Hexagram 53 is the matching Hexagram for the Water Rooster pillar. This year, the Water Rooster month starts on September 7th and ends on October 8th when we begin the month of the Wood Dog.

If you work with the Yi Jing long enough, you will begin to understand that you are being led, that is, if you allow that. There’s always a personal message, no matter what you’re asking about, at least in my experience. At the same time, there are many other meanings. I invite you to consider where Hexagram 53 leads you this month.

Hexagram 53

Hexagram 53 is sometimes called Gliding, Advancing or Gradual Progress. This time around, I would like to call it Transition. The nuance of Hexagram 53 for me right now is Transition.

On the left side of the ideograph Jian 漸, we see shui 氵(water) and on the right side we see zhan 斬 (to chop or fell a tree).

One image that people use when they cast this Hexagram is a tree on a mountain, possibly a stunted tree but, persistent and healthy enough that it can keep putting out leaves and branches gradually. It’s like growing and recovering at the same time. The tree is exposed and shaped by the elements. Even when the wind is not blowing you can see its prevalent direction.

The Water doesn’t seem to be helping, in fact is it too much? When Wood is soggy the progress is slow. There’s an environmental instability for this little tree that can only be changed by putting down roots – but where is the soil? The tree will have to make some. People don’t see what is going on underground so perhaps the assumption is that the tree can never amount to much. And yet, maybe one hundred years later it’s still there. It’s always in transition, before the time when things come to fruition.

Our lives are not that long. Maybe that is why we miss out on the importance and value of things that happen over long periods of time. Best believe, history does repeat, even in your own lifetime. Pay attention to your patterns or just keep repeating.

The top trigram is Xun or Wind, the eldest daughter who is expected to take the place of the Mother without being asked. The bottom trigram is Gen or Mountain, the youngest son who is expected to become a priest because the other positions are taken.

Wind over Mountain, that’s not an easy place to be. If you’re there for too long, no matter how committed and persistent you are, you might be too worn down to realize how worn down you’re getting. If you are offered a chance to get out of the wind or off the mountain, almost any time is a good time to accept, even if it’s not perfect, it’s a transition. If you’re already living in that, why not try a new “venue”?

Most of the text of Hexagram 53 discusses migrating birds, fertility, and having a place to land when you are in transition. It’s the transition part for me that stands out, maybe because I am in one but also because I know I’m not the only one who needs some rest. Maybe, like me, you’re afraid to land because you worry you will be stuck in the wrong place, but any journey of significance is going to require stopping points, right?

What kind of stopping points are available to you this month? What do you want to restore for or about yourself? What plans are you making for your winter? If you’re worried about getting stuck somewhere, common sense says you surely will if you don’t let the transitions happen. Gradual progress is enough to find good fortune.

Did you know there are many stories in almost every culture about women turning into birds and vice versa?

Hexagram 53 Text
(from the Yi Jing translated by Wu Jing-Nuan ISBN 0-9673272-0-2)

Gua Ci
JIAN A lady to marry, good fortune. Profit the divination.

Line 1
Wild geese advance to the shore
The young officer, danger. There will be talk. No error

Line 2
Wild geese advance to an enormous rock
Drinking and feeding in harmony and joy. Good fortune.

Line 3
Wild geese advance to dry land.
A husband gone and not returned
A wife pregnant but not nourished
Misfortune; advantageous to resist robbers

Line 4
Wild geese advance to the trees.
Some have gotten to the branches tips. No error

Line 5
The wild geese advance to the tumulus.
A wife three years and not pregnant.
In the end, settled and overcome. Good fortune.

Line 6
Wild geese advance onto dry land
Their feathers can be used in ceremonies. Good fortune.