What's the 12th House in Astrology?
The 12th House is felt, just on the borders of feeling, on the level of soul/yearning. It's the vast sea of the subconscious "All" for which we -- and everything else we claim to see, understand and feel -- is nothing more than the surface-level tip of the iceberg.
Perhaps some of us can "know it" ... but I doubt anyone can really describe it, except through poetry, which -- again -- few will understand.
That said, every human can identify with 12th House themes. Because it's from the 12th House that we've come, and it's to the 12th House that we go. It's the Infinite, where all is one and one is all. Where boundaries dissolve and we make contact with everything -- the good and the bad and the ecstatic infinite of God.
If your sun, moon or a group of natal planets are in the 12th House, you may identify with this video. Neptunian and Piscean individuals will also identify.
You can pull up a free birth chart and see what you have in the 12th House using the Cafeastrology website: http://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php
Text from the Video:
I'm calling to you from the 12th House in Astrology. From the sea of emotion where the human and divine become one. We all get lost in it from time to time. While yearning for its infinite embrace.
We flirt with the edges of ecstasy along its shores. Where the waves of bliss and tragedy flow as one. And sometimes we fall right in.
If you look deep enough into the stars at night, you can see the same. The black abyss, intermingled with sparkling points of beautiful light.
Can we get confused about who we are in this sea? Can we get lost there, not remembering who we are, or how we ever ended up in this place?
Imagine the eternal optimist in the face of every fact that tries to prove otherwise. Imagine the boat captain. Who slips deep into the bowels of his ship when the storm reaches its climax.
Because that’s the only place where the crashing waves don’t seem to hit so hard. It’s the balance point, right above the keel at the very middle of the hull. A weightless point where, if he gets it just right, he can pretend the storm isn’t there anymore.
The captain could stay there, never to emerge. And dissolve with his ship into the infinite depths of the sea.
But that’s not what happens this time. In the peace of this space, he gets a glimpse of truth, of inspiration (God?). It lights his flame again, and he wakes right up. He remembers who he is. And he climbs up to the deck of the ship to take the helm. The storm has passed, the Sun is bridging the horizon in the distance.
It warms his heart. All he can do is cry the tears he was holding back during that long, cold and stormy night.
On the shore, he meets old friends and says, “It’s hard to believe we can emerge from such a deep and dangerous place and live to tell the tale.” They don't exactly understand his poetry. But they resonate with his words.
The 12th House symbolizes the dark and stormy night voyage of the person trapped in emotional waters not knowing where they will lead. With the stars blacked out, we don’t know where the Northpoint is.
Am I blinded by the tears of knowing that my suffering is no different from anyone else’s and that we’re all in this boat together?
The fog will clear soon enough. As we soon move from the 12th House into the 1st House. Which brings the spark of initiation. It’s a burst of energy. A wake up into individual expression. A “coming out to smell the roses.” As a unique individual.
