As we have more than a few Yods in play this next week, I figured it would be a good time to take a new look at how the Yod, or Finger of God, works. Today we’ll do a review.

I last gave this to you 3 years ago, and have updated the material.

What is a Yod and How Do They Work?

A Yod, or Finger of God, is a special evolutionary “Kite” configuration consisting of two planets in sextile with a third planet at their inverse midpoint, creating two quincunxes to the planets in sextile. A sextile is a 60 degree angle showing productivity and a natural structural soundness. Think snowflakes, or hexagonal crystal structures in nature.

A quincunx is a 150 degree angle associated with adjustments and sacrifices involving either expression, some level of health, a shift in how we regard relationships, or the need to eliminate something to create a better potential. I have seen the quincunx operate as “a square plus a sextile” (90 degrees plus 60 degrees) creating productive conflict, or dynamic building with constant adjustments between the two planets in quincunx.

As noted, quincunxes are also associated with health, so Yods can bring “health” into focus, either requiring adjustments or elimination of something that prepares us for regeneration. I have seen this operate in terms of physical health, as well as emotional and mental “health” adjustments and eliminations. In any quincunx, the planet forming the quincunx activates either a 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th house relationship to whatever planet is being quincunxed.

I’ve also seen a Yod, or Finger of God, act as a “squeeze play” that forces out extraneous or needless things or actions and redirects the energies more efficiently. Again, productivity is indicated by the planets in sextile, though each must give up something to squeeze the energy through the nozzle planet.

In a Yod the planets in sextile form a strong productive base for growth in whatever signs and houses they occupy. This productive base grounds the focus of the double quincunxes, with the nozzle planet of the Yod a point of major adjustment and sacrifice of something, whether for practical purposes or idealistic correction, so something else can move forward.

Thus the planet at the inverse midpoint is very important as a focus point for the productive sextile energies. Given that the quincunx is an aspect of "hard adjustment," the fact that there are two quincunxes gives rise to the meaning of the Yod, which is "expansion through sacrifice."

Not just one sacrifice, but multiple sacrifices due to the two quincunxes. It's an evolutionary “Kite” configuration of multiple sacrifices and adjustments squeezing out whatever isn't in the nature of the productivity and whatever cannot be contained in or focused through the nozzle planet. So the Yod, or "Finger of God," requires multiple sacrifices to expand in strength, focus, and awareness of what's important in in that circumstance and what has become obsolete.

The narrowed focus requires us to let go of extraneous considerations and voluntarily sacrificing all that would distract or deflect us from the spiritual lessons we are learning when this configuration is active. These adjustments and sacrifices lead to focused productivity and a measure of spiritual expansion directly related to what is eliminated from the life.

Yods in the Natal Chart

Yods may occur in the natal chart, both as a birth configuration as well as due to progressions or transits aligning with natal, and/or progressed, and/or other transit positions. For example, if you have a sextile between two planets in a relative tight orb, each time a planet transits the inverse midpoint you’ll have a Yod created by real-time conditions. Or if you have a quincunx between two planets, you’ll experience a Yod each time a transit or progression makes a sextile to one while quincunxing the other at the same time.

In my chart, I have a Moon at 14 Aquarius and a Sun at 12 Aries. That creates a Yod every time a planet transits between 11 and 15 Virgo. I also have a sextile between Neptune at 19 Libra and Pluto at 18 Leo. That creates a “Yod zone” between 17 and 20 Pisces. Any transiting sextile automatically creates a Yod in the zone around its inverse midpoint.

In another convenient example, during the mid-Summer of 1953 at one point there were sextiles from Venus and Jupiter in late Gemini to Pluto in late Leo, and sextiles made from Saturn and Neptune in late Libra to Pluto. The Venus, Jupiter, Pluto sextiles created Yod points in late Capricorn, while the Libra-Leo sextiles created Yod points in late Pisces. If we add the Moon in late Sagittarius sextile the planets in late Libra, we also see Yod points in late Taurus.

At the present time, Neptune is 24 Pisces and Pluto is 26 Capricorn. This creates a “Yod zone” between 24-26 Leo. We have Venus and Mars moving through this zone over the next week, creating multiple Yods with the Leo planet as the nozzle for the focus of the Yod. This will be repeated as Mercury and the Sun also move through late Leo in mid-August, echoing the Venus and Mars Yods. So look at the next week as a rehearsal for what’s coming in August!

Summing Up

In a Yod, the planet sextile has maximum productivity, but the quincunx squeezes something out of each to achieve a clearer spiritual focus. It’s a double adjustment founded in a productive base of operation. There are countless ways that a given Yod can manifest in individual charts, since there are endless permutations involving hundreds of variables. For now, remember that by looking at the nozzle planet, we can figure out what's being adjusted and/or eliminated. The sextile shows us what's being productively aligned, while the inverse midpoint shows how this productivity is being focused.

The last time I discussed this on FB, I was asked "What if the focal planet of a Yod is also opposed by a planet, or, to look at it another way, there is a planet at the midpoint of the two planets in sextile?" I answered: "Then it makes a Peace Sign! I believe the midpoint is how to express the inverse planet's dual quincunxes in a balanced and/or blended way, or alternately, that which opposes the adjustments going on. Again, these configurations don't exist in a vacuum, and each leg of any configuration will have other points indicating various influences working on those legs. Remember an opposition works for either polarization and/or awareness."

If you’re wondering about the size of the orb I give to the aspects creating this configuration, as a rule I use 2.5 degree as the max for quincunxes, since that's when other aspects kick in. The sextile gets a 6-7 degree orb, depending on which planets are in which signs. If there's a wide orb for the quincunxes, then it creates a spread of degrees that are activated the minute any planet in the configuration is aspected. Then it's more like a "firing sequence" than a "simultaneous occurrence."

The study of the various types of “Kite” evolutionary configurations reveals dimensions of the birthchart beyond just the aspects involved. They give us a sense of the living dynamic and how the energy is built and released as a function of it impacting our chart and life. And they all serve to bring us out of ignorance into awareness, and out of feeling like victims of circumstances into our Spiritual power!