19. Approach
Judgment
Approach brings supreme success and perseverance. By the eighth month, misfortune arises — all things wax and wane with the seasons.
Image
Earth above the lake — the superior person is inexhaustible in teaching and boundless in tolerance.
Changing Lines
Joint approach — right action in the right season. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Joint approach — good fortune. Everything is favorable when progress aligns with timing.
Coaxing approach — nothing that would not further. But take note of the warning.
Complete approach — no blame. Advancing without hesitation when the time is right.
Wise approach — fitting for a great ruler. No blame in approaching wisely.
Generous approach — good fortune, no blame. Greatness attracts greatness.
Reading Approach today
When Approach (臨) 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 joyous lake sits beneath the upper receptive earth, pairing openness, conversation, shared pleasure with yielding, holding space, devoted patience. 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 — approach, advancement, growth — 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 Approach answers well
- Where is real growth waiting if I look closely?
- 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?
Curious how this would read against your own question? Cast Approach as a live reading in Hexora →