In love
A subject set aside can be taken up again: clear out what has deteriorated and start again on better ground.
Hexagram 18
I Ching hexagram 18: Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Gu)
Gu, Work on What Has Been Spoiled, is the hexagram of restoring: a damaged inheritance, taken up again with care and resolve.
- repair
- inheritance
- renewal
The essentials
Gu at a glance
For you, Gu invites you to take up what was neglected: look at the state of things, then act with method, before and after the turning point.
A strength
The courage to restore what was left behind, an inheritance or a habit, with method.
Something to watch
Looking for culprits instead of repairing: time spent accusing improves nothing.
- What it advises
- Understand where the disorder comes from, repair with method, and plan upkeep so as not to return to it.
- Its opposite
- 17. Following (Sui)
The situation
Gu speaks of what has spoiled for lack of upkeep: the wind is blocked at the foot of the mountain, nothing circulates. The ancient text sees in it the starting point of great success, if you set to work: crossing the great river is advantageous.
It advises reflecting before and after: three days before the turning point, three days after. Repairing calls for understanding where the disorder comes from, then acting without haste, taking into account what will follow.
Its lines speak of sons and fathers, inheritances and debts: what you receive and what you decide to do with it.
The image: the Mountain above Wind
- AboveMountain: the stillness that steadies
- BelowWind: gentleness that penetrates
Wind stopped at the foot of the Mountain: the air no longer circulates, and what stood still decays. The commentaries link it to an effort to shake up habits and strengthen each person’s character.
Consult the I Ching
Throw three coins six times: your hexagram, the lines that change, and the direction they point to.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
The six lines
- 1st line (bottom) · brokenA son takes over the business left by his father: if he is capable, the father is not blamed. Danger exists, the end is good.
- 2nd line · solidRepairing what the mother left: you must not push firmness to the extreme. Gentleness is called for here.
- 3rd line · solidTaking up the father’s business with a little excess: a slight regret, but no serious fault.
- 4th line · brokenBeing too indulgent toward the father’s inheritance: if you go on like this, regret comes.
- 5th line · brokenTaking up the father’s business: you receive praise for it, because you use the right means.
- 6th line (top) · solidNot serving king or lord and committing to higher aims: the ancient text sees a noble choice in it.
Gu in your life
At work
Setting right a neglected project, process, or inheritance is favored, through patient and methodical work, step by step.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 蠱 (gǔ)
- Number
- 18 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Mountain (艮) above, Wind (巽) below
- Inner hexagram
- 54. The Marrying Maiden (Gui mei) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 17. Following (Sui)
- Symbol
- ䷑ (U+4DD1)
The English names are the usual renderings of the Chinese characters; the texts rely on the Chinese and on early public-domain translations (Legge, 1882; Philastre, 1885–1893).
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “List of hexagrams of the I Ching,” read on October 15, 2026: numbers, characters, pinyin, lower and upper trigrams.
- Wikipedia (English), “Bagua,” read on October 15, 2026: lines of the eight trigrams, from bottom to top.
- James Legge (1815–1897), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, 1882 (Wikisource): public domain.
- Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (1837–1902), Le Yi King ou Livre des changements de la dynastie des Tsheou, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1885–1893: public domain (the author died more than 70 years ago).
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 18
What does hexagram 18 of the I Ching mean?
Hexagram 18, Gu, means work on what has been spoiled: restoring with method what was neglected, inherited, or left to decay.
Why three days before and three days after?
The ancient text advises thinking about it before and after the turning point. This is read as an invitation to reflect before acting, then to check what followed.
Related hexagrams