Love is not a thing that sweeps us away in an ocean, where we lose ourselves. Instead, I believe it gathers us so deeply into the body of the present moment, that timelessness takes us, and the ordinary comes alive. It is this ordinary, in all of its plain and seemingly most simple form, that begins to shine, becomes luminious, and everything awakes. Every facet of the world awakes, and you within it.
The twelfth house may often be associated with isolation, unconscious bondage, self undoing, obstacles, difficulties or loss, and while these are true, it is also important to understand and acknowledge the other aspects of this house, as well as the fruits its fertile soil brings us. Whether you are going through this house by transit or natally, or are seeking to deepen your knowledge, may what I share today be enriching and of benefit to you, wherever you are on your path.
The dharma of what the twelfth house holds is almost like a bridge between fire and water: a burning of falsehood to guard what’s sacred. And as we move along its evolution, approaching closer the ascendant, we reveal a yet another important spiritual wisdom: we learn to rest in the stillness of eternity, as here our silence anchors the world.
Today I’ll guide you through my insights in this part of the sky and natal wheel, and the key word in what I’ll share with you about the twelfth house is nuance. This is at the heart of spiritual and relational astrology: honouring your unique path and experiences, and honouring not only yourself but also the world as living beings of wisdom. In astrology, just as in life itself, nothing is an absolute and there are relationships within relationships, because just like in life, all interconnects and holds us together in some way.
The twelfth house is a place we enter like through the doorways of a monastery. If you have followed my work for a while, you know my love and deep reverence for monasticism. When we enter through these doorways, we step into the I don’t know; there is no longer books, there is now a deepening of the inner experience that shapes us and allows us to deepen into an insight, into a mysticism, not previously known to us.
Here we may no longer suffice for what the books or sages once said, here we now open up to the living around us, and within us, and as the naturalist John James Audubon once wrote, “When the bird and book disagree, believe the bird.” Written knowledge is important, it is vital, but it is also about our experience of life, and through life, that offers us a deeper and more holistic and full insight. A deeper meaning of this quote is about emphasizing the importance of listening to one’s inner wisdom and aligning with authentic truths, rather than being swayed by conventional narratives that don’t resonate with personal experience.
There is connection to nature here also, as the axis of the 6-12 houses is about animals, wildlife and nature. The sixth house may often speak of little animals or pets, while the twelfth may show the bigger animals, often associated with horses and elephants. Everything in life holds within itself opposites, and so, to understand anything in life, and in astrology also, we need to understand the opposite of it as well.
So here we see that even if something small, like a small animal, when held in our caring and nurturing, becomes infinate, an ocean of love within our heart. It is no longer just a little squirrel you cared for, it is love, it is something that may not make sense to others if you lose it, but it will hurt you deeply and you will walk with her shadow, holding her still in love no matter how long time passes.
Because here in the twelfth, small things become big, and time is no longer. Everything becomes everything. Boundaries of clocks and lines dissolve, and we fall into the non-linearity. This is why when people have two or more planets in the twelfth house, they may often not really know where one ends and the other begins. It may be harder to discern one from the other, as they become consumed into each other.
There is devotion here in this house, there is charity and humanitarian aid, there is longing to connect to the unseen and help the more vulnerable, to connect to little animals or big spiritual things unseen and unheard – the spiritual realms, all that is that connects us. In the twelfth house we see the need for listening; a deep intentional listening, a presence asked of us, to hopefully understand or merely at least hear the languages not always spoken with words in our human language.
There is also the self reflection question of what is spoken versus what is experienced. Because we are in the ocean waters or the fog that the twelfth house may sometimes make us feel we are in, it doesn’t matter what others say, we know how we feel, and no words may suffice, until the fog itself clears, or the shore reveals itself once the waves calm.
There is faith here also, because sometimes on the big waves we don’t see the horizon, we don’t know what’s ahead, and yet eventually we realize we’ve been on the tail of the big wise whale who was moving us through the waters. Trust is here. Surrender is here. A beginning of the path is here, which begins with the I don’t know.
There is a longing for a union, which may only happen with the dissolution. Ice melts to move and become moving waters, rivers, and into the sea. Tears too soften us, heal us. Lovers too can only deepen into true intimacy once they have the courage to unveil their inner self and truth, and dissolve the boundaries between them; dissolve the judgments, the shoulds and musts, and the old outdated belief structures that hold them separate from the ocean of love consciousness.
There are in-betweens here. There are little shells and stones on the path, little animals and rose flowers, and caves into which we go into when we need to. Salt water is here, deep wet dark soil is here, seeds are here. What happens to rain drops or morning dew is here also.
It is the moment before we see the little snowdrops on the surface, reminding us spring is near. It is moment of sacred unfolding, of the intimacy which happens in the quiet place, quiet moments, where only eyes of love may witness it.
The things we can’t always see, though they still exist, are here. What happens in meditation is here, what happens in prayer is here, what happens on new moon is here; what happens right before incarnation is here, when we are in the birth canal before we are born with human hands in human body is here.
All in all is all is here.
In this house is almost the center of the temple, under the dome, or the monastery, and the subtle prayers or meditations of monk who embrace the notes of all experiences; in this house is the peaceful acceptance of life through all its phases and waves, and despite its hardships. There is an embrace of all experiences, recognizing them as integral to us as individuals in our human experience and the nuances of it, as well as integral to the collective humanity. It’s the recognition that all existence is one – all in all is all we are.
Let’s dive deeper.
To understand the twelfth house, or any house, we need to also understand its previous one, because this is what led to our now. The eleventh house is one of the kama houses, i.e. houses of desire, and it holds some of our highest inspirations, dreams, hopes and goals, which involve in some shape or form how we also show up in the world and affect and engage with humanity overall.
So in the eleventh house we have been through the almost full circle of the natal wheel, and now it’s all come together for the final “test” of how we’ll act when we are on the big stages of life – who are we when we get what we want, what is our character really made of and how have we walked our path towards it, what change are we actually making in this world and how selfless are we? The eleventh house may show us whether we remained humbled, graceful and kind and with gratitude along the way, and especially when we rose in life and how we acted then towards others. Remember that the eleventh house is still traditionally Saturn ruled, so it is about the virtues, integrity and discipline.
And once we get what we want through that eleventh house, once we get the desires in our human hands, now it’s time to open up our palms and let it all go – because the twelfth house is the house of the opening, allowing and detachment; it is whether desires can dissolve and be let go of.
The opening of our palms and surrender is how we step into the twelfth house – how we step into a temple, into prayer. With humbleness. This is the house where all goes to disappear – whether in deep oceans where boundaries dissolve, in foreign lands by crossing borders and seas, in quiet sacred places like monasteries, in deep sleep (as this house rules our deep sleep), or when we pull the curtains and engage with a lover (which is why this house rules hidden bed pleasures or secret affairs and “losing ourselves” through intimacy).
The twelfth house is one of the moksha houses, or water houses, which are 4th, 8th and 12th – and these are all water houses, thereby associated with the soul on some level, the connection to spirit and the divine and the flow of life. In the twelfth house is all that is hidden, yet happening continuously even when we don’t really see nor know nor even feel it – just like in the depths of oceans we don’t always see nor even feel things as big waves but it doesn’t mean there is no sound or even movements.
The twelfth house “things” happen continuously within us, because this is a house of the unconscious – which is why it rules deep sleep, and prayers and meditations also. And when I say sleep, I don’t mean “dreaming” because it’s not really dreaming sleep – it is the kind of sleep, which doesn’t even have dreams, there is nothing, there is no knowing, because this is a house of the unknown things which still move us in body.
Things in this house are always happening; even in our mundane world, we get money and then spend it, so the “going away” of money is the twelfth house. This house is about what we don’t see, what lays hidden beyond the veils. The twelfth house is the place where we exit the physical, and if we have let go of the attachments and desires, we’ll be able to be born into a different world of experience.
Here we may see fruits also, born from the depths of the fertile soils. Here we may come into the union with all there is, within ourself and also with the world in its entirety. Here we may come into one with humanity and wildlife. We can humble ourselves, we can come into reverence for all, and let go of our selfishness, prejudice, biases, attachments, fears, and just stay present with another person and hold space for their own experiences, just as a temple or monastery may hold us also.
If you have planets in your twelfth house, or harder aspects, it is merely to invite you to deepen into yourself, and self knowledge with compassion. It may ask you to invest more time in diving more deeply into yourself, with clarity rather than distraction. It may ask you to be very self honest, and face your ways of escapism, so that you may taste the real sweet nectar of life and existence.
The twelfth house is where everything goes to disappear, so if your Sun is here, it’s as if your ego seeks to go to disappear. As this house is related to past lives, with the Sun here it shows there may have been too much attachments on Sun related aspects of your lives, such as attachments to power, ego driven motivations, or influence, and in this life, for balance to come in, you may experience some loss in these areas. The spiritual lesson here is to come into humbleness, release the ego’s need for control, and find your light in the humble, soul aligned places.
If your Mercury is here, you may not be seeing things clearly, and unkept promises may be clouding your mind further now; so the lesson in this life now is to be self honest and speak from inner truth. If Moon – it is about healing emotional instability by creating inner safety beyond people or places. If Mars – it is about channeling your energy towards intentional action, rather than self sabotage; set boundaries where needed, and don’t internalize your anger. If Venus – it is about learning to love without expectations, and heal or free your heart from grief, often hidden deeper within.
The twelfth house shows our hidden intentions and motivations and all that needs to be brought to our conscious, though it rarely fully is. This house holds themes of illusions, delusion, escapism, spiritual bypassing, detachment, addictions and betrayals, so people who have planets here may need to devote more time into their inner work.
Self honesty is how we reach the heart of the twelfth house. It is traditionally associated with Pisces, and the esoteric ruler of Pisces is Pluto – so there is inner alchemy here. There are past lives here, there are karmic impulses here, there are deep subconscious tendencies and behavioural patterns here.
The 7th house, as well as parts of the 8th and 6th, are known as our shadow houses, but the shadows of the 12th run deep, and it’s not merely blind spots, it is just really hard to access. Body wise, the ascendant is our head, and the 12th house is what is behind our head, on the back of our neck. We can’t just look at the back of our head. So naturally, it is difficult to access and bring all into awareness.
This house will always have its hidden things, which is why it is a house of the unconscious – you can’t possibly bring it all to light, there will always remain something unconscious. But we may still nurture the inner flames of deeper knowledge, and keep seeking, keep staying present in the center of the temple’s dome.
Spirituality is a way to go deeper. At its essence, it is an expansion of perceptions. Self awareness tools such as astrology and human design open such doorways, and allow us an opportunity for a deepening.
And we go deeper. We go deeper, because we want to touch something that dissolves some of the pre-conditioning of this world, and allow us to experience a different kind of freedom within that which is called the hidden world. We go deeper, because this allows us to have more confidence moving forward that we are not just our body, and that we are more than what we thought we were – we are something that is beyond our conditioning. We go deeper, because we seek to remember that all in all is all we are.
The mystical experiences, born out of our inner worlds and walkings, or awakened through our interactions with others, serve the faith on our path that way. It serves to show us the interconnection of all, and that we may deepen into compassion for all and their own experiences, when we too may know what it feels like. We may open our palms more, to hold another and be held as well. And it also serves the purpose that we can now be of help to others in a better way. Because to know ourselves is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and others also.
This life essentially allows us an opportunity for a deepening. A deepening of self knowledge, a deepening of love, a deepening of loving others more. Self awareness tools like astrology or human design serve us to understand ourselves in deeper ways, and hopefully dissolve some of our pre-conditioning. While walking a spiritual path is an inner walk along our unique physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wildlands, and we walk this alone, we deepen so much through other people.
We are all here to meet the other – and to learn and expand through our interdependence and mutual exchange of energy. We are here to live through that, live with that. If we all stayed only within ourselves constantly, we wouldn’t really grow on an inner level.
Of that humility of higher truth and higher self and soul desire, we say yes to life, and all of our cells come together to say yes to life, yes to us, so that we are born. And we are born, born into the human skin, breathed into life through our ascendant (the house following the tweflth), to walk the path towards the otherness and the merging with all. With human hands to hold our loved ones, ears to listen to their laughter, feet to walk and explore, and lips to speak love.
As we need to understand the one before the twelfth, we also need to honour what comes after it – which is the physical birth, the body, the ascendant. It is presence. To be present. Because love is about presence, this is where the union is.
Love doesn’t always sweep us away in an ocean, in losing ourselves. Instead, I believe it actually gathers us into the body of the present moment, so that almost all of our explanations or reasonings fall away. In such a moment, so deep into the present, the ordinary comes alive in the most beautiful ways, and timelessness takes us. The ordinary, in all of its plain and simple, begins to shine, becomes luminous, alive. Everything awakes.
Every facet of our world awakes, and you within it.
And now it is no longer just a little animal, no longer just a smile, no longer just a touch.
Now it is all in all is all we are.
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Cover photograph by me in the Italian countryside.
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