Upper trigram
☴
Wind (Xun) above
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
Hexagram 37 of 64
I Ching hexagram 37 ☴☲ The Family
I Ching hexagram 37, The Family, is wind above, fire below. In brief: order that begins at home. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 3, 5 and 6 and its broken lines in 2 and 4.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚋⚊⚋⚊⚊ 101011 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Wind over Fire Xun ☴ / Li ☲
- Every line changed
- № 40 Deliverance
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 136 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☲
Fire (Li) below
Clarity and attachment.
FamilyMiddle daughter
ElementFire
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 37
The Judgement
The family: order begins at home. When each person fulfills their role faithfully and speaks truthfully, the household — and anything built like it — holds together.
The Image
Wind rising from fire, influence spreading outward from a hearth. The lesson is that words must have substance and conduct must be consistent.
A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →
Primary source
Hexagram 37 in James Legge’s translation
“For (the realisation of what is taught in) Kiâ Zăn, (or for the regulation of the family), what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.”
“(The trigram representing) fire, and that for wind coming forth from it, form Kiâ Zăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, orders his words according to (the truth of) things, and his conduct so that it is uniformly consistent.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows its subject establishing restrictive regulations in his household Occasion for repentance will disappear.
- Line 2 The second line, divided, shows its subject taking nothing on herself, but in her central place attending to the preparation of the food. Through her firm correctness there will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows its subject (treating) the members of the household with stern severity. There will be occasion for repentance, there will be peril, (but) there will (also) be good fortune. If the wife and children were to be smirking and chattering, in the end there would be occasion for regret.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows its subject enriching the family. There will be great good fortune.
- Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows the influence of the king extending to his family. There need be no anxiety; there will be good fortune.
- Line 6 · top The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity and arrayed in majesty. In the end there will be good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 136 — read the original text.
Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.
The Family for a decision
Start with the people and structures closest to you. Clarify roles, keep promises and make sure what you say matches what you do.
I Ching 37 in love and relationships
Family life, household roles and loyalty. Consistency and clear expectations strengthen the home.
Hexagram 37 at work
Small teams, family businesses and internal culture. Getting the inner circle right makes everything outside easier.
The six lines of hexagram 37
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yin yang yin yang yang — what each position means.
4 yang and 2 yin lines. Five of the six stand in their proper place, and the pairs 1–4 and 2–5 answer.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Fire below — clarity and attachment — is the private, inner side of hexagram 37.
Wind above — gentle penetration — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Wood above generates Fire below, so the movement runs downward — the outer situation is feeding the inner one. Support arrives from outside rather than being generated within.
Read as a family
The eldest daughter sits above and the middle daughter below. Two sisters, the older one on top — siblings rather than parent and child, so the order is one of seniority, not authority.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 37
Nuclear hexagram
64 · Before Completion
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Kan (Water) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Li (Fire) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
40 · Deliverance
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Wind over Fire becomes Thunder over Water.
Inverse hexagram
38 · Opposition
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Wind over Fire becomes Fire over Lake.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Wind above, Fire below.
Wind over Fire: gentle penetration meeting clarity and attachment.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 37: The Family.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/37/
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