Scorpio ASC wrote:

I don't recall if I first read about the yod in Mark Edmund Jones book of aspect patterns

But does Marc Edmund Jones actually mention aspect patterns at all?

Maybe its an issue of nomenclature. Marc Edmund Jones ideas on planetary patterns or chart patterns are being misleadingly described as 'aspect patterns' by some modern astrologers.

For example, the American astrologer Stephanie Clement has recently produced a book that primarily examines Jones's visual chart patterns or planetary chart shapes but she describes these as 'aspect patterns'.

http://www.astroamerica.com/aspects.html#c100

I see this as rather confused terminology. If there is no aspectual contact between the planets why describe it as aspect patterns?

Surely, it makes more sense to reserve the term 'aspect patterns' exclusively for chart configurations based on aspectual contacts such as the grand trine, T square etc?

Mark

Scorpio Asc. wrote:
I don't recall if I first read about the yod in Mark Edmund Jones book of aspect patterns or Meyers Handbook.

it was in meyers book, not marc edmund jones book.

Mark wrote: But does Marc Edmund Jones actually mention aspect patterns at all?

Maybe its an issue of nomenclature. Marc Edmund Jones ideas on planetary patterns or chart patterns are being misleadingly described as 'aspect patterns' by some modern astrologers.

For example, the American astrologer Stephanie Clement has recently produced a book that primarily examines Jones's visual chart patterns or planetary chart shapes but she describes these as 'aspect patterns'.

jones never referred to his shapes inside the 360 circle as aspect patterns.. s clement is muddying the language by referring to them as ''aspect patterns''.. planetary patterns or chart patterns is how jones expressed them.

mark, why do you think some astrologers want to segregate other astrologers into boxes modern or traditional?

James_m wrote:

jones never referred to his shapes inside the 360 circle as aspect patterns.. s clement is muddying the language by referring to them as ''aspect patterns''.. planetary patterns or chart patterns is how jones expressed them.

Yep. That is my understanding too.

James_M wrote:

mark, why do you think some astrologers want to segregate other astrologers into boxes modern or traditional?

Talk about leading questions! I dont really want to be drawn into that issue here James. It really has nothing to do with this thread. My focus here is purely historical.

Mark

Mark wrote: 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

Kellog refers to previous writers; many authors in a couple different sentences. Esoteric Astrology by Alice Bailey is mentioned. No bibliography, the book is 80 pages... copyright 1989

The Yod by Miss Dee, nothing in there. copyright 1983
both are AFA books

The Yod Book does have an Index and Bibiography, no help there. But she did mention Kepler was already familiar with the inconjunct

I was by no means thorough, but the gist is not of a historical bent.

For that matter: When did any Major and Minor Aspect Patterns 1st appear in a section in a book? It may lead one along the way to an answer to also wonder when a Kite or a Mystic Rectangle 1st appears as I see these are now lumped together as the 'common' minor aspect patterns

http://www.angelfire.com/journal/Gregor ... 0060137797
These patterns were contemplated extensively by the ancient astrologers/astronomers, and indeed, many of the patterns were the basis of traditional architectural proportions. This is particularly evidenced in Greek design which is the embodiment of the principles of "dynamic symmetry" in proportional ratio, rediscovered some years ago by American scholar J. Hambidge. "Celestial Proportion" was after all a study of the Platonic and Pythagorean Schools which can in turn be seen as an artifact of Hermetic Philosophy.

[For more information see:1/. the article in the August issue of Astrological Monthly Review by Lindsay McAuley ? "Art and Astrology Coexists in Perfect Harmony"; 2/. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh?s book tracing the history of Hermetic Philosophy - "The Elixir and the Stone" ? Penguin -1998]

maybe this guy would have an answer
http://www.nickcampion.com/
Most of my historical work is contained in my two-volume cultural history of western astrology, The Dawn of Astrology (Continuum 2008), and The History of Western Astrology Vol II - The Medieval and Modern Worlds(Continuum 2009).

as he comes at the bottom of this:
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/aspects2.html

I think I came at his name otherwise as well. Which I can see is likely when I ponder what exactly he's been up to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Campion

This looks curiously like what you are looking for
http://leephd.blogspot.ca/2013/07/the-d ... ndane.html
In the same issue, ?Taurus? reported on the total eclipse, visible in London on 29 June 1927. After a review of the astronomy, the eclipse was interpreted astrologically, using aspect patterns. Planets are used exclusively through their house positions: no house rulerships are noted at all.

There clearly was a lot of experimentation going on, in many respects paralleling the development of modern natal astrology, with its simplification of the ancient systems, along with a much heightened dependence upon the aspect patterns as the primary method of delineation.

From here, we can pick up the history as it is presented in Baigent, Campion, and Harvey.

I have been intrigued with the terminology of the Yod and The Finger of Fate for some time, so I did some research a couple of years ago and came upon some of the names quoted above, especially that of Carl Leipert.

I originally came across reference to him in Karen Hamaker-Zondag's book Aspects And Personality

"The Yod is in the shape of an isosceles triangle with the planet at its vertex inconjunct two other planets sextile to one another at either end of its base. The Yod has been called the finger of God, a name introduced by *Carl Leipert* following study of this pattern. He came to the conclusion that the Yod is like a finger pointing out our destiny in a very unmistakable manner.."

I couldn't find much else on him at the time but internet consensus stated he was a German astrologer born around the turn of the 20th century. He seemed to have influenced American astrologer, Thyrza Escobar , born around the same time and who was part of an inner circle of "First Temple of Astrology". Escobar's book "Side-Lights of Astrology" [among others] influenced Bil Tierney when he wrote "Dynamics of Aspect Analysis" which includes a section on the "Double Quincunx" [or the Yod] which discusses, in good detail, the particular challenges of this pattern.

I have, since, bought Thyrza Escobar's book '144 Doors to the Zodiac' in which she stated that Leipert, her mentor, was a devoted student of Jung; delved into the sources of religion, and was well versed in Qabalah.. "His interpretations were metaphysical.....but he included the psychological with the physical and the spiritual with the material"

Back then I collected some views of Noel Tyl on his forum, who attributes the term Yod to Morinus:

"The question of the YOD arises perpetually everywhere ... because of its magical name. The naming was a marketing device ......, and it worked! The YOD is named from the Tetragrammaton, the secret holy name of God for the Hebrews. --The astrologer to Louis XIII and XIV, Morin de VilleFranche?aka MORINUS, gave the top-secret Hebrew name to the simple midpoint picture, before astrologers were seeing or working with midpoints easily. All astrologers back then were self-promotion experts, and Morinus? ?the Finger of God? certainly captured fears and imaginations well, turning curiosity into business. --If the midpoint picture had been named "the scissors formation", no one would pay much attention to it. It is simply a midpoint configuration like any other: X=Y/Z, and orbs are usually 2.5 degrees for any Midpoint picture. But back then, without the outer planets, orbs were based upon mystical numerology considerations, sometimes going out to 14 degrees to get things tied together! The YOD is still an exciting item among intermediate-level astrologers. I don?t mention it in my Master?s Course".

Also in trying to uncover the dynamic picture of the stand alone Quincunx 'aspect', I looked briefly at the sacred geometry of the Pythagoreans. Who, to put it succinctly, stated that all right triangles [which show up in various astrological triangular patterns] operate on the level of "Nous". The triad or trinity aspect in some religions, for example, shows a triangular relationship pattern of the god-head or ultimate causal pattern.

The Pythagorean Tetraktys [and its Tetragrammaton equivalent ] depicts numerically the spheres or levels of creation. Inherent in that ten-fold structure is *the number five* said to represent the Quintessence or the philosopher's stone of the alchemists.

This number is central within the pyramid structure and was called the Quincunx by the ancients, who saw patterns or units of five in various structures or forms - Rachael Wilson in her article on Geometries of Perception in Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus [available for download in PDF] discusses the quincunx and the encoded number five in depth.

However when Kepler introduced the study of *150 degree angle* between planets in the 17th century, he called this angle the Quincunx, which does not have quite the same meaning as the original description of the word.

[For this reason I prefer the term Inconjunct to describe this angle, even though it was originally used by Ptolemy to represent *five signs apart* or to signs in aversion generally]

*The division of the circle by five* is of course 72, which Kepler termed the Quintile.[whose number represents 72 names of god/elohim within the Tetragrammaton scheme]

By a stretch of the imagination one can see how the numerical and metaphysical meaning behind aspect patterns and angles of planetary relationships could influence astrologers like Leipert who had studied complimentary esoteric texts and who applied their visionary interpretations, with perhaps mixed consequences.

If we have to name particular aspect patterns at all then I consider that the emotionally loaded terms Yod and Finger of Fate should be abandoned for perhaps the more apt term: 'Double Inconjunct'

elka,

that is a very insightful and informative post on marks question. thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge here! i hope you post more often and thanks for this post,

james

Thanks for your post Elka.

I have been intrigued with the terminology of the Yod and The Finger of Fate for some time, so I did some research a couple of years ago and came upon some of the names quoted above, especially that of Carl Leipert.

I originally came across reference to him in Karen Hamaker-Zondag's book Aspects And Personality

"The Yod is in the shape of an isosceles triangle with the planet at its vertex inconjunct two other planets sextile to one another at either end of its base. The Yod has been called the finger of God, a name introduced by *Carl Leipert* following study of this pattern. He came to the conclusion that the Yod is like a finger pointing out our destiny in a very unmistakable manner.."

I couldn't find much else on him at the time but internet consensus stated he was a German astrologer born around the turn of the 20th century. He seemed to have influenced American astrologer, Thyrza Escobar , born around the same time and who was part of an inner circle of "First Temple of Astrology". Escobar's book "Side-Lights of Astrology" [among others] influenced Bil Tierney when he wrote "Dynamics of Aspect Analysis" which includes a section on the "Double Quincunx" [or the Yod] which discusses, in good detail, the particular challenges of this pattern.

Thanks that all helps in taking our collective research forward.

I have, since, bought Thyrza Escobar's book '144 Doors to the Zodiac' in which she stated that Leipert, her mentor, was a devoted student of Jung; delved into the sources of religion, and was well versed in Qabalah.. "His interpretations were metaphysical.....but he included the psychological with the physical and the spiritual with the material"

Yes I picked this up from web discussions on Thyrza Escobar myself too. Very useful to have the book reference though.

Elka wrote:

Back then I collected some views of Noel Tyl on his forum, who attributes the term Yod to Morinus:

"The question of the YOD arises perpetually everywhere ... because of its magical name. The naming was a marketing device ......, and it worked! The YOD is named from the Tetragrammaton, the secret holy name of God for the Hebrews. --The astrologer to Louis XIII and XIV, Morin de VilleFranche?aka MORINUS, gave the top-secret Hebrew name to the simple midpoint picture, before astrologers were seeing or working with midpoints easily. All astrologers back then were self-promotion experts, and Morinus? ?the Finger of God? certainly captured fears and imaginations well, turning curiosity into business. --If the midpoint picture had been named "the scissors formation", no one would pay much attention to it. It is simply a midpoint configuration like any other: X=Y/Z, and orbs are usually 2.5 degrees for any Midpoint picture. But back then, without the outer planets, orbs were based upon mystical numerology considerations, sometimes going out to 14 degrees to get things tied together! The YOD is still an exciting item among intermediate-level astrologers. I don?t mention it in my Master?s Course".

I dont think anyone would deny the Hebrew origin to the word Yod. The real question is who first used it in an astrological context?

Can I just clarify are you suggesting Noel Tyl made the explicit link between Morin and the first description of the Yod himself or was it just a post on his forum? Do you have a link you could give for this idea?

If the comment on Noel Tyl's site is right about Morin being the first source to use the term for this formation it would be a very remarkable explanation for the the origin of the Yod.

I perceive a few difficulties with this theory though.

1 The notion of a midpoint doesn't exist in the 17th century so its difficult to see how an astrologer like Morin could conceive of it.

2 I am not authority on Morin. But I do know that he sought to reform elements of medieval astrology. For example he dropped minor dignities such as term and face and proposed his own system of triplicity rulerships. He also dropped what he saw as corrupted or purely symbolic techniques that couldn't be related to astronomical reality such as lots/parts, profections and secondary progressions. Instead he made primary directions, and solar and lunar returns his key predictive tools.

However, I am not aware that Morin adopted any of Kepler's proposed new aspects including the quincunx. Astrologers in this period did describe the inconjunct but in terms of a 150 degrees this was more a description of a non-aspect rather than a different type of aspect. If I am correct on that point its difficult to see how Noel Tyl's theory could be correct. Still, as I said this is not really my area. I will clarify this point out with our traditional moderator Tom Callanan as he is a specialist in Morin's approach to astrology.

3 While the odd astrologer adopted some of Kepler's new proposed aspects they were certainly not widely adopted before the general decline of astrology in continental Europe in the 17th century and Great Britain the 18th century.

A noteable exception appears to be Placidus de Titus (1603?1668). He did adopt Kepler's 'new' aspects of 72? (quintile), 135? (Sesquiquadrate) and 144? (bi-quintile). However, he seems to have rejected a later thesis by Kepler which included 30? (semi-sextile) and 45? (semi-square) and 150? (quincunx). Placido's objection to these later aspects proposed by Kepler seems to be due to their lack of connection to the ratios found in prominent musical resonances of his time.

Overall though the move towards wider astrological use of minor aspects seems to be a later 19th century development associated with the revival of astrology and attempts to 'modernize' it. Hence in this period nothing less than a reformation in aspect theory took place which replaced aspects based on planetary orbs in favour of aspects derived from purely numerical relationships. In large part this was an attempt to incorporate the outer planets into aspect theory and to 'moderize' astrology in light of the new astronomical discoveries of Uranus and Neptune. Historical research by the late Maurice McCann suggested the first native born American astrologer William Chaney was an early pioneer in this area who influenced others such as Alan Leo.

http://www.solsticepoint.com/astrologer ... haney.html

Elka wrote:

Also in trying to uncover the dynamic picture of the stand alone Quincunx 'aspect', I looked briefly at the sacred geometry of the Pythagoreans. Who, to put it succinctly, stated that all right triangles [which show up in various astrological triangular patterns] operate on the level of "Nous". The triad or trinity aspect in some religions, for example, shows a triangular relationship pattern of the god-head or ultimate causal pattern.

The Pythagorean Tetraktys [and its Tetragrammaton equivalent ] depicts numerically the spheres or levels of creation. Inherent in that ten-fold structure is *the number five* said to represent the Quintessence or the philosopher's stone of the alchemists.

This number is central within the pyramid structure and was called the Quincunx by the ancients, who saw patterns or units of five in various structures or forms - Rachael Wilson in her article on Geometries of Perception in Sir Thomas Browne's Hydriotaphia and The Garden of Cyrus [available for download in PDF] discusses the quincunx and the encoded number five in depth.

However when Kepler introduced the study of *150 degree angle* between planets in the 17th century, he called this angle the Quincunx, which does not have quite the same meaning as the original description of the word.

Its certainly fascinating to study the Pythagorean theory behind these ideas. Although I would rather get Kepler's ideas from the source. I really must buy a copy of the The Harmony of the World, as its no doubt an important text in the philosophy of astrology and movement away from Ptolemy that underpins so much of modern astronomy and astrology.

The astrologer to Louis XIII and XIV, Morin de VilleFranche?aka MORINUS, gave the top-secret Hebrew name to the simple midpoint picture, before astrologers were seeing or working with midpoints easily.

Not really. Noel has on occasion mentioned that Morin was astrologer to Louis XIII and Louis XIV. This is not true. Louis XIV was born in 1638 and was not yet King When Morin died in 1656. It is true officially he assumed the throne at age 5 upon the death of his father, it wasn't until after Morin's death that he took the reins of government for real.

However Morin was present at the birth of Louis XIV. He was sneaked into the birth chamber in order to take an accurate measurement of the sky at the time of birth. If astrology meant much of anything to Louis XIII they would not have have had to hide Morin. Louis the XIV didn't think much of astrology, either.

Furthermore, France didn't have a court astrologer during Morin's lifetime. He apparently did a great deal of work for Cardinal Richelieu, whom he hated, but wisely kept silent about that until Richelieu's death - which he claimed he predicted.

As for the Yod, if Morin created it, it would be in Astrologia Gallica which was not printed until 5 years after Morin's death. Morin did use what are today considered "minor aspects," in particular the quincunx and semi sextile and semi square. Midpoints came long after his death and so did aspect configurations.

For example, in Book XXIII on Revolutions, Morin goes into great detail discussing the chart of King Gustav Adolphus of Sweden (1594 - 1632). The major portion of the discussion is the effects of directions and a solar return on the King's Saturn - Jupiter opposition both square Mars. Yet not once does Morin use the term "T-square" nor did he treat the aspect configuration and anything other than an opposition and two squares. But Mars would be at the midpoint of the opposition. The point is that these things were unknown to him.

If there is a reference in AG to a yod, please let me know where it appears in AG, and I'll confirm it. I have all the books in English translation that are available. I can check it.

Tom wrote:

Morin did use what are today considered "minor aspects," in particular the quincunx and semi sextile and semi square.

Thanks Tom. That in itself is very interesting. I didn't know that.

Mark

Mark wrote: Elka wrote:

Back then I collected some views of Noel Tyl on his forum, who attributes the term Yod to Morinus (snip)

I dont think anyone would deny the Hebrew origin to the word Yod. The real question is who first used it in an astrological context?

Can I just clarify are you suggesting Noel Tyl made the explicit link between Morin and the first description of the Yod himself or was it just a post on his forum? Do you have a link you could give for this idea? .

I did suspect, at the time of my research, that attributing the Yod/Finger of god 'aspect' to Morin by Tyl (on his Forum) a bit suspect, almost a throw away view - so thank you Tom for highlighting that any reference to it should be in the Astrologia Gallica . Without further sources to go on, apart from those already mentioned, I am inclined to go with attributing this to Leipert (and his occult and esoteric imagination) ...hence, in my view, this emotionally loaded term should be replaced with what the aspect really represents i.e 'a double inconjunct' or a mid-point picture if you like.

Mark wrote: Elka wrote:

Also in trying to uncover the dynamic picture of the stand alone Quincunx 'aspect', I looked briefly at the sacred geometry of the Pythagoreans. Who, to put it succinctly, stated that all right triangles [which show up in various astrological triangular patterns] operate on the level of "Nous". The triad or trinity aspect in some religions, for example, shows a triangular relationship pattern of the god-head or ultimate causal pattern. (snip)

Its certainly fascinating to study the Pythagorean theory behind these ideas. Although I would rather get Kepler's ideas from the source. I really must buy a copy of the The Harmony of the World, as its no doubt an important text in the philosophy of astrology and movement away from Ptolemy that underpins so much of modern astronomy and astrology.

Yes, I agree about finding the source of Kepler's ideas [esp. about naming the 150 deg angle 'the quincunx' and adopting and naming the 'new aspect' the quintile] and necessary of course if I went down the route of publishing a paper on this. But for now I'm just suggesting that behind these 'discoveries and namings' lies an occult or esoteric lineage that some astronomers/astrologers may have been be privy to at the time.
Thank you Mark

Mark wrote:Tom wrote:

Morin did use what are today considered "minor aspects," in particular the quincunx and semi sextile and semi square.

Thanks Tom. That in itself is very interesting. I didn't know that.

Mark

Yes, interesting. Did Morin adopt a harmonic view of aspects - ie the 12th harmonic of 360/12 x 5 being 150 degs ?

elka wrote: Yes, I agree about finding the source of Kepler's ideas [esp. about naming the 150 deg angle 'the quincunx' and adopting and naming the 'new aspect' the quintile] and necessary of course if I went down the route of publishing a paper on this. But for now I'm just suggesting that behind these 'discoveries and namings' lies an occult or esoteric lineage that some astronomers/astrologers may have been be privy to at the time.
Thank you Mark

hi elka - the quintile is in reference to the 72 degree aspect - division of the 360 by 5... kepler apparently used this aspect and some of the extensions of it as i understand it. i think morin did too.. it has also been adopted by different astrologers since the 1970's as i read about it in books written back then. i think even lilly used it, but then he used a lot of aspects too. lilly and morin seemed to like the minor aspects.. the use of the 4 letters 'quin' seem to connect with 5.. quincunx has always struck me as a confusion of sorts, as opposed to the inconjunct..