Astrology Class - The Yod, or Finger of God - What is it, and how does it work?

by Robert Wilkinson

There’s been a lot of discussion in the astrology blogs expressing confusion about how the Yod, or Finger of God, works. So let’s take a new look at this configuration and how it operates.

A Yod, or Finger of God, is a 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 hard adjustments involving either practicalities or the necessity that something be eliminated to allow necessary changes. I have also 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.

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 quincunxes. The planet focusing the double quincunx is 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 a 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.

Remember too that Yods may occur in the natal chart, or due to progressions aligning with natal or other progressed positions, or because of transits configuring with natal, and/or progressed, and/or other transit positions. For example, if you have a sextile between two planets that is reasonably close, 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 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.

This month we’ll have Mercury at 9 Cancer quincunx Mars at 9 Aquarius. This will creates Yods for those with a planet at 9 Virgo (sextile Mercury but quincunxed by Mars) as well as 9 Sagittarius (sextile Mars but quincunx Mercury). Once Mars re-enters late Capricorn and is quincunxed by the Sun and then Mercury from 29 Leo to 29 Capricorn in late August and early September, it creates Yods at 29 Gemini (sextile the Leo transits but quincunx Mars) and 29 Pisces (sextile transiting Mars but quincunx the Sun and Mercury).

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. I can't really comment on all the possible ways various Yods act 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."

Also from the conversation, when asked about the orb I give to the aspects creating this configuration, this was my answer: 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."

© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Jo Garceau]

Very cool information, Robert. Thanks.

[Zack Sparrow]

Respected sir,
I am also in same profession. After a long time I have seen a very good and accurate analysis in Astrology. I am so glad that still we have some astrologers who can give the valuable, precious and correct information about astrological predictions. Thanks a lot to share it.