I Ching hexagram 63
Hexagram 63: Ji Ji
Completion · 水火既濟 · Water above, Fire below
With a goal reached and all in place, the risk is that things slip when you stop watching.
What this hexagram is about
Water sits over fire in Ji Ji (Completion), each in its proper place, like a pot on a stove. Things are settled and running well, and the hexagram spends its attention on how easily that can slip into disorder once you stop watching.
A way to think about it
What has just gone right in your life, and where could it start to loosen if you stopped paying attention? Plan for that weak spot now, while everything is still calm.
The text, with Legge's translation
Judgment
亨小。利貞。初吉終亂。
Kî Žî 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.
Success comes in small matters, with steadiness and correctness the thing that pays. The start is good, and the end may fall into disorder.
Image
水在火上，既濟；君子以思患而豫防之。
(The trigram representing) fire and that for water above it form Kî Žî. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of evil (that may come), and beforehand guards against it.
Line 1 · 初九
曳其輪，濡其尾，无咎。
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.
You hold the wheel back and take only a wet tail for it. Restraint right at the start of a success is sound.
Line 2 · 六二
婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得。
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.
You lose the carriage screen that lets you travel in public. Stop chasing it, since the text says it comes back on its own after seven days.
Line 3 · 九三
高宗伐鬼方，三年克之，小人勿用。
The third line, undivided, (suggests the case of) Kâo Žung who attacked the Demon region, but was three years in subduing it. Small men should not be employed (in such enterprises).
King Gao Zong attacks the Demon Region and needs three years to win. Even after a success, hard campaigns wear you down, and petty people are the wrong ones to put in charge.
Line 4 · 六四
繻有衣袽，終日戒。
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject with rags provided against any leak (in his boat), and on his guard all day long.
The boat starts to leak, and you have rags ready to plug it. You stay on guard all day, which is the right habit at a moment of success.
Line 5 · 九五
東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭，實受其福。
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.
The eastern neighbor sacrifices an ox in grand style, and the western neighbor's small spring offering earns the real blessing. Sincerity carries more weight here than display.
Line 6 · 上六
濡其首，厲。
The topmost line, divided, shows its subject with (even) his head immersed. The position is perilous.
In over your head, with the water up past the crown, you face the danger of pushing on after the work is complete.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi, public domain. English: James Legge, The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 16 (1882), public domain. Plain notes written by this site.
Questions
I cast hexagram 63. Which text do I read?
With no changing lines, read the judgment: "Kî Žî 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." With changing lines, read the lines that changed. When several change at once, Zhu Xi's rules decide which text leads, and the casting page marks it for you.
What are the nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams of Ji Ji?
The nuclear hexagram is 64. Wei Ji (Not Yet Across). The opposite is 64. Wei Ji (Not Yet Across). The inverted hexagram is 64. Wei Ji (Not Yet Across).