve cash growing, one more corner of skill. Some people take dense clouds without rain as side wealth not coming, and go to leverage. That is using Qian’s strength to hit rain that has not fallen. Nine in the third’s broken cart and people quarreling is very common.

A proposal blocked, promotion short by a little, a license still missing papers: Xiao Xu’s daily life. What blocks you may be a yielding gate: one signature, one emotional manager, one family factor. Admit it is small, and admit it is truly blocking. Going around it and forcing up is not courage. It is not recognizing Xun.

Nine in the fifth, 「有孚攣如，富以其鄰」: sincerity like a cord tying people together; wealth can reach the neighbors. Xiao Xu’s wealth is often getting rich with the people beside you, not one person eating into a great household. A partnership that has reached this line can bring resources out to moisten neighbors and colleagues. Xiao Xu is not a stingy hexagram. The great rain has not fallen, so even more you get through with neighbors. Do not first announce a harvest yourself.

Upper nine, already rain, already at rest: rain has finally fallen, and you should also stop. The moon is almost full. The superior person going on campaign is unlucky. In work, the darkest Xiao Xu is enduring until conditions just meet, then in the gladness opening a second battlefield. Rain has just reached the field and you pump the water away on a distant campaign: the field will crack.

Love and people when you draw Xiao Xu

Ask about love and draw Xiao Xu: there is often a yielding resistance in the relationship — a sentence from family, unease the other person has not spoken, the two of you’s money not yet complete, one still wanting to look a little more. Not no love. Love is slightly stored. Dense clouds without rain: thick, but not yet fallen into marriage, going public, living together.

What fits the hexagram is continuing to store the substance of this relationship: quality of meeting, a small joint account, getting the words clear — not forcing a great scene. Forcing a wedding, a breakup, a break with family: all look like campaigning. Xiao Xu’s campaign, the upper nine said, is unlucky.

Nine in the third, the cart’s spokes come off, husband and wife turn against each other. The box and the spokes separate; the couple go opposite ways. Draw nine in the third: love is most dangerous. Both want to go; the structure has come off, so they blame each other. Work partners the same. First repair the cart, first put that yielding axle back. Do not make a life decision on the night of turning against each other.

Six in the fourth, there is sincerity, blood leaves, fear goes out, no blame. This is Xiao Xu’s only yin, and the key that can store. With sincerity, harm like blood can leave, fear can go out, no blame. In love, six in the fourth is often the one who looks yielding and is actually holding the whole relationship. There can be grievance. There cannot be no sincerity. Store the other person with harm and the blood will not leave; store with sincerity and fear can go out.

If you are single and draw Xiao Xu, a connection is brewing, not yet time to fall. You can meet people. Do not write someone you just met into a life plan. The western outskirts’ clouds still have to drift a while. With people, Xiao Xu advises fewer great banquets, fewer very public stages. First raise a small circle dense. The alliance Bi 比 just formed needs Xiao Xu to fill the grain, before the next hexagram Lü 履 goes walking.

Four lines of Xiao Xu you must know

Nine in the third: 輿說輻，夫妻反目. The cart’s spokes come off; husband and wife turn against each other. Firm to the third line, yang is already restless; stored a little by the yielding, it explodes. Draw nine in the third: a project pushed hard will come apart; a partner will fight to structural issues. The practice is stop the cart. Spokes in ancient times were the bone of the wheel; scattered, you cannot hurry the road. Lock contract, division of labor, money, who listens to whom, once more. If you cannot lock, rest separately first: safer than driving on.

Six in the fourth: 有孚，血去惕出，無咎. There is sincerity; harm like blood leaves; fear goes out; no blame. Draw six in the fourth: you may be blocking a hard matter in a yielding way — advising someone not to charge, holding a gate, refusing to sign a dangerous name. You will be hurt, you will be afraid; sincerity is there, so no blame. Risk control at work, advice at home, holding your own impulse down: all are six in the fourth. Fake yielding, truly blocking people, and the blood will not leave.

Nine in the fifth: 有孚攣如，富以其鄰. Sincerity ties people together; wealth because of neighbors, and letting neighbors get rich together. Draw nine in the fifth: Xiao Xu’s most beautiful line. You are not storing alone in a sulk. You bring the people beside you. Share, recommend, leave a cut of opportunity for those you work with. Rain has not fallen; feeling is already there. Ask about wealth or people: nine in the fifth goes smoothly, provided what is tied is sincerity, not kidnapping.

Upper nine: 既雨既處，尚德載，婦貞厲。月幾望，君子征凶. Already raining, already at rest. You can still carry with virtue. The wife remaining correct is dangerous: if the yielding side still uses storing as correctness, it will be dangerous, because rain has already fallen; storing further becomes blocking. The moon is almost full; the superior person going on campaign is unlucky. Draw the upper nine: conditions have just met, or just gone a little past. You can harvest, rest. Do not campaign again. In love, finally together and still storing the other person with control: dangerous. In work, finally approved and still opening a third front: unlucky.

Nine in the third fears restlessness. Six in the fourth relies on sincerity. Nine in the fifth must bring neighbors. The upper nine must know that when rain has fallen, you rest. Xiao Xu’s hardest part is not storing. It is knowing when it still cannot fall, and when it has already fallen.

The classroom move I correct most often

Living dense clouds without rain as anxious refresh: asking every day when it will rain, changing dates, people, products every day. Clouds will not thicken because you refresh. Xiao Xu’s opening is built on your being willing to store. Store is repeated small actions: save a sum, revise a version, keep a relationship a week — not one gamble.

Another error: being blocked by the yielding and taking it as shame. Qian is below; people feel “I am this strong, why am I blocked by this little thing.” Because this hexagram is called small accumulation. Strong and unwilling to be stored a little by something small, and the spokes will break. In class I have students list what that “small block” actually is. Write it out and it is only the western outskirts’ cloud. Cannot write it, and people dump anger on spouse, colleagues, themselves, and it becomes turning against each other.

What you store is small, rain that has not fallen. Force is held a little by the yielding. Do not make a great move. Those three sentences are enough. When rain has truly fallen and you are at rest, then talk of campaigning. Campaigning is after Lü, before Tai 泰. Do not walk it early inside Xiao Xu.

I Ching Xiao Xu further reading

Xiao Xu comes from Bi; after closeness you store a little. Compare: I Ching Bi Meaning | Hexagram 8 How to Read: Holding Together and Alliance. After storing you have to walk, have ritual; the next hexagram is Lü: I Ching Lü Meaning | Hexagram 10 How to Read: Treading Beside the Tiger. When it truly opens, that is Tai: I Ching Tai Meaning | Hexagram 11 How to Read: Advance or Guard in Peace.

I Ching Xiao Xu FAQ

Does drawing Xiao Xu mean wealth is bad, I cannot save?

It is accumulation not full, not no wealth. The small can come in; do not think of the large yet. Split the goal into a cloud you can see from the western outskirts: more real than asking for a storm at once. Cannot save: often you are dreaming Da Xu inside Xiao Xu, and the money was campaigned away.

Dense clouds without rain: should I kill the project?

Do not kill it first. Opening is still there. Kill or not depends on whether what you store is substance: clients, work, cash growing. No substance at all, only thick mood: that cloud is empty, you can stop. There is substance: keep doing small.

Husband and wife turning against each other: divorce?

Nine in the third, first repair the cart. Spokes off is not necessarily a ruined cart. You cannot hurry the road while they are off. Talk money, housework, who is outside and who is inside, once more. Signing in the moment of turning against each other is like turning on a cart with spokes off. If the upper nine has already rained, and you still store the other person over small things, that looks more like a real split.

Upper nine, the superior person going on campaign is unlucky. Opportunity came and I still cannot move?

Rain just fell, the moon almost full: moving again is going past. Settle what is already in hand: that is resting, carrying with virtue. A new campaign waits for the next round. Using up all good luck in the same week is the modern version of campaigning unlucky.

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