Hexagram 27 line 4: Nourishment, yin in the fourth place

What changes when line 4 moves

Line 4 of Hexagram 27 is yin, a broken line. When it is cast as old yin (a 6) it flips, and the hexagram becomes Hexagram 21, Biting Through: An obstruction that must be bitten through: clear, firm, lawful action against what is in the way.

Read together, the reading moves from Nourishment toward Biting Through. What you feed, and what feeds you: attention to nourishment, of the body, the mind and others. 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. 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 21 →

Line 4 in context

Love & relationships

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

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

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

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