Six Campaigns from Qishan
Neutral
The poem
Original: 当风点烛空疏影 / 恍惚铺成镜里花 / 累被儿竟求牧拾 / 怎知只是幻浮槎
The story
The Qishan range lay between Wei and Shu, and Zhuge Liang had to cross it to campaign north. Six times he marched out from Qishan, and six times, for all his devotion, the victory slipped away. On the last campaign he wrote his famous memorial and still could not win, dying in camp at Wuzhang Plain. Genius could not overrule the times.
What it means
The image is a candle lit in the wind, and empty reputation does not serve you. The flame leaves only a thin shadow, and the flowering you seem to see is in a mirror. Again and again the thing looks as if it could be gathered up, and it is only driftwood on water. The point is futility rather than laziness, because the timing and the fate are not on this side. Draw your strength back in and hold what you already have.
By area of life
Wealth
Investments look promising and the money never actually arrives. There is more appearance than substance; hold rather than expand now.
Love
There seems to be someone for a while, and then the whole matter fades out with nothing further ever said.
Work
Prospects are dim and there is little profit to speak of; even determined effort accomplishes very little in this case.
Health
Treatment appears effective and then turns out not to have been. A quite different line of thinking is needed here.
Travel
The plan looks good on paper and generally comes to nothing at all, with very little to show for it.
Advice
A candle in the wind will not light, so shelter the lamp you already have.