The Book of Changes · Shi He

Hexagram 21: Biting Through

Fire (flame and the sun) over Thunder (the storm arriving)

An obstruction between two parts that ought to meet, and the remedy is to bite through it rather than around it. This is the hexagram of law, penalties, and saying the hard thing.

The image

Thunder and lightning together. The reading is that the old kings made the penalties clear and enforced the laws, so that people knew the shape of the thing before they met it.

Fire, above

Clarity, attachment, and what depends on its fuel.

Thunder, below

Shock, beginning, and movement that starts below.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1A small correction, made early, while it is still only about a foot in the stocks.
2. Line 2Overdoing a correction that was justified. Biting soft meat and going in up to the nose.
3. Line 3Biting into something old and hitting rot. Some embarrassment; nothing lasting.
4. Line 4Biting through gristle and finding metal in it. Difficult, and knowing it is difficult is what carries it.
5. Line 5Biting through dried meat and finding gold. The reward is inside the hard part.
6. Line 6Warnings that stopped being heard a long time ago. The ears have gone with the yoke.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 21 is Gate 21, Control.