歸妹 → 復
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
Line 2
九二 眇能視。利幽人之貞。
Nine in the second place means: A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a solitary man furthers.
Line 4
九四 歸妹愆期。遲歸有時。
Nine in the fourth place means: The marrying maiden draws out the allotted time. A late marriage comes in due course.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
室當源口，溺漂為海。財產殫盡，衣食无有。
The house sits at the spring's mouth; drowned and carried off to sea. Wealth and property utterly spent; food and clothing gone entirely.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake gives way to earth over thunder: the maiden's premature commitment encounters Return's first stirring of renewal. The house stands at the mouth of a spring; rising waters drown it and carry everything to the sea. Property is exhausted; food and clothing are gone. The verse presents total material devastation, a dwelling placed at the worst possible location, consumed by the very source that should have nourished it. From the Marrying Maiden to Return, the transformation reaches the turning point where a single yang line re-enters at the bottom. Return's thunder hidden in the earth signals the solstice, the moment of minimal light before recovery begins. The loss described is complete, but Return promises that even from nothing, the cycle begins again.
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