18. Work on What Has Been Spoiled
Judgment
Work on What Has Been Spoiled — supreme success. It furthers to cross the great water. Before departing, three days observe. Afterward, three days reflect on change.
Image
Wind on the mountain — the superior person stirs the people and cultivates virtue through correction.
Changing Lines
Correcting what the father spoiled — if there is a son, no blame. Danger, but good fortune in the end.
Correcting what the mother spoiled — one should not be too persistent. gentleness in reform.
Correcting what the father spoiled — small regret, but ultimately blameless.
Tolerating what has been spoiled — coming to see with concern. Hesitation worsens decay.
Correcting what the father spoiled — praise for the one who takes responsibility.
Not serving king or father — pursuing higher ideals. Ambition beyond reformation.
Reading Work on What Has Been Spoiled today
When Work on What Has Been Spoiled (蠱) appears in a modern casting, it's rarely about ancient kings or dragons in any literal sense. The hexagram speaks in metaphor about a shape your situation is taking right now. The lower gentle wind sits beneath the upper keeping still mountain, pairing penetrating influence, slow persistence, gradual change with stillness, boundary, refusing to move. Read this as the inside meeting the outside: how you carry yourself underneath versus how the situation arrives on top.
The hexagram's recurring themes — correction, decay, renovation — usually surface in real life around decisions where the question is less "what should I do" and more "what does this moment actually want from me." Read the Legge judgment above slowly, then sit with the changing lines if any showed up in your cast: the lines are where the hexagram's advice becomes specific to your question, not the situation in general.
Questions Work on What Has Been Spoiled answers well
- What does this hexagram say about my current situation?
- Should I act, wait, or step back from this?
- Where is the real change happening underneath the surface?
- Who or what is this hexagram pointing me toward?
Curious how this would read against your own question? Cast Work on What Has Been Spoiled as a live reading in Hexora →