頤 → 歸妹
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 6).
Line 2
六二 顛頤。拂經于丘。頤征凶。
Six in the second place means: Turning to the summit for nourishment, Deviating from the path To seek nourishment from the hill. Continuing to do this brings misfortune.
Line 4
六四 顛頤。吉。虎視眈眈。其欲逐逐。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Turning to the summit For provision of nourishment Brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes Like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.
Line 6
上九 由頤。厲吉。利涉大川。
Nine at the top means: The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
亡羊東澤，循隄直北。子思其母，復返其所。
A sheep lost in the eastern marsh; following the dike, heading due north. The child thinks of its mother; and returns again to its rightful place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder shifts to thunder over lake — the Marrying Maiden, a union governed by hierarchy and duty. A sheep goes missing in the eastern marsh; one follows the embankment straight north. The child longs for its mother and returns to its original place. The lost sheep, the search along the dike, and the child's homing instinct all converge on a single theme: the pull back to one's proper place, guided by an attachment deeper than reason. From Nourishment to the Marrying Maiden, the transformation introduces obligation: the maiden enters a household not of her choosing, yet the bond, like the child's longing for its mother, asserts itself through nature. Nourishment's root is belonging, and even the lost eventually find their way home.
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