Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Before Completion
Hexagram 64 of the Yi Jing · 未济 Wèi Jì
The figure
Fire above Water: fire rises, water descends — the forces not yet attuned, each line out of place. The image of before-completion.
What this figure illuminates
Before Completion lights up the moment just before the end, when everything is almost there but nothing is settled. It is a threshold charged with potential: the crossing still asks for care and order.
For a decision, the figure invites you not to slacken so close to the goal: “what still needs to be put in its place for what is almost ready to truly come through?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Before completion: the crossing is nearly made, and success is coming. But like the young fox that soaks its tail at the last step, do not grow careless at the end — nothing furthers if you do.
The Image
Fire rises, water sinks — not yet joined, each out of place. Seeing this, the noble person carefully tells things apart and puts each where it belongs.
The Six Lines
- First line
Plunging ahead before you are ready, the fox soaks its tail at the very start. Cause for regret — measure your strength first.
- Second line
You hold the wheel back, restraining yourself when action is not yet due. Firm and correct: good fortune.
- Third line
The time is not yet ripe, and to push on now brings misfortune — yet the great crossing must still be prepared for. Ready yourself, but do not launch too soon.
- Fourth line
Firm and correct: good fortune, regret gone. Rouse your full strength for the hard, long struggle — see it through, and the reward comes.
- Fifth line
Firm and correct: good fortune, no regret. The light of a true character, shining with sincerity, carries the day. Good fortune.
- Sixth line
Trusting and at ease, you share a quiet cup at the threshold of completion — no error. But drink till it goes to your head, and you lose even that: keep your measure to the last.
Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).
A question to keep
So close to the goal, what still needs to be put in its right place?
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