The Twelfth House

House of Subconscious

The Twelfth House is commonly referred to as the House of the Unconscious. The unconscious state can help engender our successes, as well as assist us in coping with our failures. Success vs. failure: do we consciously confront our lives or subconsciously sweep things under the proverbial rug? This house might more aptly be called the House of Reckoning, since it is in the Twelfth that we review what we have been (and done) and decide where we go from there. Along with these unconscious musings, we also deliberate on strengths and weaknesses that are hidden from public view.

Our subconscious works hard on our behalf, trying to make sense of our lives. This shadow play is slow and long, and often fraught with fear and pain. It is in this context that we are confronted with our sorrows, suffering and the secrets we keep from ourselves and from others. Ultimately, we are also confronted with our fate: karma. Here we meet up with the results of everything we have done. This further puts the focus on repressed agendas and restraint. What have we wrought with in our lives? This is a key question of the Twelfth House, and we will deal with it both consciously and unconsciously. Will the answers compel us to be transformed or reborn? This is another cornerstone of the Twelfth House -- the manner in which we move forward.

We can learn much from the unconscious. In its most noble manifestation, we will be prompted to be charitable. If we learn our lessons, both past and present, we are also better equipped to move forward. The Twelfth House compels us to seek closure in a spiritual way as an aid to positive growth.

The last house of the zodiac also recognizes that we can feel bound in life -- stuck and confined. For this reason, this house rules jails, hospitals, institutions, asylums and any space that inhibits freedom. More gloominess in the Twelfth comes in the form of danger, secret enemies and clandestine affairs. Beware!

While some may decry the Twelfth House as the garbage bin of the zodiac, it's really an unfair term. Ultimately, this house is the champion of positive transformations. It is here that we stand on the precipice and determine how we will proceed. By visiting the unconscious and meeting with the past, we begin to glean what the future will bring.

The Twelfth House is ruled by Pisces and the planets Jupiter and Neptune.



The 12th house is one of the most fascinating astrological houses, because what we find connected with it often solves a mystery. Below is a discussion of some of the major traditional meanings of the 12th house:

Self-Sabotage, Secret Enemies, and Witches

These are the enemies who hurt us by clandestine means. Such a person might spread rumors or mail anonymous letters in order to harm us. For example, some of the classical astrology writers had many examples of horoscope so famous people who met a bad end because their 12th house was afflicted and their secret enemies eventually got executed or whatever.

Similarly, a witch would naturally also harm others via clandestine means, and we examine this house carefully when answering the question: “Am I bewitched?”

However, neither of these bad characters are as harmful as we ourselves. The 12th house is where we undercut our otherwise positive efforts. These are the strange compulsions that keep on surfacing, and that span the range between overeating and depression. Which of these actually manifest depends on the connection to other houses, and upon the person’s overall tendencies and temperament. For example, a very watery, phlegmatic type with a series of 12th house afflictions, especially in the water signs, might feel compelled to take to drink, or other drug abuse.



This is the house of delusions and psychic trouble beyond our awareness. It's called the house of self-undoing. Only time and persistent reflection unlocks the mysteries behind the many doors of the interior mind-spirit. It's the house of the universal imagination, and the secret doorway to spirit, the one that lies within the heart. That makes it both daunting, but a potentially rich source of creative material, as well as the path to rising above the personal, to experience something beyond.

There is darkness and light in the vast landscape of the collective heart. Along the more disturbed end of the spectrum is our capacity for mental illness, criminal acts, secret obsessions. This house has always been associated with institutions like prisons and mental hospitals. It's a place where those doing extreme things are confined, and where we confine the extremes within our own psyche.

This house is where we lock up our secrets, and repress aspects of the Self. Sometimes that emerges in relationships, when we're drawn to those that act out our demons for us, giving life to something that is trapped within. In drama, the villain plays an aspect of ourselves we dare not claim, but lies as a potential in the vast landscape of the imagination. Over time, the shadows of the twelfth house are recognized and accepted, and even seen as a catalyst for building character and learning to walk through the dark.