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Daoa
The 64 figures

Yi Jing · Chinese tarot

The Family

Hexagram 37 of the Yi Jing · 家人 Jiā Rén

The figure

Wind above Fire: the breath fed by the fire, warmth radiating from the hearth. The image of the family, of order that starts from within.

What this figure illuminates

The Family lights up the importance of roles and places within a close whole. What holds a group together is not constraint, but each one taking their place rightly.

For a decision, the figure questions your part in a whole: “am I holding my place rightly, and are the roles here clear or blurred?”.

The classical text

The Judgment

The family thrives on constancy at its heart — the upright steadfastness, the old texts say, of the wife.

The Image

Wind rises from fire — warmth spreading outward from within. Seeing this, the noble person makes their words true to things and their conduct steady and of one piece.

The Six Lines

  1. First line

    Set firm boundaries in the household from the very start. Do this early, and cause for regret disappears.

  2. Second line

    Not reaching for what is not yours, but tending faithfully to your own place and its daily care. Firm and correct: good fortune.

  3. Third line

    Ruling the household with harsh severity brings regret and strain — yet still good fortune. Too much softness would lose more.

  4. Fourth line

    Enriching the household, making it flourish. Great good fortune.

  5. Fifth line

    Warmth and trust reach through the whole household as if from its head. No need to worry — good fortune.

  6. Sixth line

    Sincerity carried with quiet authority. In the end, good fortune.

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

Are you holding your rightful place in this whole?

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