Hexagram #16

Hexagram #16 is called “Providing For” or “Enthusiasm”.  It’s the visual inverse of the previous hexagram.  This hexagram suggests that being prepared lets you respond spontaneously, and this seems to be the connection between the two names given for it.

“Providing For” tells you that now is the time to build up your resources and strength for whatever is coming.  That way, when it does, you will be able to respond immediately.  You will also be able to respond joyously, for you have prepared and are ready for this.  Be adaptable and firm in your resolve to prepare yourself for what lies ahead.  Heaven and earth work together in this way, flowing with the seasons and preparing for the next turn of the seasons.

The two trigrams that make up this hexagram are thunder over the earth.  This suggests that by having what you need in place (the earth), you will be able to respond quickly to a call for action (thunder).  The nuclear hexagram is #39, Difficulties, which suggests that being prepared for the unknown carries the hidden possibility of being able to respond to a difficult situation.

The changing lines speak to a number of things.  The first line is a warning that relying on others to provide for you will have a negative result.  The second line advises you that you are limiting yourself and you must cease this immediately.  The third line is another warning that being skeptical and procrastinating as a result will bring you sorrow.  The fourth line re-assures you that everything will be provided for and that you are surrounded by those who wish to help you.  The fifth line is a warning that you are confronting a negative force, but not one that will kill you.  The sixth line counsels you that you are in a dark time, not of your doing, and further counsels you to climb out of the darkness.