Origin of the Yod and Other Aspect Patterns?

1
I just wondered if anyone has any views on who first proposed the 'Yod' or 'Finger of Fate' aspect pattern.

Any suggestion on what is our oldest reference for the yod?

I assume because it utilises quincunxes (inconjuncts or signs in aversion traditionally) it is actually a very modern notion? What about other aspect patterns commonly used today like the grand trine, grand cross or T square?

Also does anyone have any good natal examples to share that they feel demonstrates the effectiveness of the Yod?

Thanks

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

2
At first I was thinking of Alice Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, Theosophy and the like, but they seem too woolly and fluffy to think up concepts so interesting, and the language Yod and Finger of God point possibly to John Dee?
Last edited by fleur on Thu Mar 27, 2014 4:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

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I found an example of a famous person with more than one Yod in his chart. Robert Smith, lyricist and singer of "The Cure". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_(musician) His first Yod has quite tight orbs, Venus in Gemini at its apex, with the sextile of Saturn in Capricorn and Neptune in Scorpio. His second Yod has Pluto in Virgo, Neptune in Scorpio and Mercury in Aries, which is also a boomerang with his Moon in Libra, though Pluto isn't so tightly orbed.

He has a third Yod, actually a boomerang, of IsisTranspluto in Leo, Venus in Gemini, Saturn in Capricorn and at the boomerang point Mars in Cancer.

Very talented man imo. I think Mervyn Peake would cry in his grave if he heard the song "The Drowning Man".
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Speaking of Mervyn Peake, he has some Yods in his chart too. I don't know how many degrees of orb you give Yod aspects, as his Saturn in Taurus is a bit wide? His Moon in Sag forms the apex of a Yod, forming an exact inconjunct aspect to his Neptune and Mercury.
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Another example of a Yod is in the chart of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He has an exact Neptune Mars conjunction, sextile Pluto and inconjunct/quincunx Mercury in Virgo. The Mercury is about a 2 degree orb. I don't know what orb you allow in Yods? http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Lud ... of_Bavaria His data has an AA rating for accuracy.

Another is Beethoven http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Bee ... Ludwig_Van though again I am not sure how wide you allow orbs, and it relies on the Moon's North Node, but this is a sweet boomerang.

Another is Syd Barrett http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Syd_Barrett and here the inconjunct/quincunx between his Sun in Capricorn and Uranus in Gemini is exact, though the sextile of Uranus to Pluto in Leo is a bit wide, as is the inconjunct of Pluto to his Sun.

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Thanks very much Fleur,

I would be surprised if Yods date back to the middle ages myself. The incojunct wasn't really seen as an aspect then. Indeed it could be defined as the opposite of one.

This if from Deborah Houlding's article here on Skyscript,''The Classical Origin & Traditional use of Aspects'':

http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aspects.html
Inconjunct (literally unconnected) was the name applied to planets placed 150? apart. Unable to inscribe a polygon (enclosed shape) within the wheel of the zodiac, the term itself suggests a state of natural aversion. Such a relationship was considered unfortunate or 'alien' and the planets placed at this geometrical relationship were said to turn away from each other, indicating an almost malevolent lack of sympathy. In classical literature the term ablepton meaning 'not seen' or 'blind' is frequently encountered, as is asyndeton meaning 'unconnected', aversum 'turned away from', and alienum 'unfamiliar'.
I think the use of aspect patterns in astrological delineation is a relatively recent development. The term Yod does link this concept to Jewish /Hebrew language. However, it doesn't have to have a medieval origin. Esoteric groups like the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century revived interest in earlier magical tradition stemming from the middle ages and renaissance. They also made a particular study of the The Kabbalah. My working theory is that the originator of this idea was drawing on such Kabbalistic influence.

Giving this supposed aspect pattern such an intriguing, mystical sounding name no doubt added to the concept's attraction irrespective of its intrinsic merits. Without this I doubt the idea would ever have caught on.

I see there are a couple of books devoted to this subject:

The Yod Book, Karen Hamaker-Zondag, (2000)
The Yod: Its Esoteric Meaning, Joan Kellogg (2000).

I haven't read these myself. Do either of these authors offer any historical context to the idea of the Yod?

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

8
Deb wrote:
Interesting question - makes me realise I have no idea when these terms were first developed and used.
This came up at a recent meeting at my Association where someone was delineating charts with prominent Yods.

It got me intrigued where the idea developed. I had thought of putting this up on the traditional forum as it is fundamentally a question of astrological history. However, I felt this might be stretching Tom's comfort zone a bit too far as its hardly a traditional technique is it?

Delineation by aspect pattern seems to be one of the key techniques used in modern astrology. Unlike traditional astrology you dont see any focus on dignities or receptions of the planets concerned.

The wider issue is when did aspect patterns first come to be used in astrology? For example the grand trine, grand cross and T square? I suspect it was related to the move away from planetary orbs from the second half of the 19th century. However, that is only a speculation on my part.

I am not very up on sources from the the 19th century or early 20th century so I would be grateful for any relevant references people see. More often than not these issues seem to end up at the door of Theosophy since it was the catalyst for the revival of astrology in the late 19th century.

I would interested if anyone has seen any references in any of Alan Leo's books to aspect patterns.

Thanks

Mark
Last edited by Mark on Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly

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margherita wrote:
Fleur wrote:I found an example of a famous person with more than one Yod in his chart. Robert Smith, lyricist and singer of "The Cure
Fleur, which is the source for the birth time? Is it BC or rectified? Thanks
I had it on a file, that somebody had given me years ago. The time given by Astrotheme is 11.55am http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Rob ... (musician)
This wouldn't affect the Yods.

11.55am birth time gives an Ascendant of 5.5 degrees Leo, and Midheaven of 10 degrees Aries.

(The Astrotheme link doesn't seem to work, you need to google his name and astro data and the link to his Astrotheme chart comes up).

11
hi mark,

it is an interesting question! i don't know the history on it, but some of the first astrology books i read back in the 70's and 80's talked about a few different aspect patterns and they included talk about the yod.. i happen to have both books here and there is no mention of the history behind their use. i am referring to bil tieirneys book ' dynamics of aspect analysis'1983 and michael r. meyers book ' a handbook for the humanistic astrologer' 1974. i thought i would see if i could find more info on the history on the net, but couldn't come up with anything.

chris brennan wrote an article in 2010 essentially dismissing the concept or saying it was only relevant in so fair as it had some relevance as a midpoint picture. http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2010 ... astrology/

it is an interesting question from the point of view of ptolemaic aspects and what is the basis for an aspect more broadly. if one goes along with the theory that certain signs can't see one another, this theory or concept clashes directly with the idea that geometrical relationships taking place regardless of signs seeing one another. one either believes the one theory, or the other. perhaps some are capable of believing both!

it isn't just that yod pattern either. the concept of a 45 or 135 aspect run into the same problem of conflicting directly with the idea of signs not being able to see one another and the idea of what is or isn't qualified to be an aspect according to ptolemaic ideology.

in a broader context the astrological ideas developed by john addey - harmonics - will or won't work for a person here either if they hope to fit everything within a classical framework astrologically.

perhaps i am pushing the conversation out of the historical context for the yod to one about the basis for aspects - geometry, or classical astrological theory of signs either seeing or not seeing one another..

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James_M wrote:
it is an interesting question! i don't know the history on it, but some of the first astrology books i read back in the 70's and 80's talked about a few different aspect patterns and they included talk about the yod.. i happen to have both books here and there is no mention of the history behind their use. i am referring to bil tieirneys book ' dynamics of aspect analysis'1983 and michael r. meyers book ' a handbook for the humanistic astrologer' 1974. i thought i would see if i could find more info on the history on the net, but couldn't come up with anything.
Yes I have Tierney's book myself. The idea is a lot older than that I think. But I cant prove that hunch at present!

James_M wrote:
chris brennan wrote an article in 2010 essentially dismissing the concept or saying it was only relevant in so fair as it had some relevance as a midpoint picture. http://horoscopicastrologyblog.com/2010 ... astrology/
Thats a nice piece by Chris. I kind of concur that the Yod seems to one of the most outstanding cases of astrological hype out there. Chris gives a good summary of the background to the aspect theory. Kepler certainly seems the first to propose aspects based on geometric relationships rather than the Ptolemaic aspects. He seems to have been motivated by pythagorean number philosophy and musical scale theory. Kepler certainly seems to have proposed numerous new aspects such as the 30? (semi-sextile), 45? (semi-square), 72? (quintile), 135? (Sesquiquadrate) and the 144? (bi-quintile).

However, did Kepler actually propose the quincunx as Chris suggests?

This article seems to suggest so:

http://aquariumofvulcan.blogspot.co.uk/ ... ncunx.html

However, the author gives no explicit reference for where Kepler proposed this. I admit I have never actually, studied Kepler's Harmony of the World where he discusses most of the proposed new aspects. I just wasn't aware he included the 150? quincunx in that book too.

That is quite important to clarify in regards the issue of the Yod.

James_M wrote:
it is an interesting question from the point of view of ptolemaic aspects and what is the basis for an aspect more broadly. if one goes along with the theory that certain signs can't see one another, this theory or concept clashes directly with the idea that geometrical relationships taking place regardless of signs seeing one another. one either believes the one theory, or the other. perhaps some are capable of believing both!
Yes. I only work with Ptolemaic aspects myself. I should say my focus isn't just the Yod or Quincunx. I am interested in when the other aspect patterns first developed.

James_M wrote:
it isn't just that yod pattern either. the concept of a 45 or 135 aspect run into the same problem of conflicting directly with the idea of signs not being able to see one another and the idea of what is or isn't qualified to be an aspect according to ptolemaic ideology.
James_M wrote:
in a broader context the astrological ideas developed by john addey - harmonics - will or won't work for a person here either if they hope to fit everything within a classical framework astrologically.
Yes. But lets not get into harmonics theory here or this thread will be all over the place! I am hoping to keep this discussion fairly tight.

James_M wrote:
perhaps i am pushing the conversation out of the historical context for the yod to one about the basis for aspects - geometry, or classical astrological theory of signs either seeing or not seeing one another.
That is a much more ambitious topic although its clearly related. As I said I am not just interested in the Yod/Inconjunct but also the origin of the grand trine, grand cross and T Square.

Mark
As thou conversest with the heavens, so instruct and inform thy minde according to the image of Divinity William Lilly