革 → 復
Hexagram 49: Revolution → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
Line 3
九三 征凶貞厲。革言三就。有孚。
Nine in the third place means: Starting brings misfortune. Perseverance brings danger. When talk of revolution has gone the rounds three times, One may commit himself, And men will believe him.
Line 4
九四 悔亡有孚。改命吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing the form of government brings good fortune.
Line 5
九五 大人虎變。未占有孚。
Nine in the fifth place means: The great man changes like a tiger. Even before he questions the oracle He is believed.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
秋冬探巢，不得鵲鶵。衘指北去，愧我少姬。
Searching the nest in autumn and winter, no magpie chick is found. Biting a finger, heading north; ashamed before my young bride.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire within the lake gives way to thunder dormant beneath the earth — Return, the first stirring of renewal. In autumn and winter one searches the nest but finds no magpie chicks. Biting one's finger in regret, one heads north, ashamed before one's young bride. The season is wrong: magpies breed in spring, so searching in autumn yields only empty nests. The shame before the 'young bride' (少姬) suggests a promise unfulfilled, a homecoming without the gift one swore to bring. From Revolution to Return, the transformation reveals that returning too late — or at the wrong season — finds the nest already bare. Revolution's timing must align with nature's rhythms, or the return is empty-handed.
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