YOD(DOUBLEQUINCUNX;
FINGER OFDESTINY; HAND OFGOD)A yod is a configuration involving at least three planets in which two of them form a
sextile (60°) aspect and both then form a quincunx (150°) aspect with a third planet;
hence, double quincunx is one of the several alternative names for this configuration.
If lines were drawn to the center of the horoscope from all three planets, the resulting
pattern would look like a capital Y—thus the name yod, which is the name of the
tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the letter that corresponds with the English
“Y” (though, sometimes, with “I” or “J”).
The tenth Hebrew letter is an ideogram meaning “hand” or “pointing finger,”
from which the other names for this configuration derive (finger of destiny, hand of
God, etc.). The term “yod,” as well as the other, more dramatic names for the pattern,
originated with Carl Leipert, a student of history and comparative religion. This con-
figuration has been intensively studied by Thyrza Escobar and Dane Rudyhar.
A yod indicates a strange or unusual destiny. The interpretation often given to
a natal yod is that it indicates a life that proceeds along in a certain pattern for a peri-
od of time until the established pattern is abruptly interrupted and the native is forced
to proceed in a new direction. Often, though not always, the change has been pre-
pared for, as in the case of an unknown understudy who on opening night must fill the
shoes of the leading actor (owing to the latter’s sudden illness or some other unfore-
seen event). A yod is not necessarily benefic, in the sense that the interruptions in the
life pattern that it indicates are not always pleasant. The disruptive changes foretold
by the configuration take place when a transiting or progressed planet makes a major
aspect, particularly a conjunction, with the planet at the “fingertip” of the yod. This
disruption will be most keenly felt in the affairs related to the house (and, to a lesser
THEASTROLOGYBOOK [745]
Y
XXX