山泽损 & decision

Read 山泽损 (Decrease) as a mirror, not an answer key. It does not foretell how a decision turns out; it offers a set of angles for looking at where you actually stand right now.

The judgment reads "有孚，元吉". 山泽损 is built from a mountain above (艮) over a lake below (兑) — 山下有泽，损；君子以惩忿窒欲. In everyday terms it sketches a kind of situational "weather" rather than a verdict. The questions below are drawn straight from that imagery — they are for you to answer, about a decision.

Turn the imagery of 山泽损 into questions you ask yourself

1. 1The upper trigram of 山泽损 is a mountain, the lower is a lake. In your decision right now, which part is like the "a mountain" above — outward-facing, responding to the world? And which is like the "a lake" below — your quieter, underlying ground?
2. 2If the judgment "有孚，元吉" were describing the thing you are weighing, which word would you reach for first, and why that one?
3. 3山泽损 describes the "timing" of a situation. Is the choice in front of you one to move with — or one to pause on until you can see it clearly?
4. 4Read 山泽损's line 3 as the "stepping-over" line. Looking back from three months out, would you want this decision to have rested on ground as steady as the a lake below — or to have been a rush to resolve it?
5. 5Is there one small thing in this choice you keep avoiding — like the a mountain standing above and outside in 山泽损, the part you will have to answer to sooner or later?

山泽损 gives you an angle on a decision, not a should-or-shouldn't. The real work is to carry these questions back into your own situation — the answer is in you, not in the hexagram. The classical line text above is quoted in Chinese; the real work sits in the everyday choices only you can see.

Yarrow Yi casts hexagrams deterministically (by time, by hand, or by coin) and treats the I Ching as a tool for self-awareness — not for predicting fortune.