Hexagram 64 — Not Yet Fording
King Wen #64 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work.
What Hexagram 64 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 64 places water (坎) beneath fire (离) — water finding its way through hard gaps below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Not Yet Fording”: before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
火在水上，未濟；君子以慎辨物居方。
(The trigram representing) water and that for fire above it form Wei Žî. The superior man, in accordance with this, carefully discriminates among (the qualities of) things, and the (different) positions they (naturally) occupy.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Fire above water: before completion. The wise carefully sort things, each into its proper place.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 64 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Not Yet Fording describes before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: water finding its way through hard gaps, held inside a larger setting of light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Not Yet Fording about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 64
What does 未濟 (wèi jì) mean?
Hexagram 64 of the I Ching is named 未濟 (wèi jì), usually rendered "Not Yet Fording" in English editions. Its figure is built from water (坎) below and fire (离) above — water finding its way through hard gaps beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
Is hexagram 64 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 64 is warm: it contains 4 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached (the text notes possible regret 悔 where the moment is mishandled).
What does hexagram 64 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Not Yet Fording points to before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work. The figure pairs water (坎) beneath fire (离) — water finding its way through hard gaps meeting light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 64 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Not Yet Fording through the figure itself: water (坎) below, fire (离) above — water finding its way through hard gaps held inside light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates. The plain reading: Before the crossing. The fox wets its tail: not yet complete — care and order finish the work. The text carries 4 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 64 mean?
A cast of hexagram 64 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 64 gives hexagram 63, 既濟 (Already Fording). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 64 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 64 gives hexagram 63 — 既濟 (Already Fording). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 63 — 既濟 (Already Fording). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 63 — 既濟 (Already Fording).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
亨，小狐汔濟，濡其尾，無攸利。
Wei Ji intimates progress and success (in the circumstances which it implies). (We see) a young fox that has nearly crossed (the stream), when its tail gets immersed. There will be no advantage in any way.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
濡其尾，吝。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject (like a fox) whose tail gets immersed. There will be occasion for regret.
曳其輪，貞吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject dragging back his (carriage-) wheel. With firmness and correctness there will be good fortune.
未濟，征凶，利涉大川。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject, with (the state of things) not yet remedied, advancing on; which will lead to evil. But there will be advantage in (trying to) cross the great stream.
貞吉，悔亡；震用伐鬼方，三年有賞于大國。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject by firm correctness obtaining good fortune, so that all occasion for repentance disappears. Let him stir himself up, as if he were invading the Demon region, where for three years rewards will come to him (and his troops) from the great kingdom.
貞吉，無悔；君子之光，有孚，吉。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject by firm correctness obtaining good fortune, and having no occasion for repentance. (We see in him) the brightness of a superior man, and the possession of sincerity. There will be good fortune.
有孚于飲酒；無咎，濡其首，有孚失是。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject full of confidence and therefore feasting (quietly). There will be no error. (If he) cherish this confidence, till he (is like the fox who) gets his head immersed, it will fail of what is right.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.