The Yogi and Ava Yogi planets are an interesting field of study for any serious astrologer and well worth exploring to understand their effects in a chart.

Firstly to calculate the Yogi point itself you must add together the longitudes of the Sun and Moon from 03.20 degrees Cancer. The longitudes of the Sun and Moon are calculated from 00.00 degrees Aries.

You can alternatively add 93 degrees 20 minutes to the total of the Sun and Moon's longitudes from 00.00 degrees Aries. Where the total finishes is the yoga point and the lord of the nakshatra is the yogi planet.

You then count forward 6 nakshatras to the same degree and the lord of that nakshatra is the ava yogi planet. To give an example my Sun is at 04.29 degrees Pisces and my Moon is at 07.14 degrees Leo. Add 334.29 degrees plus 127.14 degrees plus 93.20 degrees to get a total of 555.03 degrees. Subtract 360 to get 195.03 degrees. Counting from 00.00 degrees Aries forward 195.03 degrees you get the yoga point falling 15.03 degrees in Libra in Swati. So the yogi planet is Rahu. The planet ruling the sign where the yoga point falls is considered a good planet and is called the duplicate yogi planet. If you then count forward 6 nakshatras you reach Poorva Ashadha so the ava yogi planet is Venus.

The reason the point is calculated from Pushya nakshatra is that Pushya is a divinely nakshatra considered the most auspicious out of all 27 lunar constellations. The yoga point is a point of power in the horoscope and planets placed in the nakshatras of the yogi planet will be boosted to give good results. Alternatively planets occupying the nakshatras of the ava yogi will be spoiled and increase in power to do harm.

Some of the other general rules that apply are that if the yogi planet falls in the nakshatra of the ava yogi planet then the birth yogi gets somewhat spoilt and its ability to give good results suffers. If the ava yogi falls in the nakshatra of the birth yogi it will not be harmful and give good results. The birth yogi planet being in conjunction with the ava yogi planet is somewhat bad as the birth yogi is afflicted by the ava yogi planet and it will lose its benefic influence in the chart.

One unusual rule that seems to apply is that a node in the nakshatra of the ava yogi planet becomes a benefic. A well known astrologer recently told me his Rahu has been very good for him and his Rahu is in the nakshatra of the Sun which is his ava yogi planet. The nodes also seem to give good results when they are the ava yogi planet itself. The duplicate yogi should not be forgotten and it will modify planets as well if they are in its nakshatras.

When I calculate a chart I usually check straight away what planets are yogi and ava yogi planets so I have them in my mind when reading a chart. We should of course remember that nothing should be taken in isolation and a part is not the whole. This technique of yogi and ava yogi should be only a part of a holistic assessment of a horoscope.