Development
The Wild Goose's Ascent
Advance by proper degrees, as a tree on the mountain gains height: a step skipped is lost, not saved.
Gen, Keeping Still, Mountain, stands below Xun, the Gentle, Wind, and because Xun carries wood the Image is read as a tree on the mountain, rooted where it stands and gaining height only by degrees. Stillness within guards against haste, while gentleness without makes the advance possible. The Judgement gives the maiden in marriage, this being the orderly courtship that the following hexagram lacks. The six lines follow the wild goose as it draws near the shore, the cliff, the plateau, the tree, the summit and the cloud heights; the goose is the Chinese emblem of conjugal fidelity and was the customary betrothal gift.
Light
Advance that holds because it was rightly begun: influence built step by step, ties formed in the proper order, and the perseverance that the Judgement says furthers.
Shadow
The sequence cannot be forced. The third line sends out a man who does not return and leaves a woman carrying a child she does not bring forth; a step skipped is lost, not saved.
