In work & career
At work this hexagram favors the broad alliance: cross-team projects, industry partnerships, open-source style collaboration. State your aims publicly and invite contribution; the right people will gather around a clear purpose. Distinguish roles by real strength rather than politics, and keep every agreement in the open. Closed-door maneuvering backfires under this sign. The ventures that succeed here are the ones nobody owns alone, built in daylight by people who chose the same direction.
13 · King Wen sequence
Hexagram 13 Fellowship with Men — In work & career
同人 · Tóng Rén · upper Heaven over lower Fire
People of different kinds gather around one shared purpose, and the alliance works because it stays open.
The reading
Fellowship with Men is the hexagram of the open alliance. Unlike secret pacts and private cliques, this fellowship succeeds in the public square: its purpose is stated plainly, its membership is broad, and its dealings can bear daylight. Fire below heaven gives the image of clarity rising to meet strength, different natures drawn to one flame. When people unite around something larger than their differences, the combined force exceeds what any faction could achieve alone.
The one yielding line sits low among five firm ones, which means this fellowship needs your openness more than your dominance. Distinguish people by their real kinds instead of forcing one mold; the alliance is stronger for its variety. Avoid the temptation to make it exclusive, because a closed circle here turns fellowship into conspiracy. Keep the purpose public and the door open, and the fellowship will carry you further than you could walk alone.
The image
Fire climbs toward heaven, brightness reaching for strength. People gather in the open country around a shared flame; the wise sort each by kind and unite them in one purpose.
A purpose shared openly gathers people no wall could hold.
When you cast this hexagram
- Building a coalition, team, or movement around a shared cause.
- A partnership that must stay fully public to stay trustworthy.
- Gathering very different groups around one shared and open purpose.
- Choosing full transparency over backroom deals in a joint venture.
In love and relationships
In love, Fellowship points to bonds built on shared purpose rather than private intensity. Couples thrive when they have a common project, a shared circle, or a cause larger than the romance itself. If you are single, look in the open spaces: communities, teams, gatherings around real interests. Keep the relationship honest and visible; secrecy corrodes what openness builds. Love here is companionship with direction, two people walking toward the same horizon instead of staring only at each other.
In work and career
At work this hexagram favors the broad alliance: cross-team projects, industry partnerships, open-source style collaboration. State your aims publicly and invite contribution; the right people will gather around a clear purpose. Distinguish roles by real strength rather than politics, and keep every agreement in the open. Closed-door maneuvering backfires under this sign. The ventures that succeed here are the ones nobody owns alone, built in daylight by people who chose the same direction.
When you have a decision to make
When a real decision is on the table, Fellowship says: decide in the open, with the people it affects. Name the shared purpose plainly and let the coalition form around it; a decision made in daylight gathers supporters, while one made in secret gathers suspicion. Choose the option that the most different kinds of people can stand behind. If you must pick between a private advantage and a public good, this hexagram votes for the public good.
The six changing lines
Read only the lines that came up moving in your own cast. If none did, stay with the hexagram as a whole. Each line below links to the hexagram that line turns into.
Fellowship out in the open meadow, beyond all gates. There is no regret in a bond this wide; it asks nothing exclusive of you.
First tears, then laughter: the fellowship is tested by struggle before it unites. After the hard meeting, the bonds hold and joy follows.
You climb the wall ready to attack, then think better of it. Laying down the assault brings good fortune; restraint here is the victory.
Weapons hidden in the thicket, eyes on the high hill: suspicion armed and waiting. Three years pass with nothing gained; distrust is its own siege.
Fellowship narrowed to your own kindred turns clannish. Comfort among the like-minded is easy, but it brings humiliation, not strength.
Meet others at the gate, before any walls go up. Fellowship begun in simple openness, with no agenda, carries no blame.
How it relates to the other hexagrams
These links are derived from the line structure, not from editorial opinion. Flip a line, reverse the stack, or read the inner lines, and you land on a specific neighbour.
Nuclear · 互卦
Lines 2–4 and 3–5 of this hexagram form another one. It is the inner situation — what is really going on underneath what you were asking about.
Complementary · 错卦
Every line flips. This is the exact opposite stance: the position you are not taking, which is often the thing the reading is contrasting you with.
Inverse · 综卦
Turn the whole stack upside down and you get this. The same circumstance seen from the other end — usually the person on the other side of it.
If one line changes
Same upper or lower trigram
Scholar's details
| Number | 13 of 64 |
|---|---|
| Binary (bottom → top) | 101111 (1 = yang, 0 = yin) |
| Upper trigram | ☰ 乾 Qián — Heaven, Metal, Father |
| Lower trigram | ☲ 离 Lí — Fire, Fire, Middle Daughter |
| Key ideas | alliance, openness, community, shared purpose, transparency, cooperation |
Have a question of your own?
This page tells you what the hexagram means. A casting tells you which one you are actually in.