A Yod is a mission in your life; a commission, so to speak. This, much like the North Node supplies a purpose for life. Think of a Yod as a second North Node.
This is also called the Apex planet. It represents a Struggle to learn a Lesson. Which Planet or Identity it is and in which Sign and House and it is will define the Struggle.
If the Apex was Jupiter in Taurus with a sextile to Venus, we could say that the Lesson to be gleaned would have to do with wisdom and Success(Jupiter), in Taurus would mean that the matter is either about Possessions or Values. With Jupiter sextile Venus we could say that there is a Working(because it is a sextile and not a trine or conjunction therefore you have to apply effort in-order to get the gain) relationship between the 2.
This relationship being positive only strengthens the Apex, charging it with energy, storing it for the Activation Point in its opposition across the chart. But we will get to the Activation Point later. It is questionable whether this Sextile energy makes the lesson and inhibition of the apex stronger and more difficult to learn and overcome.
There is already a complication in the Yod formation for the Apex and this is the Quincunx relations(150degrees or 210 degrees from the measured planet or identity.) The quincunx aspect is one of frustration and severe stress. It is ultra-charged between the most positive and easiest aspect of the trine soft aspect and the Hard more detrimental, but balanced, aspect of an Opposition. The stress between the easiest positive aspect and the hardest hard aspect is the most charged and the most stressful aspect possible. The stress upon both within the relation is immense. So, the apex is always under stress by both the planet/identity of both the hand/shoulder planets/identities of the Quincunx aspects to them.
To form the hands/shoulders of the Yod one needs to have 2 other identities that will be placed at 150 and 210 degrees from the Apex/Foot. This quincunx measure carries an orb of up to as much as 10 degrees orb( a measure of how much leeway an aspect has to the sides of the exact point of that measured aspect.) The Hands/Shoulders are the 2 base points in the Triangle that the Yod forms. There is a sextile relation between the 2 such that the energy charges both planets/identities. The charge of the shoulders affects the connection to the Apex point and causes the stress between that shoulder and the Apex/foot. As the foot is the Lesson/Inhibition then the shoulders are the relief point. They are also the beginning and closing affect of the point to the Mission of the Yod.
There is a debate as to whether the lesson begins with the identity at 150 degrees or 210. In one school of thought the lesson begins at 150 because the aspecting process moves is a constant clockwise motion. But when the Yod is being activated it is because the different identity is transiting the Yod with the first conjunction being with the shoulder at 210. This would be the intro to the lesson of the mission of the Yod. The 150 would be the resolve to the lesson and in between the 2 shoulders is the head; this is also called the “Activation Point”.
The Activation Point IS the reason why the Yod exists. It is the purpose to the suffering, confusion, obsession and lesson of the Yod.
The whole point of the Yod is based upon the evaluation of what is at and in aspect to the head when an identity transits that point. First, the transiting identity becomes conjunct with the introductory shoulder which I prefer to call the 210 degrees, and after the Head/activation point everything is pushed into further learning through the next conjunction at the 150 degree shoulder. The Activation Point is charged by the Sextile aspect of the 2 shoulders and the Opposition to the Apex. In-order to grasp and take full advantage of the Power of the Yodal activation point, the Apex/Foot/Struggle must be overcome. One must let go of what the Apex identity represents.
In the example of Jupiter in Taurus the Identity would cause the individual to be conflicted with Monetary and Moral Values. The understanding of these Values would not occur until the Yod is significantly activated. By identities(planets etc.) always moving around the zodiac, the availability of the Yod to be activated in a year are many. The grasping of the Lessons is offered multiple times throughout the year. Change is not always available, but it is more frequent than one may have previously thought. Normally, these points may be activated by the planets further from the Sun, such as the motivation of Mars, the Wisdom of Jupiter every 13 years or the Saturn return at 30 years.
Still, this is just a crash course. There is too much to write about in just one sitting. So until next time, as always, disfutarlo.
