Abundance (Hexagram 55)

What this is

Thunder and lightning together, movement joined to clarity at its fullest: abundance at the zenith. Feng is Abundance, sometimes Fullness, the figure of the peak of plenty and influence, the noonday sun, and the clear-eyed acceptance that what has reached its height must turn, so the fullness is to be enjoyed and used while it lasts. Hexagram 55, 豐 (Fēng): the upper trigram Li (Fire, ☲) over the lower trigram Zhen (Thunder, ☳); its six lines, read from the bottom upward, give the figure ䷶.

What it governs

It governs abundance, the peak of prosperity and influence, and the wise use of fullness before its turn. In the Oracle it presides over the day of great plenty and clarity, when influence is at its height, and the task is to act decisively in the fullness while accepting, without dread, that the zenith is also the turning.

Its properties

Its image is thunder and lightning arriving together, energy and clarity at the full; like the sun at midday, illuminating all. The virtue is the clarity and decisiveness to use abundance well at its peak and the equanimity that meets the inevitable decline without dread; its element thunder and fire joined, its emblem the noonday sun. The shadow is the complacency that squanders the peak, the grasping that tries to freeze the zenith forever, or the dread that cannot enjoy the fullness for fear of its passing.

Where else it appears

The clear-eyed fullness at its peak is named wherever plenty is enjoyed without the illusion that it lasts. Feng is the noonday brightness of the prophets, the harvest at its height that must be gathered before the season turns, the alchemical rubedo where the work blazes at its fullest. Thunder and lightning at the zenith are the soul at its full power and clarity, called to use the abundant hour wholeheartedly and to meet its turning with peace.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

It surfaces as the day's I Ching hexagram. Drawing Abundance marks a day of great plenty, clarity, and influence at its peak: act decisively and use the fullness while it lasts, and meet the knowledge that the zenith must turn with equanimity, not dread. Read it as a powerful, favourable day to be lived to the full. The Oracle's own note on this figure: “Thunder beneath Fire — abundance; the sun at zenith, already turning.”

Why it matters

Abundance matters because the hours of fullness are rare and brief, and the wise neither squander them nor cling to them past their time. It asks you to use the peak wholeheartedly while it lasts, to bring clarity and decisiveness to your abundance, and to accept with peace that noon always turns toward evening.

Correspondences

element

Wood

number

55