The 64 hexagrams / Hexagram 12
Standstill
Hexagram 12 · 否 Pǐ
Heaven above · Earth below
乾 palace · 三世
What hexagram 12 says
Heaven rising away from earth. Communication is severed. Contract, stay quiet, and wait — the blockage breaks on its own at the extreme.
Above: Heaven (Qian) — creative, forceful, initiating.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. The first line is the beginning of the situation, the sixth is its outer edge. The Chinese text is the classical line text; the line below it is a reading of what it is pointing at.
yin — broken
yin — broken
yin — broken
yang — solid
yang — solid
yang — solid
How to use this hexagram
If you cast this as your primary hexagram, it describes the situation you are in. If it came up as the transformed hexagram, it describes where things are heading once the changing lines have flipped. If you are only looking it up, read the judgment first — the line texts are for specific moments inside the situation, not for the situation as a whole.
Frequently asked
What does I Ching hexagram 12 mean?
Hexagram 12, Standstill, is made of Heaven above and Earth below. Heaven rising away from earth. Communication is severed. Contract, stay quiet, and wait — the blockage breaks on its own at the extreme.
How do I read hexagram 12 in a casting?
Read the primary hexagram first — it describes the situation as it stands. If any of your six lines were changing lines (sixes or nines from the coin tosses), read those lines' texts next: they mark where the situation is moving. The hexagram produced after those lines flip is the transformed hexagram, and it shows where the movement leads.
What are the six lines of hexagram 12?
Hexagram 12 has six lines, read from the bottom up. The texts below are given in order, first line (bottom) to sixth line (top).
Which palace does hexagram 12 belong to?
In the six-line (liuyao) system, hexagram 12 sits in the 乾 palace, third generation — the situation has fully inverted. The palace gives the hexagram its ruling element, and from that element the Six Relatives are assigned to each line.