49 – revolution

Case Study

I recently attended a family constellation about partnership. Later I asked the I Ching about the overall situation – from the initial constellation to the healed, resolved outcome. The response I got was hexagram 49 – revolution (molting).


Li,the fire (lower trigram) presents the beginning of hexagram 49 – revolution. Li stands for clarity, ie the ability to distinguish what is important from what is unimportant, to differentiate between facts and to focus on what is essential. Amazingly, fairly soon in the process the family constellation’s entire focus shifted dramatically: while the initial question circled around prospects for a new partnership, the family constellation soon brought up as most dominant issue several unfinished bereavement within the family.
In 49 – revolution Li evolves into Sun, the wind / tree (first core character), a trigram that stands for growth. Out of newly won clarity the seeker [the person who initiated the family constellation] bids farewell to the deceased: noticeable relief on many levels and for everybody involved. The whole situation begins to untangle. By addressing and subsequently solving his family’s dominant mechanisms (blocking out grief, ‘Ersatz’-partnerships) he personally grows towards a greater wholeness. And consequently Qian, the heaven (second core characters) emerges out of Sun: by emancipating from old family patterns he gains greater personal integrity and develops a self that ideally has a high degree of clarity and coherence.
In its final upper trigram Dui, the lake hexagram 49 – revolution finally answers the seeker’s original question: what are the chances for a new partnership? Dui stands for an opening to the outside, for the interplay of receiving (the external / environmental penetrates into our core) and releasing (we express our inner self towards the outside). Dui invites us to loosen the border around our self, around our core, and to let the outside penetrate us: an indispensable basis for any functioning (new) partnership.
When I first read I Ching hexagram 49 – revolution against the backdrop of the above-mentioned family constellation it surprised me that none of the he hexagram’s trigrams explicitly addressed issues of grief and letting go (p. ex. as through Gen, the mountain). Only later I noted that the inability to mourn wasn’t at all the seeker’s problem; he hadn’t but copied an old family pattern which for him was completely unfounded. The seeker’s true issues, however, were far more accurately characterized through Sun and Qian (ie personal growth / empowerment and wholeness of the personality).

Scope of Questions

  • A user is in a temporary breakup with his partner. His question: “How can I win her back?” The I Ching’s answer is hexagram 49 – revolution (molting).

The current interpretation can be found here: https://www.no2do.com/hexagramme_en/787778.htm