Hexagram 27 for work
Hexagram 27 Jaws / Nourishment for work and career
At work Yi is the hexagram of what an organisation lives on and who supplies it. The Tuan commentary scales the image up — heaven and earth nourish all things, the sage nourishes the worthy so that they may nourish the people — and the Great Image draws the practical rule: be careful with words and moderate in what you take in. A team is fed or poisoned by what is said in it. The lower lines show the failures of taking: coveting a colleague's position, going over someone's head for support, grabbing resources in a way that disqualifies you. The upper lines show the disciplines of giving.
For a project, a job or a negotiation, the question is whether you are the one being provided for or the one providing. If the former, accept the right source and do not shop around; if the latter, the tiger's focus of line four and the heavy charge of line six are your models. A changing line in the lower trigram counsels restraint; in the upper, responsibility.
The hexagram in brief
Thunder at the foot of the mountain, in the shape of open jaws: nourishment. Correct nourishing brings good fortune — watch what you feed yourself and others, and what comes out of your mouth.
Be careful with words and with what you consume; nourish the worthy, and seek your own sustenance honestly.
The judgment
頤：貞吉。觀頤，自求口實。Î indicates that with firm correctness there will be good fortune (in what is denoted by it). We must look at what we are seeking to nourish, and by the exercise of our thoughts seek for the proper aliment.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 頤 Jaws / Nourishment has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningthe spirit tortoise · envy · self-sufficiency lost
- 六二Six in the second placeupside-down seeking · no proper partner · losing one's kind
- 六三Six in the third placeagainst nourishment · ten years · the way reversed
- 六四Six in the fourth placetiger's gaze · nourishing others · focused desire
- 六五Six in the fifth placedependent ruler · stay put · do not cross the river
- 上九Nine at the topsource of nourishment · heavy charge · great cause for joy
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 27, Jaws / Nourishment, mean for a career question?
- At work Yi is the hexagram of what an organisation lives on and who supplies it. The Tuan commentary scales the image up — heaven and earth nourish all things, the sage nourishes the worthy so that they may nourish the people — and the Great Image draws the practical rule: be careful with words and moderate in what you take in. A team is fed or poisoned by what is said in it. The lower lines show the failures of taking: coveting a colleague's position, going over someone's head for support, grabbing resources in a way that disqualifies you. The upper lines show the disciplines of giving.
- What does Hexagram 27, 頤 Jaws / Nourishment, mean?
- Thunder at the foot of the mountain, in the shape of open jaws: nourishment. Correct nourishing brings good fortune — watch what you feed yourself and others, and what comes out of your mouth.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).