No. 49 Revolution
泽火革 · Gé · Fire under Lake
“Change has its day. Wait for the day, then do the whole of it.”
Lower trigram ☲ Fire 离 — clarity & brightness
Upper trigram ☱ Lake 兑 — open exchange & shared ease
Trigram: a three-line symbolic figure that forms one half of an I Ching hexagram.
- Right timing
- Complete change
- Being believed
- Shedding
- Clean break with the old
Introduction
In the lake there is fire: one element working on the other until it gives way. Revolution pictures a change that has ripened.
In practice, this names a stretch where something has to be replaced rather than repaired. Timing decides whether the change holds.
The judgement
“Revolution. On your own day you are believed. Success. Remorse disappears.”
In plain words: the change works once its day has come, and regret falls away after it.
Move too early and people argue you out of it.
Core themes
- The change itself is right. The day it is done decides everything.
- Being believed tends to matter more than being clever.
- Half-measures tend to leave the old thing alive underneath.
Line-by-line overview
Six lines, read bottom to top — matching the figure above.
Each line describes one stage in an evolving situation. Line 1 marks the earliest, foundational beginning; line 6 shows where the pattern has run its course. Open a line to read it.
Line 1 初九
Nothing moves yet. That is not a failure here.
The old image is ox-hide, which holds fast rather than giving.
Holding still at the start is not the same as doing nothing forever.
Line 2 六二
Here the day has come and the old line says acting now brings good.
Nothing about it carries fault.
Waiting for the right moment tends to be what removes the argument later.
Line 3 九三
At this level, pushing early brings trouble, and the old line calls persistence risky.
It adds that once the case has been argued through three times, the people consent.
Discussion done first tends to buy later consent.
Line 4 九四
Here regret goes because trust has arrived.
The old line says changing the whole arrangement brings good.
Credibility is the real currency in any overhaul.
Line 5 九五
At the centre the change is unmistakable and nobody needs to check it.
The old line says he is believed before he consults anything.
Clear change tends to settle people faster than explained change.
Line 6 上六
At the top the change reaches everyone. Depth differs.
Setting out is said to bring difficulty; staying steady brings good.
Changing the surface alone tends to leave everything underneath exactly as it was.
Summary
Read as a whole, this figure asks you to check whether the day for this has come. Argue the case out first, make the change complete, and let conduct do the persuading.
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Hexagram 49 · Revolution 革
A way to look at what is moving around you now, not a fixed answer. Notice your inner state, then decide how to act.
Something here needs replacing, not repairing.
Repeated half-promises tend to keep the old problem exactly in place.
People often change the surface of a habit and call it solved. Surface change tends to last about a week.
Finish it or leave it.
Ultimately, your real-world facts and personal choices will shape how things unfold.
This hexagram contains 1 changing line. You may read detailed line interpretations inside the full hexagram-knowledge page. If you want to deepen your understanding of changing lines and line positions, please visit our I-Ching six-line learning page.
Read the full guide →- Name the one thing you keep promising to change twice a year. A twice-yearly promise tends to be a habit itself, not a plan.
- Ask whether your partner would trust the words alone this time. Trusted words tend to mean the change already started.
Related reading
Short reads from the blog. A changing line is a line that may shift as a situation moves.
Working with changing lines
Learn about changing lines and how to interpret them
Expectation & inner honesty
Set proper expectations before your reflection reading
Learn what these numbers mean
When the middle lines move.
Related hexagrams
The Cauldron · 鼎
Read it the other way up
No. 48The Well · 井
The hexagram before this one
No. 47Oppression · 困
The hexagram before this one
If you would like to browse all 64 hexagrams, visit All 64 Hexagrams.
If you would like to learn about static hexagrams and the interpretation rules for changing lines within I-Ching, please visit our general guide: Understanding Changing & Static Lines.