Hello,

I asked what need I do/know now, got
#24 Fu/Return as primary, also as relating
hexagram, with no moving lines in either.

Any ideas on the meaning?

(I'm quite a beginner).

Thank you! Gesine

Hi, Gesine
look here:
http://www.sark7.republika.pl/24eng.htm
and use your imagination...
Greetings ;-)
Krzysztof

Hello Gesine!

That?s a perfectly good question you?ve asked the I Ching ? the problem is that I don?t know what you had in mind when you asked it. Return can mean any number of things, depending on the context.

Still ? here are some aspects of #24. Pick and choose what feels as if it?s speaking to you.

Hexagram 24 is part of the cycle of the year: winter is at its darkest, and so the days are just beginning to get longer. The creative, rising force is at its lowest ebb ? and so it is just beginning to come back. The Image puts the idea of the winter equinox into human terms: not trying to resume ?life as normal?, with all the usual commerce and government, but closing the borders and keeping quiet. In practice this is often an answer to our 21st century impatience ? ?if something is happening, why isn?t there anything to see??

The Judgement looks at a different kind of cycle:
?Returning, success.
Going out, entering in, without pressure.
Partner comes, no mistake.
Turning round, returning on the path.
The seventh day comes, returning.
Harvest from having a direction to go.?
This is more human-scale ? the weekly cycle, and also the human movements of coming and going, leaving and arriving. It seems to be important to know where you?re going, and to point yourself in the right direction (sometimes after heading in the other one for a while!). But all this is quite without pressure or trouble: the solid, purposeful line at the bottom of the hexagram can rise through it without being hampered. Energy and purpose (and friendship) come back when movement is free in all directions.

In other words, you need to identify with both trigrams: the returning energy of thunder from under the earth, which will soon be bringing new growth, and also the still, welcoming earth that contains it and offers no resistance. The surge of energy and the willing strength together make for new beginnings.

Finally, perhaps you will recognise the hexagram of sequence ? 23, Stripping Away ? as where you?re coming from. It?s the complete loss of purpose and certainty, a potentially very painful process of having everything you thought you knew stripped away. Having reached Return (aka the turning point?) you find that that energy is not completely lost to you after all ? it is germinating and growing again from the source. Enjoy!

Hilary

P.S. Would you like to post your reading-related questions in the Friends' Area? You might get more response, and sooner!!

Hello Gesine, *waves to hi to Hilary*

I can add only little to what Hilary has stated, but with perhaps a slightly different perspective.

Return is a returning to "the way" or, Tao. Its a retreat of sorts, with the your life force or energy returning to its source. This is why it states that its not a time to venture out, but rather, to return to your self. Its an opportune time because its in this special place that your future will be shaped, or at least your attitude toward your fate.

Its also a time for some to commune with their God. (or Goddess?) There's a strong spiritual potential during such a time, whether or not a deity is perceived as being involved.

When there are no change lines, it indicates a fairly stable situation. Its favorable to persevere in the council.

I hope this sheds a little additional light.

~Candid