Hexagram 27 changing to 24: Nourishment to Return

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: 24 Return

The turning point: light returns after the darkest day, and the beginning must be treated gently. Thunder below, earth above: movement stirring under the ground at the winter solstice. One yang line has entered at the bottom beneath five yin lines. Return is the turning point, the first day of the light's recovery, and the tradition treats it with great tenderness: the ancient kings closed the passes at the solstice and let everything rest. The reading says the turn has come, that the old cycle is over and a new one is beginning, and that the beginning is small and must not be forced. Friends come without blame; going and coming is without error; the way returns in seven days.

The lines that move

1. Line 6

   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. You are the source; carry it with awareness and you can undertake great things.

What is changing. The situation of Nourishment is moving toward Return. Attend to what you take in and what you give out; feed what is worth feeding. As the change completes: Welcome the turn, begin small, and rest while the new cycle gathers strength.

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: A return: of warmth, of contact, of someone, or of your own feeling. It is real and it is young. Do not test it with demands. Let the new beginning grow at its own pace and rest with 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: The low point has passed and a new cycle is beginning. Do not launch everything at once. Take the first small step, let the momentum build naturally, and rest while it does. The tradition closes the passes for a reason.

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: Recovery begins, small at first. Do not rush to make up losses; the return to strength follows its own timing. Reinvest gently and let the cycle carry you.

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 for the fresh start, and decide to make it gently. The reading favours returning to your own proper path over any dramatic new direction. Small first, and in season.