Hexagram 45 of 64 · Lake ☱ over Earth ☷
Gathering Together
Cuì
Gathering together — people massing around a worthy centre, with a purpose large enough to hold them.
The Judgment
Gathering Together: success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to see the great person; this brings success. Perseverance furthers. To bring great offerings creates good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something.
The Image
The lake over the earth: water gathers and there is danger of overflow. The wise person renews their weapons in order to meet the unforeseen — where people gather, conflict is possible; be ready without being fearful.
Hexagram 45 Meaning
People are gathering — a community, a movement, a family reunion, a team assembling. The hexagram is favourable and precise about what makes a gathering succeed: a worthy centre (the great person), a shared purpose that transcends individuals (the king at the temple), generosity (great offerings), and preparedness (weapons renewed, because crowds bring risk). Gathering without a centre disperses; gathering without purpose becomes a mob. With both, great things are undertaken.
Gathering Together in Love
Coming together — a relationship consolidating, families meeting, a wedding or a shared home, the sense of a bond gathering the people around it. Favourable, with the hexagram’s conditions: be clear about what unites you (not just attraction, but a shared purpose), be generous, and be ready for the friction that closeness brings. Line 1 warns of confusion in gathering — mixed feelings, false starts — resolved by simply asking for help.
Gathering Together in Career & Money
Team-building, conferences, fundraising, mergers, any assembling of people and resources around a goal. The hexagram favours it and adds: have a leader worth gathering around; make the offering generous (budget it properly); prepare for the unforeseen — where resources gather, so do those who want them. Great undertakings are possible once the group is truly gathered.
What to Do
Gather people around a worthy centre and a clear purpose. Be generous with what you bring. Prepare for friction — it comes with crowds. Then undertake something worthy of the group.
Gathering Together as a Yes or No
yes
Yes — the gathering is favoured and great undertakings follow; ensure the purpose and the centre are worthy.
The Trigrams
Above: Lake (兌 Duì) — the joyous — pleasure, openness, the youngest daughter.
Below: Earth (坤 Kūn) — the receptive — devotion, yielding, the mother.
The Six Lines of Gathering Together
Read when the line is moving (a 6 or 9 in the cast). Bottom line first.
- 1
Line 1 · yin
If you are sincere but not to the end, there will sometimes be confusion, sometimes gathering together; if you call out, then after one grasp of the hand you can laugh again — regret not, going is without blame: wavering — ask for help and it resolves.
- 2
Line 2 · yin
Letting oneself be drawn brings good fortune and remains blameless, if one is sincere it furthers one to bring even a small offering: follow the pull of true affinity.
- 3
Line 3 · yin
Gathering together amid sighs, nothing that would further — going is without blame, slight humiliation: you are outside the group; approach a leader humbly.
- 4
Line 4 · yang
Great good fortune, no blame: gathering people in the name of a leader, not yourself.
- 5
Line 5 · yang
If in gathering together one has position, this brings no blame; if there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work, sublime and enduring perseverance is needed, then remorse disappears: some are only there for position — win them by steadiness.
- 6
Line 6 · yin
Lamenting and sighing, floods of tears, no blame: misunderstood in your wish to join — sincere grief opens the door.
Will Gathering Together Appear in Your Cast?
Cast the coins on your own question — free, instant, with every moving line explained.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does hexagram 45, Gathering Together, mean?
People are gathering — a community, a movement, a family reunion, a team assembling. The hexagram is favourable and precise about what makes a gathering succeed: a worthy centre (the great person), a shared purpose that transcends individuals (the king at the temple), generosity (great offerings), and preparedness (weapons renewed, because crowds bring risk). Gathering without a centre disperses; gathering without purpose becomes a mob. With both, great things are undertaken.
What does Gathering Together mean in love?
Coming together — a relationship consolidating, families meeting, a wedding or a shared home, the sense of a bond gathering the people around it. Favourable, with the hexagram’s conditions: be clear about what unites you (not just attraction, but a shared purpose), be generous, and be ready for the friction that closeness brings. Line 1 warns of confusion in gathering — mixed feelings, false starts — resolved by simply asking for help.
What does Gathering Together mean for career and money?
Team-building, conferences, fundraising, mergers, any assembling of people and resources around a goal. The hexagram favours it and adds: have a leader worth gathering around; make the offering generous (budget it properly); prepare for the unforeseen — where resources gather, so do those who want them. Great undertakings are possible once the group is truly gathered.
Is hexagram 45 a yes or a no?
Gathering Together answers "yes". Yes — the gathering is favoured and great undertakings follow; ensure the purpose and the centre are worthy.
Previous hexagram
44. Coming to Meet
temptation
Next hexagram
46. Pushing Upward
ascent
Last updated: August 30, 2026
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