24 Return (The Turning Point)

"FU : go back, turn back to the starting point; recur, reappear, come again; restore, recover, retrace; an earlier time or place. The ideogram: step and retrace a path.

In hexagram 24 we are at a point of crossing, symbolically from the dark(uncomfortable) to the light.

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The idea of a turning point arises from the fact that after the dark lines have
pushed all of the light lines upward and out of the hexagram, another light
line enters the hexagram from below. The time of darkness is past. The
winter solstice brings the victory of light. This hexagram is linked with the
eleventh month, the month of the solstice (December-January).

After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that has
been banished returns. There is movement, but it is not brought about by force.
The upper trigram K'un is characterized by devotion; thus the movement is natural,
arising spontaneously. For this reason the transformation of the old becomes easy.
The old is discarded and the new is introduced. Both measures accord with the time;
therefore no harm results. Societies of people sharing the same views are formed.
But since these groups come together in full public knowledge and are in harmony
with the time, all selfish separatist tendencies are excluded, and no mistake is
made. The idea of RETURN is based on the course of nature. The movement is cyclic,
and the course completes itself. Therefore it is not necessary to hasten anything
artificially. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time. This is the meaning
of heaven and earth.

All movements are accomplished in six stages, and the seventh brings return.
Thus the winter solstice, with which the decline of the year begins, comes in
the seventh month after the summer solstice; so too sunrise comes in the seventh
double hour after sunset. Therefore seven is the number of the young light,
and it arises when six, the number of the great darkness, is increased by one.
In this way the state of rest gives place to movement.

The winter solstice has always been celebrated in China as the resting time of the year—
a custom that survives in the time of rest observed at the new year. In winter the life
energy, symbolized by thunder, the Arousing, is still underground. Movement is just at
its beginning; therefore it must be strengthened by rest so that it will not be dissipated
by being used prematurely. This principle, i.e., of allowing energy that is renewing itself
to be reinforced by rest, applies to all similar situations. The return of health after
illness, the return of understanding after an estrangement: everything must be treated
tenderly and with care at the beginning, so that the return maay lead to a flowering.

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