Yods and their interpretations

To grease the wheels of this new board some more, I'd like an understanding from any knowledgable modern astrologer on what exactly a yod is.

I've seen it mentioned around various astro forums and to be honest I just skipped them, as I saw them as superfluous (like many things in the modern corpus to be fair).

What I do know is that it consists of two planets in sextile quincunx a single planet, making the shape of a pointer. And that it manifests well into adulthood.

Fill me in will ya and feel free to share your experiences with your/people you know/client's yods.

Great topic. I love trying to figure out what Yods mean in a chart. I find them very intriguing, fascinating , odd and annoying---not necessarily in that order.

Here is one good article:

http://www.bobmarksastrologer.com/TheYod15.5.htm

"By contrast, the T-Cross sets out a problem and pushes you to a find a solution in the “empty leg” of the cross. The Yod just pushes you and the solutions are seldom simple. It’s not nicknamed “The Finger of God” for nothing…"


LOL. I have heard it said that a YOD is like God giving you the finger...



I think the main thing to remember with the YOD is that the planets making it a configuration from the sextile have no relationship or similarities or connections with the apex of the Yod. 'They do not see each other' according to ancient lore. So you have the apex being in one house, and the two planets in sextile,
working together to put emphasis upon the apex, but from out of nowhere. It is like the person feels blindsided by the situation.

Basically the apex is the 'opposition to the midpoint of a sextile.' Midpoints of a sextile are very strong and beneficial placements if the sextiling planets are positive ones. So to understand the YOD one needs to look at the relationship of the three planets with each other. If you have two very friendly, beneficial planets, sextiling and another 'friend' makes an opposition to their midpoint, then it is pretty benign.

:quincunx:
If your Sun sextiles your Venus, from Leo to Libra, and Jupiter forms a Yod from Pisces, in the 1st, then it will likely be a somewhat positive energy. Maybe people will come out of nowhere to help you in a business because they have heard of you through other friends and your good reputation precedes you. Your Piscean ascendant, even if quiet and reserved, will still serve you well with the Finger Of God pointing the way to your benefit.

:quincunx:
But if the sextile is from Moon in Leo to Mars in Libra, and the apex is to Saturn in Pisces in the first, it might have a very different vibration. The Fiery Moon in the 6th sextiling the debilitated Mars in the 8th might create some public misunderstandings in one's workplace and then in one's financial or legal standing. The Finger of God to the first house may signify that the natives reputation preceded him, out of the blue. And when he meets a new business prospect or possible client, he finds that there is negative press out there about him already. [ Just a possible example]

Also, Yods by their very nature, are often indicative of a health crisis-- Either physical or mental.

Quincunxes are 6th house and 8th house influences. So when you get three planets in interconnected quincunxes, a complex level of health issues can arise.

I'm still trying to understand mine

There is quite a lot already written on this forum about YODs. May I say that for those with a natal YOD, you may not truly `get' it until the YOD is activated - that is, until one of the planets in the YOD is activated by a transiting planet, or else one in progression. It is when this occurs that a crisis usually arises, and it is as a result of this crisis that the person needs to be patient and work out what the `right' thing to do would be. To force a solution simply to bring about a quick resolution - and to break the tension - is not the best idea. It is within this tension, which can last from months to years, that the YOD person finds the strength and wisdom which the YOD is pushing them to develop. A YOD is part poisoned chalice, part Great Gift. A hasty and ill-timed decision during a `YOD crisis' can result - eventually - in a fundamental maturing of the individual, as easily as it can lead to total ruin.

[And I wrote a lot about this at the time it was occurring, but my son - who has a natal YOD formed by a sextile between his natal Moon and Jupiter, both inconjunct Mars - had a major YOD crisis in 2008-2009 when tr Uranus became conjunct his natal Moon (in the 5th house). He lost total contact with his (then) 2 year old son when the other grandparents of the child decided to cut him out of the picture altogether. He was pushed to the limit during this time, wanting to sort it out in all kinds of risky ways. In the end he chose the letter of the law - he has Libran Sun and his YOD apex Mars is also in Libra - and not only did he regain access to his son, but after much online research he learned a vast amount about the Family Law Act in this country, and so was able to take back his own power in the situation. Better still, 7 months ago the mother handed over the child to him and now he has full legal custody which is unlikely to be challenged. The life wisdom he gained through this years long struggle would not have been gained had he not been patient, persistent, and learned to trust his own considerable instincts. There were times when he wanted to give up, and other times when he wanted to take violent action, but without patience and persistence he would not have had the outcome he is now enjoying.]

For me, The Yod Book by Dutch astrologer, Karen Hamaker-Zondag has been my go-to resource on YODs, and it wasn't until I read it that I began to `understand' YODs, and fundamental to understanding them is coming to grips with their purpose on a chart.

There have been some valuable discussions on this forum on the subject (after all, this is designed to be a teaching/learning forum), and most of these took place a number of years ago. Here are some links which you may wish to peruse.

http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15271

http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19362

The first link is to rather a long thread, but it is worth reading through.
The second thread deals exclusively with the sextile between Neptune and Pluto.
Given the long sextile between Pluto and Neptune, there a lot of people born during this sextile who also have natal YODs with the Pluto-Neptune sextile as the base of the sextile.

And conspiracy theorist, thank you for beginning this thread.

Thank You Raven for illustrating such a fine example from your life. I am so relieved that it has worked out well. It is a very complicated set of circumstances.

I'm curious if I have a yod. All these years an astrologer never made mention of a yod or my software programs don't show a yod. I have Mars @ 19 Virgo 38 sextile Uranus @ 13 Cancer 52 rx and these planets incon Moon @ 15 Aquarius 50. It looks like it to me but I'm unsure and feel maybe I'm missing some rule that disqualifies it as a true yod.

Moondance

Mindspring -

the sextile position and quincunx degrees are considered a Yod with tight orbs of each aspect to each aspect - I think it's like 3 degrees for each.

Kitchy said:

Mindspring -

the sextile position and quincunx degrees are considered a Yod with tight orbs of each aspect to each aspect - I think it's like 3 degrees for each.

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Looking further, the midpoint of Mars/Uranus opposes Moon and conj MH. If not a yod, a strong configuration I hadn't considered before.

Moondance

I would call it a yod, Mindspring. The sextile is a tad wide, HOWEVER, as you noted, the midpoints line up because the Moon's placement is at 15, kind of balancing it all out.

And when an orb is wide, if it is the fast moving Moon, you can allow it.


So I would read that as a Finger Of God.

For who wants to read more: there is a small pretty good book called "The Yod - its esoteric meaning" by Joan Kellogg, you can find it on Amazon.
I have a Yod too, my son has 3...not an easy life...still waiting for the gifts the Yod offers after the pain...

Technically it is not a YOD - the sextile is way too wide at 6 deg of orb. This is why no-one has pointed it out, or astro programs do not show it. However, you may experience some YOD-like life experiences and attitudes towards life.

My suggestion would be that you do some research of your own. A couple of books have already been mentioned in this thread, and the first link I provided in my post above begins (in a post also by me) listing some of the experiences that someone with a YOD may have to the circumstances of their life. I can only encourage you to dig around yourself and begin to gather your own wellspring of information.

I have Mars @ 19 Virgo 38 sextile Uranus @ 13 Cancer 52 rx and these planets inconj the Moon @ 15 Aquarius 50. The midpoint 16 Leo 45 between Mars/Uranus sextile conj. midheaven and opposes the Moon.

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There were stories that I almost died in my first year of life. Parents were having a party and guests were throwing their coats on the bed, on top of me. When they finally found me I was blue. The Solar Arc MH (15 Leo 32) is moving to that midpoint of Mars/Uranus, sudden danger to life (Mars rules my first house of life) opposing Moon (accident happening to girls or women). Ha! Now I know it's true.

My Moon (in 4th) and Uranus (in 9th) are in mutual reception and I can see where finding a permanent home, religion and philosophy played a big part in helping me deal with my fear of sudden danger to my life.

Moondance

P.S. Just reading about inconjunct aspect and when there is a mutual reception between planets it's not an inconj. aspect. Which is probably another reason it's not a yod.

IMO, the Yod is a great nuisance configuration that irritates the native in the direction of the Yod Apex. IMO, the reason a yod can be of such importance, is that after awhile of this structure irritating the native, a solution to the irritation is found. This may take a long time to figure out. But, this solution can be very strong and powerful for the native since it has been an issue for so long. So an "ah-ha" moment occurs and the native is able to embrace the lessons of the Yod.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Yod configuration, it is an isosceles triangle formed by two planets sextile each other and both quincunx a third, fulcrum planet. Like the Grand Cross, the Yod can be said to be one of the most challenging configurations that can occur in a horoscope. Just as a person with a Grand Cross can feel like they are always “up on the cross” in life, so too is a person with a Yod “crossed,” in particular, star-crossed by the Finger of Fate, for the Yod is also referred to as the “Finger of God.”

Are you driven by forces that seem beyond your control? Do you feel that you have a great reservoir of talent that is just within reach? Do you feel certain that you have a special purpose in life? You may be experiencing the power of the Yod. If you have one, it will likely be the dominating factor in your chart because the Yod takes on a life of its own. Yod Bearers are driven people, haunted by the Finger of Fate to find the special purpose in life for which they have been chosen. A Yod Bearer’s search for his or her special purpose is like a quest for a personal Holy Grail. How does the Yod work?

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source: http://sisterrayastrology.com/power.htm

BTW: I have between 1-3 Yods in my horoscope, depending on which school you follow, which can be seen in my other thread. Some say I have a Pandora Box aspect pattern, where the yods intertwine to form a larger structure, that culminates in a larger focal point that is also the apex of a minor grand trine.
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90430

At this point, I'm convinced that the yod(s) in my scope brought much confusion to me and so I ended up here, studying astrology, trying to figure out what was going on in my life.

Like Martha Steward, Moon is the fulcrum planet and in my 4th house. My business is a home cleaning service. The need to nurture and great energy of Mars/Uranus has been a very successful combination.

Moondance

Some pretty wide allowances for the sextile aspect in the charts of your post, stillone. Worth pondering.

Moondancing said:

Some pretty wide allowances for the sextile aspect in the charts of your post, stillone. Worth pondering.

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? The widest orb is less than 3 deg. Do you consider this to be unallowable for a sextile?

StillOne said:

? The widest orb is less than 3 deg. Do you consider this to be unallowable for a sextile?

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Couldn't read the chart from the article so I brought up the chart online here. http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Elizabeth_II Yod I'm looking at is Neptune/Pluto to Mars. It was a quick looksee and when I have more time later I'll study it further. I probably shouldn't try to write on the fly.

Moondance

Moondancing said:

Couldn't read the chart from the article so I brought up the chart online here. http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Elizabeth_II Yod I'm looking at is Neptune/Pluto to Mars. It was a quick looksee and when I have more time later I'll study it further. I probably shouldn't try to write on the fly.

Moondance

Click to expand...

Oh, I think we're talking about different charts. I thought you meant mine from the other link I submitted. I didn't study Elizabeth II's chart. I just liked the Yod descriptions.

After studying the chart of Queen Elizabeth II I don't understand the use of yods so let's set that chart aside.

The other chart I found in that article by Sister Ray you posted, stillone, is James Lovell. His yod has a sextile between Pluto/Moon of 7 degrees. I believe the reason she considers this a yod is because of other strong factors that support this configuration. For example, the nodes are in the sign of the fulcrum, the yod activation point. She shows other examples, but the idea is if there are other supporting aspects, the orb can be greater. It's not a hard fast rule, imo.

Moondance

StillOne said:

IMO, the Yod is a great nuisance configuration that irritates the native in the direction of the Yod. IMO, the reason a yod can be of such importance, is that after awhile of this structure irritating the native, a solution to the irritation is found. This may take a long time to figure out. But, this solution can be very strong and powerful for the native since it has been an issue for so long. So an "ah-ha" moment occurs and the native is able to embrace the lessons of the Yod.


source: http://sisterrayastrology.com/power.htm

BTW: I have between 1-3 Yods in my horoscope, depending on which school you follow, which can be seen in my other thread. Some say I have a Pandora Box aspect pattern, where the yods intertwine to form a larger structure, that culminates in a larger focal point that is also the apex of a minor grand trine.
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90430

At this point, I'm convinced that the yod(s) in my scope brought much confusion to me and so I ended up here, studying astrology, trying to figure out what was going on in my life.

Click to expand...

I find those interconnected YODS quite fascinating. I had two clients with those types of interconnected. entwined yods years ago. And they had similar issues with opposite results. One man had 3 yods, forming that Pandora's box type of pattern. And pretty much all of his planets were involved. Trigger planets were Mercury, Jupiter and Venus.

Was he confused? Yes, he did not know which full scholarship to accept and which profession to choose as he wanted a career in both medicine and law. He graduated from high school at 14 and was brilliant. But he had issues with anxiety, confusion at times. He ended up going to UC Berk and then Harvard Law and became a professor, last I heard. His life was complicated but he was very successful.

The other chart was shown to me by a woman who was worried about her son. He had 3 interconnected Yods, similar to the other chart. And he was also confused about his path in life. But he had a series of tough situations, weird circumstances that affected him deeply. It seems that whenever he made a decision about something, it would trigger an negative circumstance in another part of his life.

His trigger planets were Moon, Saturn and Pluto. The Saturn was the apex of a Sun/Mars sextile.

At his first Saturn Return, he had a good job and a new baby with his wife. But then his nutty wife had an affair with his boss, he confronted him, and he got fired. Then he sued the company, which went on for years unresolved, and his wife tried to take full custody of his child, as she now lived with the ex-boss, which made him depressed, and he began drinking. So his yods made his life feel like a complicated mess.