The Book of Changes · Fu

Hexagram 24: Return

Earth (the field) over Thunder (the storm arriving)

The turn at the bottom of the year: one yang line returning underneath five yin. The tradition is emphatic that this is not forced and not hurried, and that it comes back on its own schedule.

The image

Thunder inside the earth at the solstice. The reading is that the old kings closed the passes at that time and merchants did not travel, because a returning thing is protected by rest.

Earth, above

Yielding, carrying, and what receives without insisting.

Thunder, below

Shock, beginning, and movement that starts below.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1Turning back after a short distance. Nothing to regret; caught early.
2. Line 2Turning back quietly, without ceremony. The good fortune is in the lack of drama.
3. Line 3Turning back over and over. Risky as a habit, and no fault in it.
4. Line 4Walking among others and turning back alone. They were going somewhere you are not.
5. Line 5Turning back generously. Owning it without needing the moment to be about you.
6. Line 6Missing the turn entirely. This is the one whose effects run for years.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 24 is Gate 24, Rationalizing.