Hexagram 54 · Line 6
The Marrying Maiden — 上九
Gui Mei · Shang Jiu
上九 · Shang Jiu
The Line
The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man pierces the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that would further.
Interpretation
At the sacrifice for the ancestors the woman had to offer the fruits in a basket, the man personally to slaughter the sacrificial animal. Here the forms are fulfilled only superficially. The woman takes an empty basket, the man pierces a sheep that has already been slaughtered, only to preserve the form. But this impious, frivolous disposition promises no good fortune for the marriage.