42. Increase
Judgment
Increase — it furthers to undertake something. Cross the great water. When increase reaches its peak, decrease inevitably follows.
Image
Wind and thunder — the superior person sees good and imitates it, sees faults and corrects them.
Changing Lines
Great increase — supreme good fortune. No blame. Increase through sincere giving.
Increase — someone increases through ten tortoise shells. No misfortune through long persistence. The king presents this blessing.
Increase through distressed events — no blame. Firmness with sincerity. Reporting to the ruler through the oracle.
The central path — reporting to the ruler. Following advice from above.
Sincere increase — great good fortune and sincerity. My heart is contented.
Not increasing — perhaps being struck. Determination without reflection. Enduring misfortune.
Reading Increase today
When Increase (益) 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 arousing thunder sits beneath the upper gentle wind, pairing shock, awakening, sudden movement with penetrating influence, slow persistence, gradual change. 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 — increase, benefit, expansion — 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 Increase 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 Increase as a live reading in Hexora →