Yesterday I had an interesting day.
I’ve been volunteering at the library and connecting with people talking about astrology. Sometimes even giving them short readings when they show interest, which is proving to be very rewarding to me.
So at the end of the day and after taking a look on what is supposed to be a “very good book in astrology” recommended by the swami at school, I decided to write a little about the 12th house. I think that the 12th house is the most mysterious and misunderstood house in the horoscope. Yes, you still find simplistic views on the other houses too, like 8th house other people’s money or second house your own money. But I think that no other house gets such a bad reputation in the usual explanation like the 12th does. People with jam packed 12th houses probably feel very disempowered, maybe scared even, after reading all those famous cook books in astrology and themes like mental illnesses, prisons and hospitals, hidden enemies…and the disgraceful list goes on…
One thing that I find to be very important when you see 12th house planets in someone’s horoscope is solitude. That person in front of you really needs a great amount of quality time alone. If we think that the 12th house has a resonance with the piscean and neptunian archetype and what they all share is somewhat the dissolution and urge to transcend barriers, there are usually issues regarding boundaries for these people. It’s hard to separate your thoughts from other people’s when you have Mercury in Pisces or making a strong aspect to Neptune but also and specially if your Mercury is in the 12th house. It’s equally hard to discriminate your sense of anxiety or fear from what you’re picking up in the crowd when you have Saturn placed in the 12th.
The 12th house has also a connection with the womb and our experience inside our mothers so then again we have this sense of merging.
When I have clients with strong 12th house I always speak about their sensitivity to others and the environment, suggesting being more in tune with their need to be alone in order to reestablish a connection with themselves. I think that not realising this necessity is when the “hidden enemies” can show up, most of it unconscious behaviour that also connects with the classic theme of self undoing and the 12th house.
Reblogged this on Lost Dudeist Astrology.
HI Fernanda,
just having a time-out browse, having left a comment on your most recent post, I came across this post. As a person with a packed 12th House I would disagree with much of the grim stuff which has been written about this most mysterious and elusive place in space…you are quite right that protecting one’s sensitivity with solitude is vital to establishing a peaceful balance as a 12th House person.
I don’t know if you or your followers have ever read my essay, first published in The Mountain Astrologer a few years ago, which gives my ‘take’ on this house? As you will gather from the title, I take a more optimistic view than many commentators: it is firmly rooted in many decades of being a 12th House person. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to share it if you wish.
https://astrologyquestionsandanswers.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/contemplating-the-12th-house.pdf
Thank you again Anne, yes, I will definitely read your post as Im very interested in the 12th house (for I have Saturn and Pluto placed there and have read some awful things about it). One thing is true though, I think I have read in one of Liz Greene’s lectures, that I can tap into much of the collective shadow (especially in a crowd, which I tend to dislike very much).
Yes, I’m familiar with that particular piece of comment by Liz also…and I have Saturn/Pluto there as well as so much else! I do hope my essay gives you a more constructive perspective. Would be interested to have your reaction in due course.
Anne I just read your essay and it was very inspiring. I thought it was also very interesting to read about the need for quietness and how you realised that spending an hour observing a bee wasn’t a waste of time. I really resonate with these words, and when I had my Saturn return it felt like I was almost forced to spend time alone and contemplating. From outside it looked like I wasn’t doing much, but there was so much work being done inside myself… I remember spending long periods of time staring at trees also and quietly/telepathically asking it to teach me how to be still. I love how you write, and also find very inspiring how you share bits of your life weaved in with astrological insight (which is something that I aim doing it also). In that way is almost like the insights get more real, deeper and unique. Thank you for sharing it! xxx
What lovely, affirming feedback to have, Fernanda. Thank you so much for your generous words. `I am really glad that what I’ve written here is helpful and supportive tonyour efforts to come to terms in peace with your twelfth house planets. X
Good one, Fernanda. I always tell folks that the 12th house is about Introversion and Meditation, and that the horrible things written about Hospitals and Prisons happen to folks who don’t Listen to their own needs for Introversion and Meditation..
Thank you Jim. It is funny how in western society is harder to take the need for introspection and meditation seriously. Writing about it it’s a good reminder for myself also.
In *Please Understand Me* Kersay points out that only 25% of folks are Introverts, and virtually all grade school teachers are extroverts; the result is we’re all taught that Introversion is akin to disease.