When I think of Hexagram 33, I often remember this quote from Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House which I think describes its energy very well :
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”
There comes a point where retreat beckons, when retreat will preserve us and we can make efforts at a more auspicious time. When you realize you’re surrounded by creeps, maybe don’t linger?
Hexagram 33, called Dun or Retreat, is the hexagram that corresponds to the Wood Rooster solar month. Hexagram 33 is also the Tidal Gua for the lunar month of Sheep. This year, there was an intercalary lunar month, so some of my current interpretation will be shaped by events that happened between June 25th-August 22nd. Solar and lunar work together like yin/yang.
The text for Hexagram 33 is available here.
The hexagram consists of Gen the Youngest Son on the bottom. Gen is the Mountain. Qian the Father is on top. Qian is Heaven. We are talking about high places. This arrangement suggests a younger man is coming up, literally. In the future, he will be “on top”. He has a youthful qi that is dedicated to spiritual or religious matters. He is coming into power while an older man (on top) is phasing out. This has some interesting parallels to what might be happening in January and February of 2026. It’s not too much of a leap to interpret this as a reference to JD Vance.
Let’s look at Hexagram 33 and what it can tell us about the Wood Rooster month. From this perspective we could say the Rooster month (September) contains a peak of energy – energy that was born in May. This Rooster month sets up the Ox month (January) as a completion or finale. In a Snake year, it seems kind of inevitable that January 2026 marks an important ending.
The signs of Snake, Rooster and Ox are some of the most affected/empowered by this year and they will work together to make 金 Metal. Metal and Water seem to be the most unfavorable for Trump and we’re currently in Metal season, headed toward the Water season. Rat, whose month is most of December, is a yang nobleman (probably male) for Trump, but it doesn’t seem to bring good luck. Rat is his success element but he doesn’t seem able to experience it – he is never satisfied. JD Vance has a Wood Rat year but Trump doesn’t seem to appreciate him. Does he ever say thank you?
Timing
The first two lines of Hexagram 33 are broken and as Daoist scholar Alfred Huang says regarding interpretation:
“This is a situation where inferior persons were multiplying and increasing in power. It is time for the wise to retreat.”
Recent resignations at the CDC come to mind.
The broken lines one and two (on the bottom) could be where the most action is this month. In terms of time, that would cover approximately September 7-17. Expect the boastfulness of the Trump administration to expose more deceit and create chaos. They like to talk about their crimes openly.
This exposure or self exposure then spurs more withdrawals or resignations of personnel from government agencies from approximately September 18th- October 8th, leaving no one left to hide behind or blame.
I’m hopeful that some of the withdrawals we see will be due to people getting ready to exert their influence at a more auspicious time. The gist of Hexagram 33 right now might be that something (someone?) big is about to go down and there are people in high places who will retreat from being associated with it. Like rats (again) leaving a sinking ship. You could take a personal perspective on this too – is there anything/anyone you need to retreat from?
One image that comes to mind for me with Hexagram 33 is the way that the ocean retreats before the tidal wave comes. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You don’t have to believe in physics to experience it. Liu Ming calls Hexagram 33 “the story of a successful comeback”. This makes me so curious about who or what could be coming back, but that won’t happen until later.
Any gains that can be made this month are likely to be small, but don’t take that to mean they are not important. Sometimes gains consist of not losing. This is a description of where we are now: continue your work, don’t strive or strive for attention. By “your work”, I mean relationships as well as your career.
In the sequence of hexagrams, after Hexagram 33 comes Hexagram 34 which is called Great Strength or Great Invigorating. This is a natural response to retreating. Nothing lasts forever. Winter is coming and spring will follow.
As a Tidal Gua, Hexagram 34 corresponds to the lunar Rabbit month, which suggests that about halfway through March 2026 our government’s current structure is inverted. You can read the text for Hexagram 34 here.
Instead of continuing to portray himself as a young religious man, I think from now on we will see a different presentation of current Vice President JD Vance.
Zhen on the top of Hexagram 34 is the Eldest Son, the one who takes over for the Father the way a Vice President will take over for a President. He is the successor. Watch for JD Vance to make this his new message now to set up for later. The position of Zhen on the top is a reminder that JD Vance will also phase out. Nothing lasts forever.
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