59. Dispersion

The two trigrams

above

☴

The Wind

巽 · xùn

wind and wood

below

☵

Water

坎 · kǎn

flowing water: rain, the clouds, springs, streams in defiles, the moon

The Judgement

Dispersion describes a state in which things scatter: minds drift away from what is right, a group frays, a family or a team loses cohesion, and everyone pulls in their own direction. And yet the ancient text promises progress and success, and shows how to remedy it. The king goes to the ancestral temple: that is, he returns to what unites, to a common root, to a shared meaning that overcomes selfishness. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream, that is to face a large and risky undertaking if the situation calls for it; and it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. If lately you feel that everything around you is dissolving, at the office, among friends, at home, this hexagram tells you not to chase every piece that comes loose, but to rebuild the centre. The practical advice is to gather people around something sincere, a dinner, a family ritual, a common goal written down in black and white, and to start again from there. Dispersion is cured by a recovered sense of meaning, not by control.

The Image

The wind moves over the water and scatters it in spray and waves. The ancient kings, before this image, presented offerings to Heaven and founded the ancestral temple: to remedy dispersion they sought what, sincerely felt, holds people together. For you it means that the way to put a group or a relationship back together is not discipline, but a moment of shared authenticity. If your family, your team, your couple is fraying, arrange a real occasion to find each other again, without phones and without agendas, and say out loud why you care.

First line

First line: you are busy rescuing, saving something from the impending harm, and you have the help of a strong horse. There will be good fortune. The dispersion has only just begun, and for that reason it is easy to remedy; alone, though, you could not manage, and the strong horse is the energetic person beside you, a colleague, a relative, a decisive friend. If you see the first signs of a break in a relationship or a group, step in at once and let yourself be helped by whoever has more strength than you right now.

Second line

Second line: amid the dispersion, you hurry to your hold, your safe point of support. Every cause for regret will disappear. You are in a position of danger, but you have the good sense not to face it alone: you join whoever is near you and find shelter in that union. If you feel swept up by chaos, in the company or in the family, identify the person or the place that gives you stability and go there, without pride. You will obtain what you desire, which is not to be carried away.

Third line

Third line: you set aside every regard for yourself. There will be no cause for regret. Here dispersion changes its sign: what should be scattered is scattered, selfishness, concern for one's own comfort, so that what matters can be gathered. If you are at a moment when the group, the family or the project needs you, this is not the time to calculate what you gain. Turn your gaze outward, lend a hand without counting the hours, and you will find you do not regret it.

Fourth line

Fourth line: you scatter the factions, the parties that divide, and this leads to great good fortune. From the dispersion you gather good people again, enough to form a mound, something ordinary people would not have thought of. It is the line of someone who plays mediator beside whoever decides: dissolving cliques, little groups, grudges, and recomposing a larger community. If you are in a position of responsibility, at the office or in the family, work to dissolve alliances against someone and to make everyone feel part of the same thing. The result will be brilliant.

Fifth line

Fifth line: amid the dispersion, the leader issues his great announcements like sweat flowing from the body, and distributes the stores of the royal granaries. There will be no error. Clear words and concrete generosity are the two instruments of anyone who wants to reunite: to say forcefully where we are going, and to share what we have. If you hold a leading role in a moment of confusion, speak openly, to everyone, and do not keep the resources to yourself. A leader who communicates and shares brings people home.

Sixth line

Sixth line: you dispose of what might be called bloody wounds, you go away and separate yourself from anxious fears. There will be no error. It is the line of someone who, at the end of the dispersion, pulls out of a dangerous and painful situation, a toxic bond, an environment that wears them down, and does so in the right spirit, without blame. If a relationship or a setting has already hurt you enough, you have the right to leave. Tend the wounds, put distance between you, and do not look back with remorse.

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