Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Withdrawing Neither Too Early Nor Too Late

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Withdrawing Neither Too Early Nor Too Late

Nine in the fifth place is the most favourable reading in Retreat, and its counsel concerns judgement rather than action. The line grants good fortune to a withdrawal that is admirable, and the commentary puts the merit in the correctness of the purpose. A querent drawing this is usually in a position to choose the moment, which the lower lines were not, and the text tells them that the choosing is the thing being assessed.

The position is the best in the figure. Strong, central and correctly placed at the ruling seat of Qian, with the yielding second line answering it from the centre of Gen below, this stroke has both the authority to withdraw and something worth withdrawing for. Neither of those alone would be enough. Authority without purpose retreats too late, because it can afford to wait, and purpose without authority retreats too early, because it cannot hold on long enough to pick its moment.

When the line changes, the upper trigram Qian becomes Li and the figure becomes The Wanderer, King Wen 56, a traveller whose standing is provisional everywhere and who is careful for that reason. It is an unglamorous destination for the best line in a hexagram, and it is honest. Retreating well ends the position that made the retreat admirable in the first place, and what follows is life as a stranger somewhere, conducted with the same care that got the timing right.

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