Empty Effort

A woman carried a basket with nothing in it. A noble sacrificed a goat with no blood. No advantageous direction. This situation is a barren womb. Leave this all behind you. You will encounter danger from the past, but have no fear. The creative energy to deal with it is there. Those who approach you now are not outlaws. Seek an alliance. These goings and comings release the energy bound in the past. Co-operate with the on-going process of change.

上六, 女承筐, 无實, 士刲羊, 无血. 无攸利.

The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. ##### Comments The man stabs the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that acts to further. At the sacrifice to the ancestors, the woman had to present harvest offerings in a basket, while the man slaughtered the sacrificial animal with his own hand. Here the ritual is only superficially fulfilled; the woman takes an empty basket and the man stabs a sheep slaughtered beforehand-solely to preserve the forms. This impious, irreverent attitude bodes no good for a marriage.