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Hexagram 11 — Gui Mei, The Marrying Maiden
Chronological no. 11 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 54 · 歸妹
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the eldest son
the youngest daughter
Above, Thunder; below, the Lake: the image of the marrying maiden. The movement above draws what rests below into a union not always equally chosen by both parties — a bond that commits despite the initial imbalance. Thus the noble one, mindful of what endures, discerns what corrupts this union: every alliance deserves to be judged over its duration, not on its beginning alone.
The sealed union binds two unequal orders into a single weave. Not every union is born in perfect equality; some begin in imbalance and must, over time, find their own justice. This line teaches that loyalty over time can repair what the initial conditions had not made fair.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, fullness stirs: the yang onset that carried the whole figure now yields its place.
The steadied earth reaches its limit: the solidity that upheld the structure is about to change its nature.
At the threshold between earth and man, suppleness gathers weight: what once yielded by nature is about to harden.
In the action of man, fullness meets its limit: the initiative that led the figure folds back upon itself.
At the sage's seat, emptiness fills: the suppleness that governed with discretion gathers a new force.
At the summit, emptiness reaches its fullest extent and closes: the furthest opening turns toward its opposite.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
Eight 12×12 Jacquard patterns are generated from this hexagram, one for each admissible family of the system. Each has its own page: cell, tiling, recolourings and data.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
10 — Jie, Deliverance · 12 — Xiao Guo, Preponderance of the Small
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☳ Zhen): 8 — Yu, Enthusiasm · 9 — Zhen, The Arousing · 10 — Jie, Deliverance · 12 — Xiao Guo, Preponderance of the Small · 13 — Feng, Abundance · 14 — Heng, Duration · 15 — Da Zhuang, The Power of the Great
Same lower trigram (☱ Dui): 3 — Lin, Approach · 19 — Jie, Limitation · 27 — Dui, The Joyous · 35 — Sun, Decrease · 43 — Kui, Opposition · 51 — Zhong Fu, Inner Truth · 59 — Lu, Treading
