Hexagram 27 for love
Hexagram 27 Jaws / Nourishment in love and relationships
Yi is the picture of an open mouth: two strong lines enclosing four weak ones, thunder stirring beneath a still mountain. In a relationship it is the hexagram of who feeds whom — what each person takes from the bond, what each gives, and whether the exchange runs the right way. The judgment says 'observe the nourishing, and seek your own sustenance', and the lines sort themselves accordingly: the lower three are people grasping at what they could or should not take, the upper three are people providing, with care, with focus, or with the weight of being the one everyone leans on.
For a question about love the hexagram asks you to look honestly at the direction of nourishment. Envy of what the other has (line one), begging from the wrong place (two), or grabbing (three) all poison a bond; attentive giving (four), honest dependence (five) and willing responsibility (six) sustain it. A changing line in the lower trigram usually points at your own appetite; one in the upper trigram at how you are providing.
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
- Is hexagram 27, Jaws / Nourishment, a good sign for love?
- Yi is the picture of an open mouth: two strong lines enclosing four weak ones, thunder stirring beneath a still mountain. In a relationship it is the hexagram of who feeds whom — what each person takes from the bond, what each gives, and whether the exchange runs the right way. The judgment says 'observe the nourishing, and seek your own sustenance', and the lines sort themselves accordingly: the lower three are people grasping at what they could or should not take, the upper three are people providing, with care, with focus, or with the weight of being the one everyone leans on.
- 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).