Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Deliverance
Hexagram 40 of the Yi Jing · 解 Xiè
The figure
Thunder above Water: the storm breaking and releasing, the tension coming undone. The image of deliverance, of the knot that gives way.
What this figure illuminates
Deliverance lights up the moment when a tension loosens, when the trial passes. After the storm, the air is clearer — but then it is a matter of returning to the ordinary without lingering in the drama.
For a decision, the figure invites you to conclude rather than to keep things going: “what is resolved, and what would I gain by leaving it behind to recover simplicity?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Deliverance: the tension breaks. If nothing more need be done, it is good to return to calm; if something must be done, do it early — and good fortune.
The Image
Thunder and rain break the storm's tension and clear the air. Seeing this, the noble person pardons faults and deals gently with wrongdoing.
The Six Lines
- First line
The danger has just passed. Rest quietly now — no error.
- Second line
In the hunt you take three foxes and win the golden arrows — clearing out sly, hidden faults. Firm and correct: good fortune.
- Third line
A servant riding in a lord's carriage, out of your rightful place. Such display only invites robbers — however correct, it brings regret.
- Fourth line
Free yourself from the wrong attachment clinging to you like a big toe. Loosed of it, true friends come, and trust with them.
- Fifth line
Firmly rid yourself of what harms — and being seen to do it, even the small give you their trust. Good fortune.
- Sixth line
Like the prince who takes down the hawk perched high on the wall, you strike the obstacle cleanly at last. Advantage in every way.
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
What is resolved that you'd gain by leaving behind you?
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