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Hexagram 8 — Yu, Enthusiasm
Chronological no. 8 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 16 · 豫
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the eldest son
the mother
Thunder bursts forth from the Earth: the image of enthusiasm. Contained energy suddenly releases, and this eruption sets everything around it into motion — nothing remains still before such a burst. This is the figure of contagious momentum, one that carries others along without needing to force them. Thus the ancient kings honored merit through music and virtue: well-directed enthusiasm becomes the gentlest and most powerful force for gathering wills together.
Thunder rises from the earth and sets bodies into motion. There exists an energy that cannot be commanded, that springs forth and carries along of its own accord, without needing to be forced. This line teaches that the true power to gather others never comes from constraint, but from that shared vibration which only sincere enthusiasm can awaken.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, emptiness closes over: what was still an opening begins to fill.
The receptive earth reaches its fullness: the silent welcome that carried the lower figure is about to assert itself.
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
7 — Tai, Peace · 9 — Zhen, The Arousing
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☳ Zhen): 9 — Zhen, The Arousing · 10 — Jie, Deliverance · 11 — Gui Mei, The Marrying Maiden · 12 — Xiao Guo, Preponderance of the Small · 13 — Feng, Abundance · 14 — Heng, Duration · 15 — Da Zhuang, The Power of the Great
Same lower trigram (☷ Kun): 0 — Kun, The Receptive · 16 — Bi, Holding Together · 24 — Cui, Gathering Together · 32 — Bo, Splitting Apart · 40 — Jin, Progress · 48 — Guan, Contemplation · 56 — Pi, Standstill
