HEXAGRAM 31 OF 64 LAKE OVER MOUNTAIN

INFLUENCE

咸 Xián

influence, attraction, courtship, mutual response, feeling before acting

ROASTIE

Influence. Lake resting on a Mountain, attraction, courtship, feeling before acting. The book says take a wife, good fortune. You can't take a text. Something is pulling you toward somebody, and you're going to respond to the pull the way you respond to everything, which is to overthink it until it's a story you tell instead of a thing you did. Ya roasted!

THE JUDGMENT

Success through firm correctness. To take a wife brings good fortune.

THE LINES, BOTTOM TO TOP

Line 1 The influence is felt only in the big toe; nothing moves yet.
Line 2 The influence is felt in the calves; misfortune; staying still brings good fortune.
Line 3 The influence is felt in the thighs; he follows whoever leads; going on brings regret.
Line 4 Firmness brings good fortune; regret disappears; restless to and fro, only friends follow his thoughts.
Line 5 The influence is felt in the back of the neck; no regret.
Line 6 The influence is felt in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue; all talk.

THROW YOUR OWN ALL SIXTY-FOUR

Text: the I Ching, after James Legge's 1882 translation, public domain, trimmed into plain English. The take: a coffee bean, licensed in nothing.