Crossing the Great Water
Carried by eleven chapters
In the constellation
Crossing the great water is one of the oracle's most vivid formulas — "It furthers one to cross the great water" — and it counsels resolute action in the face of danger: the undertaking of a great, decisive venture, as one crosses a wide river toward the far shore. It appears where the time is ripe for a bold, purposeful passage rather than for waiting.
The formula binds action to inner condition. In hexagram 61 it follows directly upon inner truth:
Pigs and fishes. Good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Only when sincerity and the right helpers are present is the crossing favorable; attempted rashly, the "great water" is simply danger. So the phrase marks those moments when the oracle urges commitment to a large enterprise — provided one carries the perseverance and inner truth the crossing requires.