2027 Forecast

Hexagram 63 of 64

I Ching hexagram 63 ☵☲ After Completion

I Ching hexagram 63, After Completion, is water above, fire below. In brief: the task is done; now hold it together. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 3 and 5 and its broken lines in 2, 4 and 6.

Lines, bottom up
⚊⚋⚊⚋⚊⚋ 101010 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Water over Fire Kan ☵ / Li ☲
Every line changed
№ 64 Before Completion
In Legge, 1882
p. 204 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16

Legge, The Yî King, 1882.

Paired with it line by line — changed, turned over or read from the inner lines: 64, Before Completion.

Also with Water above: 3, Difficulty at the Beginning, 5, Waiting and 8, Holding Together.

Also with Fire below: 13, Fellowship, 22, Grace and 30, The Clinging.

To draw a hexagram of your own, cast the I Ching with three coins.

I Ching Hexagram 63: After Completion

Upper trigram

☵

Water (Kan) above

Danger and depth.

FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater

Lower trigram

☲

Fire (Li) below

Clarity and attachment.

FamilyMiddle daughter
ElementFire

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 63

The Judgement

After completion: everything is in its place, and success in small matters continues. But order at the end of a process slides easily into disorder if attention lapses.

The Image

Water above fire, perfectly balanced but fragile. The lesson is to foresee misfortune and prepare for it in advance.

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 63 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Kî Zî intimates progress and success in small matters. There will be advantage in being firm and correct. There has been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.”
The Image
“(The trigram representing) fire and that for water above it form Kî Zî. The superior”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, (shows its subject as a driver) who drags back his wheel, (or as a fox) which has wet his tail. There will be no error.
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, (shows its subject as) a wife who has lost her (carriage-)screen. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
  3. Line 3 The third line, undivided, (suggests the case of) Kâo Zung, who attacked the Demon region, but was three years in subduing it. Small men should not be employed (in such enterprises).
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows its subject with rags provided against any leak (in his boat), and on his guard all day long.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject (as) the neighbour in the east who slaughters an ox (for his sacrifice); but this is not equal to the (small) spring sacrifice of the neighbour in the west, whose sincerity receives the blessing.
  6. Line 6 · top The topmost line, divided, shows its subject with (even) his head immersed. The position is perilous.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 204 — 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.

After Completion for a decision

You have reached the goal. Now protect it: maintain, check and anticipate problems instead of relaxing completely.

I Ching 63 in love and relationships

A settled, stable relationship. Keep investing in it so that comfort does not become neglect.

Hexagram 63 at work

A finished project or achieved target. Handover, maintenance and risk planning are the priorities.

The six lines of hexagram 63

Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yin yang yin yang yin — what each position means.

Hexagram 63: Water over Fire
Hexagram 63, After Completion, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 53Line 3 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 64Line 4 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 15Line 5 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 3LowerLiFireUpperKanWaterKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

3 yang and 3 yin lines. Every line stands in its proper place, and all three pairs answer each other.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Fire below — clarity and attachment — is the private, inner side of hexagram 63.

Water above — danger and depth — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Water above controls Fire below. Circumstance restrains the inner position — pressure comes from the situation, not from within.

Read as a family

The middle son sits above and the middle daughter below. A brother and a sister of the same rank in age, which reads as a relationship between equals.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 63

Hexagram 64, Before Completion

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.

Hexagram 64, Before Completion

Opposite hexagram

64 · Before Completion

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Water over Fire becomes Fire over Water.

Hexagram 64, Before Completion

Inverse hexagram

64 · Before Completion

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Water over Fire becomes Fire over Water.

None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.

The image

Water above, Fire below.

Water over Fire: danger and depth meeting clarity and attachment.

← 62 · All 64 · 64 →

59 Dispersion 60 Limitation 61 Inner Truth 62 Small Exceeding 64 Before Completion

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 204

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 63: After Completion.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/63/

For Wikipedia {{cite web |title=I Ching Hexagram 63: After Completion |url=https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/63/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-27}}