← The I Ching
Hexagram 48 · ☵ over ☴
The Well
Jing
The judgment
The unchanging source that nourishes all — the well serves whoever comes to it, regardless of who draws. This hexagram speaks to a deep and enduring source of sustenance that is available, but that requires proper and complete approach; a broken rope or cracked vessel fails everyone who comes.
The image. Water above wood — the source drawn patiently up through what penetrates the ground.
Guidance
Go to the real source — your own depth or a genuine source of wisdom — and bring it up carefully and completely. Don't stop halfway and don't let the vessel leak. What is drawn from depth nourishes.
How it’s built
Every hexagram is two trigrams — the lower one beneath the upper. This one is Xùn below Kǎn.
☵Upper · Waterthe Abysmal — danger, the deep, flow through hardship, the middle son
☴Lower · Windthe Gentle — penetration, influence by slow degrees, the eldest daughter