Hexagram 27 changing to 21: Nourishment to Biting Through

Where it starts: 27 Nourishment

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.

Where it goes: 21 Biting Through

An obstruction that must be bitten through: clear, firm, lawful action against what is in the way. Thunder below, fire above: lightning and thunder, clarity and force together. The image is of a mouth with something stuck in it that must be bitten through before the jaws can close. Biting Through describes an obstacle, often a person or a wrong, that cannot be talked around and must be dealt with decisively. The tradition's judgement is that it furthers to administer justice: to act with the clarity of lightning and the firmness of thunder, in proportion, under rule. The reading is favourable to firm action and it insists that the action be fair.

The lines that move

1. Line 4

   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. Search hard for the help you need to feed those you are responsible for.

What is changing. The situation of Nourishment is moving toward Biting Through. Attend to what you take in and what you give out; feed what is worth feeding. As the change completes: Identify the obstruction precisely and remove it with firm, fair, proportionate action.

love and relationships

Now: 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. Then: Something is stuck between you and it will not clear on its own. Name it plainly and deal with it. Firmness here is kindness; the obstruction left in place poisons everything around it.

career

Now: 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. Then: An obstacle, a wrong or a person who is blocking things, and the moment to act on it decisively. Be clear about the facts, proportionate in the response, and do not let it drag. Justice, not vengeance.

money

Now: 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. Then: A dispute, a debt or a bad arrangement that needs resolving by firm action. Get the facts straight, act through proper channels, and bite through rather than nibbling.

decisions

Now: 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. Then: Decide firmly and act. The reading supports the decisive option, and it conditions it on fairness and clarity: know exactly what the obstruction is before you bite.