Your reading

Your reading resulted in the following hexagrams:

	changing to
27		23

Hexagram 27, Nourishment

Key Questions

What would nourish you?
How is your hunger motivating you?
If you accept this as nourishment, who will you become?

Oracle

'Nourishment: constancy brings good fortune.
See the jaws,
Your own quest for something real to fill your mouth.'

Literally, this hexagram is called 'Jaws': it means not only what you eat, but all the processes and structures that sustain nourishment. It includes all forms of nourishment: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual... all creating and re-creating an individual 'ecosystem' to sustain and shape you.

Constancy brings good fortune: steady, clear persistence in honouring what truly sustains you. Yi calls on you to see the jaws – to become aware. How do you habitually nourish yourself and others? What deep instincts are at work here? What real nourishment are you seeking?

Image

'Below the mountain is thunder: Nourishment.
A noble one reflects on his words in conversation,
And is discriminating about what he eats and drinks.'

Sequence

Nourishment follows from Hexagram 26, Great Taming.
'Things are tamed, and so there can be nurturing, and so Nourishment follows.
Nourishment means nurturing.'

Pair

Nourishment is paired and contrasted with Hexagram 28, Great Exceeding:
'Nourishment nurtures correctly;
Great Exceeding overbalances.'

Changing Lines

Hexagram 23, Stripping Away

Key Questions

What has worn out?
Is there a less painful way to let this go?
What is underneath the surface?

Oracle

'Stripping away.
Fruitless to have a direction to go.'

The surfaces are cut and sliced away; the old and unviable is stripped back to expose the living core. This inevitable, natural process often feels like a flaying: the more you have invested of yourself in these old things, the more painful it will be.

It's no good, at such times, to imagine the future and make plans. You need to bring your energy back to the centre and honour the process: this is a time to be transformed, not to act. Moreover, until the old is so utterly stripped from you that you have no choice but to think in new ways, you will only be able to re-create the old patterns.

Image

'Mountain rests on the earth: Stripping Away.
The heights are generous, and there are tranquil homes below.'

Sequence

Stripping Away follows from Hexagram 22, Beauty:
'Involved in brightening the appearance; this means success will be truly exhausted, and so Stripping Away follows.'

Pair

Stripping Away forms a pair with Hexagram 24, Returning:
'Stripping away: rotten. Returning: turnaround.'

---

You can share your reading with the I Ching Community here: explain to people what you were asking about, and post your question and Yi's answer, 27.1 to 23.

You can also search for similar readings in the I Ching Community archives.

---