Hexagram 8: Holding Together水地比 · Bǐ

• Upper trigram　Kǎn, Water: danger, flow and keeping faith through difficulty.
• Lower trigram　Kūn, Earth: receptivity, support and going with the flow.

The Judgment

Good fortune. Inquire again whether you have constancy and perseverance; then there is no blame. Those who are unsettled gather; whoever comes late meets misfortune.

吉。原筮，元永貞，无咎。不寧方來，後夫凶。

Our plain English rendering, with the Zhouyi original

Reading

Water rests on the earth: closeness and alliance. Today suits drawing near to people you can trust, and building or mending connections sincerely.

Something to do today

• Get in touch with a friend or partner you would like to be closer to.

How a hexagram is cast

The three-coin method: toss three coins together, counting heads as 3 and tails as 2. The total, 6, 7, 8 or 9, gives one line; six tosses, recorded from the bottom up, make a hexagram. A 6 (old yin) or 9 (old yang) is a changing line, which turns this hexagram into another and shows where things are heading.