Hexagram 24 · 地雷复

Return

Earth · Kun palace

The turning point; a small return starts the cycle.

Meaning

Thunder within the earth: the first movement of energy returning after stillness. Return is the hexagram of turning points.

Decision Framework

Return to what is right, while it is early.

Decision Guidance

Return is a favourable and quietly hopeful reading. It marks the moment a cycle turns: after decline, movement resumes, and the first sign of it is small and easy to miss.

The classical emphasis is on acting while the turning point is still close, because a return that is corrected early costs almost nothing, while the same correction made late does not. Practically, this is about identifying the small habit, decision or direction you have drifted from and re-establishing it now, before the deviation compounds.

Judgment — Classical Text

亨。出入无疾，朋来无咎。反复其道，七日来复。

EN Success. Going out and in without harm, friends come with no blame. Returning by its own path, in seven days it comes back.

The Six Lines — Classical Text

初九：不远复，无祇悔，元吉。
EN Initial nine: returning before straying far — no great regret, supreme good fortune.
六二：休复，吉。
EN Six in the second: returning in good order — good fortune.
六三：频复，厉无咎。
EN Six in the third: returning again and again — danger, but no blame.
六四：中行独复。
EN Six in the fourth: walking the middle path, returning alone.
六五：敦复，无悔。
EN Six in the fifth: returning with sincerity — no regret.
上六：迷复，凶。
EN Topmost six: returning while deluded — misfortune; disaster.

Keywords

I Ching hexagram 24, Return hexagram, Fu hexagram meaning, hexagram for turning points