I Ching · King Wen 27
Hexagram 27: Nourishment
䷚ 頤 Yí · also called The Corners of the Mouth, Providing Nourishment, Jaws · Keeping Still above The Arousing
What you feed, and what feeds you: attention to nourishment, of the body, the mind and others.
nourishmentcarewordsmoderationsustenance
The meaning of Hexagram 27
Thunder below, mountain above: the hexagram's shape is an open mouth, two firm lines enclosing four yielding ones. Nourishment asks a simple question that runs in both directions: what are you taking in, and what are you giving out? The tradition's judgement says to pay attention to what you nourish and to what you seek to fill your mouth with, and the image adds care in words and moderation in food. The reading is about sustenance in the widest sense: diet, information, company, the people you support and those who support you. Its favourability depends on the quality of what is being fed.
The image. Thunder at the foot of the mountain; the wise person is careful with words and moderate in eating and drinking.
- Advice
- Attend to what you take in and what you give out; feed what is worth feeding.
- Warning
- Seeking nourishment from the wrong source, or envying another's, leaves you hungry however much you consume.
over
Structure: ☳ The Arousing (Thunder) below, ☶ Keeping Still (Mountain) above. Nuclear hexagram 2, The Receptive. Every line reversed: 28, Great Excess.
Hexagram 27 for love and relationships
Ask what each of you feeds the other: attention, kindness, honest speech, or the opposite. The reading asks you to look at the diet of the relationship, and to be careful with words, which nourish or poison more than anything.
Hexagram 27 for career
What sustains you at work, and what you are sustaining. Feed your competence with real learning, not gossip; support the people who depend on you properly. The reading warns against seeking nourishment from the wrong source.
Hexagram 27 for money
Money as sustenance, not display. Spend on what feeds you and yours, be moderate, and be wary of dependence on a source that does not deserve trust. Look at what your money is feeding.
Hexagram 27 for decisions
Decide by asking what the option will nourish. The choice that feeds something worthwhile, in you or in others, is the right one; the one that only fills the mouth is not.
The six changing lines
Read from the bottom. A changing line flips, and the hexagram it changes into is named with each.
The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers to cross the great water.
The one everyone is fed by, who carries great responsibility and knows it. The awareness of that weight is what keeps the line fortunate. With it, even the large undertaking is right.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 24, Return. Read line 6 →
Turning away from the path. Staying persistent brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water.
Aware of the duty to nourish others and not strong enough to do it alone, the person turns to a wiser helper. Admitting the need is the path. The line supports it and rules out large ventures for now.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 42, Increase. Read line 5 →
Turning to the summit for nourishment brings good fortune. Spying about like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.
Seeking help from above in order to nourish others, with the fierce alertness of someone who needs the right helpers and searches for them tirelessly. The craving here is for the means to serve, and the line approves.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 21, Biting Through. Read line 4 →
Turning away from nourishment. Persistence brings misfortune. For ten years do not act.
Feeding on what does not sustain: pleasure, distraction, emptiness. Continuing this way leads to a long barren stretch. The line is the hexagram's hardest warning about diet in the widest sense.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 22, Grace. Read line 3 →
Turning to the summit for nourishment, deviating from the path to seek it from the hill. Going on brings misfortune.
Looking for support in the wrong places, from those who should not be asked, out of a failure to stand on one's own feet. The line calls it a deviation and warns of the result.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 41, Decrease. Read line 2 →
You let your magic tortoise go and look at me with drooping jaws. Misfortune.
Someone who has everything they need and envies what another has. Self-sufficiency abandoned for craving. The line is sharp: the misfortune is self-inflicted, and the cure is to remember the tortoise.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart. Read line 1 →
Related hexagrams
Cast your own reading
Ask a question and toss six lines. The oracle does not choose the hexagram for you; the coins do.
Ask the I Ching →Common questions
- What does I Ching Hexagram 27 mean?
- What you feed, and what feeds you: attention to nourishment, of the body, the mind and others. Thunder below, mountain above: the hexagram's shape is an open mouth, two firm lines enclosing four yielding ones. Nourishment asks a simple question that runs in both directions: what are you taking in, and what are you giving out? The tradition's judgement says to pay attention to what you nourish and to what you seek to fill your mouth with, and the image adds care in words and moderation in food. The reading is about sustenance in the widest sense: diet, information, company, the people you support and those who support you. Its favourability depends on the quality of what is being fed.
- What does Hexagram 27 mean for love?
- Ask what each of you feeds the other: attention, kindness, honest speech, or the opposite. The reading asks you to look at the diet of the relationship, and to be careful with words, which nourish or poison more than anything.
- Which hexagram does Hexagram 27 change into?
- It depends on which lines change. With one changing line: line 1 gives Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart; line 2 gives Hexagram 41, Decrease; line 3 gives Hexagram 22, Grace; line 4 gives Hexagram 21, Biting Through; line 5 gives Hexagram 42, Increase; line 6 gives Hexagram 24, Return. With every line changing it becomes Hexagram 28, Great Excess.