Wisdom From the I Ching: #44 Pairing

The Yi Jing image for the month is Hexagram #44, which is often translated as Pairing, Coming to Meet, Encountering, or Temptation. Its image is Heaven over Wind, showing a single yin line beneath five yang lines. This suggests that something small has entered a previously stable situation. Traditionally, there’s a warning attached to Hexagram 44. It’s not that the newcomer is inherently bad, but that it is powerful relative to its size. A seemingly minor influence can alter the entire direction of events.

With Hexagram #44, there’s the idea of the question “What am I allowing to enter into my life, organization, relationship, or attention?” The energy is also highly magnetic, and things may appear that feel destined, exciting, or urgent. The caution is that not everything that arrives dramatically is meant to become permanent. Things that may be noticed during this period include unexpected encounters, the sudden appearance of new opportunities, temptations and distractions, hidden issues surfacing, and, especially, the emergence of something that gains momentum very quickly.

The broad energetic field is our year Hexagram, Ascending #46, to which Hexagram #44 enters temporarily. As previously mentioned, Hexagram 46 can be thought of as a stepwise, effortful ascending. So we can think of it as climbing a mountain (46) and then suddenly encountering an unexpected path, guide, temptation, shortcut, or distraction along the way. 

Expressed or handled positively, it can portend meeting an influential person, the discovery of a useful idea, or recognizing a previously hidden possibility. It becomes fuel for upward growth. In this expression, a chance meeting or new influence becomes a stepping stone.

The challenging side of this would be abandoning long-term work for short-term excitement, and allowing the encounter to interrupt the ascent.