Hexagram 27 line 2: Nourishment, yin in the second place

What changes when line 2 moves

Line 2 of Hexagram 27 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 41, Decrease: Less at the base to strengthen the top: a season of reduction that is fortunate when done with sincerity.

Read together, the reading moves from Nourishment toward Decrease. What you feed, and what feeds you: attention to nourishment, of the body, the mind and others. Lake below, mountain above: the lake at the foot of the mountain giving up its depth to the mountain's height. Decrease describes reduction: of resources, of expenditure, of passion, of what is below in order to serve what is above. The primary hexagram describes the situation; the changing line is the point of movement in it; the resulting hexagram is where that movement leads. Both hexagrams belong to the reading, and the changing line is the hinge between them.

Hexagram 27 changing to 41 →

Line 2 in context

Love & relationships

Do not seek support from where it should not come; stand on your own. In love and relationships, Hexagram 27 reads: 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.

Career

Do not seek support from where it should not come; stand on your own. In career, Hexagram 27 reads: 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.

Money

Do not seek support from where it should not come; stand on your own. In money, Hexagram 27 reads: 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.

A decision

Do not seek support from where it should not come; stand on your own. In decisions, Hexagram 27 reads: 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.