易I CHING · THE BOOK OF CHANGES

Hexagram 24 of 64 · King Wen sequence

Return

复 · fù

Above
Earth
Below
Thunder

Earth above thunder: the turning point — one line of light returning beneath the dark. Seven days to the return of things.

Thunder stirs under winter ground: after the longest dark, one line of light enters at the root. Return is the hexagram of the turning point — the season shifts, and it shifts from the bottom up, quietly, before anything shows above the surface.

Its calendar is its lesson: the king does not tour on the solstice. The turning point is not for expeditions — it is for noticing, orienting, and beginning again at the root. What you plant in the one bright line now decides the whole next year.

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