I Ching / Hexagram 27

Hexagram 27: I, Nourishment

Speaks of what you take in and what you give: the food, words and ideas that nourish you and that you offer others.

Thunder at the foot of the mountain: the mouth that opens to receive food.

The situation

The hexagram has the shape of an open mouth and speaks of nourishment: what you take in, what you offer and how you care for yourself and others. Notice what you nourish and what you are nourished by, in body as well as in mind. That is where each person’s character is revealed.

The advice

It serves you to watch your words and moderate what you consume, choosing carefully what you feed in yourself. Avoid gluttony, envy and needless dependence on others.

The judgement

The Judgment of I promises good fortune to those who persevere and proposes a very concrete method of observation: notice how someone nourishes themselves and what they seek to fill their mouth with. The Judgment thus turns food into a moral portrait. What a person chooses for themselves and what they give to others reveals their character better than their speeches. Today this idea extends to everything we consume: information, affection, entertainment, other people's approval. The hexagram asks what you feed in yourself and what you depend on to feel full. It also points to the other side, that of the one who nourishes: parents, teachers, rulers, anyone who sustains others with their work or their example. The perseverance it asks for lies in choosing wisely, moderating your appetite and minding your words, which leave through the same mouth that food comes in through.

Mountain over Thunder: the two trigrams

Below is Thunder, which moves; above is the Mountain, which stays still. The full figure recalls an open mouth: a firm line above and another below, like lips, with four open lines in between. The Mountain acts as the upper jaw, motionless, and Thunder as the lower jaw, the one that chews. The meaning of the hexagram grows out of that physical image. Eating requires movement working underneath and firmness holding it from above. The pairing also suggests a balance: the impulse of appetite, which Thunder represents, needs the Mountain's sense of measure so it does not overflow. Without that stillness above, the movement of the mouth slides into gluttony or unbridled speech.

The six lines

  1. First line. You abandon your own resources to look enviously at what others have. That dependence weakens you and brings misfortune.
  2. Second line. You seek sustenance where you should not and skip the natural path. Insisting on it brings trouble.
  3. Third line. You feed on what does not nourish and chase empty pleasures. That course stays barren for a long time.
  4. Fourth line. You seek support from above so that you can nourish others. That eagerness, put to the service of a good end, is justified.
  5. Fifth line. You know you lack the strength to guide others on your own and you lean on someone wise. Stay steady and leave the great crossings for later.
  6. Sixth line. You are a source of nourishment for many. Take on that responsibility with awareness and you will be able to face great undertakings.

The archetype: The Wet Nurse

The Wet Nurse sustains others with what she gives: food, care, stories, advice. Her desire is for those who depend on her to grow strong, and her power is quiet, because she exercises it in the kitchen, beside the cradle or at the table. Her conflict appears when giving becomes a form of control or when no one feeds her. Then come exhaustion, silent resentment or the temptation to keep others needing her. The archetype's shadow is the hungry character who eyes what others have and abandons their own resources. The Wet Nurse's risk is emptying herself until she disappears, or feeding what should not be fed. She comes into her maturity when she understands what nourishes her.

In literature

  • Oblomov (Ivan Goncharov, 1859). In her house in the Vyborg district, the widow Agafya Pshenitsyna feeds Oblomov pies, freshly ground coffee and currant vodka, mends his dressing gowns and surrounds him with untroubled comfort. When her brother and Tarantyev swindle her lodger, she pawns her pearls to keep the table full. That nourishing love lulls him completely to sleep, until Stolz finds him sunk in comfort for good.
  • Aunt Tula (Miguel de Unamuno, 1921). Gertrudis gives up marrying Ramiro and pushes her sister Rosa to marry him instead. When Rosa dies, Tula moves into the house and raises her sister's children; when Manuela, the maid Ramiro later marries, dies as well, she adopts her children too. A mother who never gave birth, she feeds the whole family with care and principles. Her devotion reveals the archetype's shadow: support turns into control over those who depend on her.
  • The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck, 1939). In a California shantytown camp, Ma Joad cooks a stew for her family while a ring of hungry children watches in silence; she ends up leaving them the scraps in the pot. At the end, after the flood and the birth of a stillborn baby, her daughter Rose of Sharon lies down in a barn beside a starving stranger and gives him her breast. The Joad family embodies Nourishment: feeding others reveals who each person is.

In history

The seed bank during the Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944). During the siege of Leningrad, scientists at the botanical institute that Nikolai Vavilov had led guarded a vast collection of seeds, grains and tubers meant for future harvests. While the city starved, several of them died without touching the sacks they were protecting. The episode resonates with the hexagram because it pushes its central question to the limit: what to consume now and what to save to feed many later.

For writers

Explore what feeds your characters: food, affection, ideas, envy. A scene around a table can reveal more than any direct dialogue.

I suggests building the plot around what the characters eat, give and crave. In the setup, a table or a pantry lays out the hierarchies: who serves, who eats first, who goes hungry. The turn can come with a meal that changes everything, a banquet that exposes a betrayal or a dish that awakens a memory. The development shows the character moving from depending on others, eyeing their plates with envy, to sustaining someone with what they have. The ideal ending returns to the opening table with the places switched. The mistake to avoid is using food as mere set dressing. Every dish should say something about a character or a relationship, just as the Judgment proposes judging someone by what they seek to fill their mouth with.

Frequently asked questions

What does hexagram 27 of the I Ching mean?

Hexagram 27, I or Nourishment, is shaped like an open mouth and speaks of nourishment in the broadest sense: food, words, ideas and affection. It invites you to look at what you consume and what you offer, because that is where character shows. It advises moderation, care in speech and responsibility toward those who depend on you.

What does hexagram 27 mean for health?

In a health reading, hexagram 27 calls for attention to diet, rest and the habits that nourish body and mind. It advises against excess and against the empty pleasures mentioned in the third line. Keep in mind that the I Ching is a tool for reflection and that any health problem deserves a doctor's attention.

Is hexagram 27 favorable?

It is favorable if you persevere in what is right, as the Judgment says. The first lines warn against envy, needless dependence and pleasures that do not nourish; the last ones are more positive and show someone who leans on a wise person or becomes a source of sustenance for many. Everything depends on what you choose to nourish.

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Published on October 4, 2026 · updated on October 18, 2026.