Last time, we looked at Earth over Heaven -- the dark forces on the outside, and the light forces within, creating a sign meaning "peace." Here, we're looking at the opposite of peace. Not war, but stagnation -- a situation where nothing happens. The great depart and the small approach, and virtue has to remain hidden. As Wilhelm's discussion of the Judgement says:

The dark power is within, the light power is without. Weakness is within, harshness without. Within are the inferior, and without are the superior. The way of inferior people is in ascent; the way of superior people is on the decline. But the superior people do not allow themselves to be turned from their principles. If the possibility of exerting influence is closed to them, they nevertheless remain faithful to their principles and withdraw into seclusion.

Looking over a few different translations (or at least, a summary of 'em), you get a much better sense of what this means. It's a victory of bandits, outlaws and mysterious outsiders, making profitable activity impossible -- or it's the victory of the kind of hidebound lack of creativity that files every idea in its "proper" box, and refuses to accept anything that doesn't fit. Things outside the box are endangered. Where peaceful tai was about achieving a balance, stagnant pi is about being blocked. This is, after all, the Book of Changes, right?

I'm trying to figure out where the name "The Wife" comes from. I can't find much about that online, but I think I get enough of a sense to make a guess.

Look at the line commentaries. Taken together, they tell a story of a virtuous man retreating from a corrupt or inferior situation -- retiring from society, waiting for the proper time to come and serving only as a quiet inspiration until such time as he hears the higher call. Even then, he only proceeds cautiously...

Confucius says about this line:
"Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, nor ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire."

...but with continuous effort:

Continuous effort is necessary to maintain peace: left to itself it would change into stagnation and disintegration. The time of disintegration, however, does not change back automatically to a condition of peace and prosperity; effort must be put forth in order to end it. This shows the creative attitude that man must take if the world is to be put in order.

I'm guessing that this idea of quietly retiring and waiting for the appropriate moment to constantly, cautiously apply pressure is an attitude that'd traditionally be thought of wifely -- the way a "good" wife would lead a superior family. That's just a guess, but it's the feeling I get. The previous hexagram, tai, is about creating harmony and joining opposites together -- it could even be a representation of a marriage. This one, then, could be read as the honeymoon being over, and a necessity for a certain kind of negotiation to get around the fact that people don't live up to other folks' preconceived notions. And really, if you think hard about it, who would want to? Being a real person is so much more fun.

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_{I'm using the Wilhelm/Baynes translation from the comprehensive Wengu collection or the user-friendly Eclectic Energies site. Feel like going deeper? Check out Hong Kong's Taoist Culture & Information Centre's I Ching page, and the essays & reviews on Ma Xia's Yijing Page}