# Hexagram 24: Return

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/24
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Kun 坤](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun), Earth, the receptive, yielding
- **Lower trigram:** [Zhen 震](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/zhen), Thunder, the arousing, movement
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 100000 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Return. A turning. The cycle reaches its low point and the light begins to come back. What had wandered returns of its own accord. Do not rush it or grasp at it; the movement is gentle, and forcing it breaks the fragile new sprout.

## Image

Thunder within the earth. The winter solstice. The ancient kings closed the passes during the solstice so that travelers would not disturb the stillness.

## Counsel

Welcome what comes back softly. Do not interrogate it; do not demand from it what it cannot yet give. This is a time of quiet tending, not ambitious plans. The warmth returns on its own schedule; your task is to be ready when it does.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> Return from a short distance.
> No need for remorse.
> Great good fortune!

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> Quiet Return. Good fortune!

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> Repeated Return. Danger. No blame.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> Walking in the midst of the others,
> one returns alone.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Magnanimous Return. No remorse.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Missing the Return. Misfortune.
> Misfortune from within and from without.
> If one sets armies marching in this way,
> one will in the end suffer a great defeat,
> so that for the lord of the land it is ominous.
> For ten years one is unable to attack.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [2 The Receptive](https://thefreeiching.com/library/2)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [23 Splitting Apart](https://thefreeiching.com/library/23)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [44 Coming to Meet](https://thefreeiching.com/library/44)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [2 The Receptive](https://thefreeiching.com/library/2) |
| Line 2 | [19 Approach](https://thefreeiching.com/library/19) |
| Line 3 | [36 Darkening of the Light](https://thefreeiching.com/library/36) |
| Line 4 | [51 The Arousing](https://thefreeiching.com/library/51) |
| Line 5 | [3 Difficulty at the Beginning](https://thefreeiching.com/library/3) |
| Line 6 | [27 Nourishment](https://thefreeiching.com/library/27) |

Previous: [23 Splitting Apart](https://thefreeiching.com/library/23). Next: [25 Innocence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/25). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 24: Return." https://thefreeiching.com/library/24 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/24). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.