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I’ve been interested in studying the chart for Japan in an attempt to find signifiers for its Loneliness Pandemic.

Japan may be the canary in the coal mine for an epidemic of loneliness. So entrenched is its people's social isolation that a lexicon for it has been spawned - words for degrees of disconnection, vanishing from society and dying alone and undiscovered.

This is not easy as it is such an ancient country shrouded in layers of dynasties and many founding eras of sovereignty, liberty etc

I found the only chart online at first dig to be fascinatingly accurate and it clearly depicts themes of isolation. (Chart on astrotheme)

There are two accurate astrology charts for Japan.

The first is set for 3rd May 1947 at 12.00 LMT in Tokyo.

The second is set for 28th April 1952 at 1.30pm GMT in Tokyo.

The source is “The Book of World Horoscopes” by Nicholas Campion, The Wessex Astrologer 2004.

I’ve been working 5 months in hospitality.

We work 6 weeks (42 days)
on and have 2 weeks off and it’s killing me. After 5 months I’m missing most meals (due to being so frantically busy) I’m skinny as it is.

I worked 10 weeks with four days off in between before this recent six week cycle and am so tired. I can’t even emote when around guests anymore.

My problem is, my leave is coming up but I need to get off property 1 week early for my mental and physical health.

I don’t think the company would buy that and they may deem me as weak going forward. I don’t want to lie either and say it’s due to a bodily ailment else I’d have to prove that too via doctor’s note. I don’t want to lose my job I’m just so burnt out.

I don’t know what to do?

A year ago I came across descriptions online of the Major Arcana cards as actual people. It was very practical and mundane and I started writing it down at the time however I only got half way.

I cannot for the life of me find the site or online book I got the descriptions from, even after Googling the descriptions verbatim. It’s so frustrating.

I now think it was some online PDF and that’s why word search on Google isnt aiding in my search. The descriptions are as follows:

The Fool: “newborn, baby, people starting something new, the dreamer, the innocent, the explorer, traveller, backpacker, inexperienced, someone young.”

High Priestess:

“A girl, sister, single woman, virgin, a person who wants love without seggs, clairvoyant, spiritualist, intuitive, secret keeper, person who understands inner activities of the problem, person of rank”

Sun: There are three key situations that I have observed, with individuals with the Sun in the twelfth house. The first thing is that there is always a feeling of detachment from the father figure. This can occur for many reasons, but the most frequent reason, is loss of the father figure through death at a young age. Individuals are unable to bond with the father figure due to their sudden death or absence. I cannot tell you how many times I have had clients say,” My father died when I was five”, “My father died when I was ten”, and “I never knew my father.” These statements are confirmed continuously for me, whenever I do a chart with someone with the Sun in the twelfth.

The second manifestation that occurs is that the father figure can have a drug or alcohol problem, which makes them incapable of bonding with the child. Individuals grow up feeling detached and perceive their father as distant. The last thing that tends to occurs is what I call an “absent or missing father figure”. The father is physically in the individual’s life, but there is no relationship and no bond. The father might work a lot, travel a lot or simply does not communicate with the individual while growing up. Therefore, in all three instances there is a feeling that one does not have a father. A deep seated loneliness can arise for these individuals, because they always feel that they are seeking that fatherly energy. Some females with this placement might seek it through relationships with men. This can cause a variety of problems and often more suffering.

Whenever they start to make that partner the complete focus of their life, it will get stripped away by the universe. The individual is forced to turn to the higher forces for that energy. This lesson might happen several times before they realize what is happening to them. Men with this placement might feel uncomfortable with other men. These individuals might only seek out female companionship. They might isolate any potential male friends, because of an innate fear of the unknown. They do not know how to respond to other males because of the absent bond with the father figure.

These experiences are very normal for individuals with this placement. The primary reason that this occurs is to force the individual to seek one’s true father which is God. There is a lot of suffering that comes from this placement, but significant growth and spiritual advancement as well. Each person must come to a point where they seek a greater love that is beyond the physical. With this placement the person will find their oneness with God or the creative forces by service to others and putting this first in one’s life. When the person finds that bond with the creative forces and feels that unconditional love that is beyond words, they feel totally accepted and loved. This is the primary lesson that souls with this placement have chosen to endure. After they do that, then they might have the great honor of finding that bond with another physical person. This will not manifest for them until they master the basic lesson of this house.

Individuals are sometimes forced to seek God or the creative forces through experiencing suffering, heartache, depression and feelings of loneliness. These feelings occur to push individuals forward in fulfilling their true purpose. Finding oneness with God and humanity is their ultimate goal. To feel oneness with humanity is a daunting task, but these individuals are more equipped at pursuing it, handling it and succeeding at. The father figure circumstances in their lives no longer are a curse, but can become a blessing in disguise.

This placement of the Sun is truly a blessing for those with it, even though it might seem unfair at first. I urge individuals who have experienced the truths of this placement to know that they are not alone and that there is a spiritual reason and predictor of why this occurs. I urge them not to think of themselves as victims or believe that the universe cheated them out of a relationship with a physical father. The most important thing to remember is that the universe has a plan and that plan is for intense oneness and love for our spiritual father. This feeling is often beyond words.

Inward versus Outward
One reason this placement of the Sun often seems difficult is the contrast between the outwardly directed energy of the Sun and inwardly directed nature of the Twelfth House. The Sun represents our ego, our need to make our mark in the world. When the Sun is in the Twelfth House, however, that egoic energy is forced to turn inward. How do we show the world our individuality, our strength and vitality, when we're constantly looking inward? The only way is to do something positive with what we've learned through that inward journey. We have to make our inner resource the means by which we push the ego forward.

An example of someone who did this is Mohandas Gandhi. (Gandhi's precise birth time is uncertain, but various sources confirm that it was shortly after sunrise, which would place the Sun in the Twelfth.) Gandhi led a non-violent revolution to free India from colonial rule, but the roots of his leadership came through self-examination and self-discipline. He is an example of the power that can come out of this placement once we accept the sacrifices and impediments that it often brings into our lives as a means of self-discovery.

Other people with the Sun in the Twelfth find different ways of turning their inward struggle into an outward force. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix did it through their music. Other people do it through visual art or literature. If you lack the talent for these activities, you can try talking to a friend or stranger who could be helped by what you have learned during your inward journey. Even in the dim light of the Twelfth House, the Sun has to shine. It has to give its light to the world.

Your Mission
Of all the house placements of the Sun, the mission of the Sun in the Twelfth is the one that is most often rejected. The inward journey required here does not fit into the typical agenda of modern life. If you do choose to accept this mission, you have to understand that your priorities are going to be different from those of most of your peers. Many of the things you do and the attitudes you express will seem odd to other people. You may take on burdens and restrictions that these people are not going to understand and put yourself in line for hardships that seem unnecessary.

An indication of how difficult this mission can be is the number of people with this placement who attempt to ignore it, who devote their lives to accumulating money, titles, and sensual pleasures. However, the mission of the Sun in Twelfth House does have a way of asserting itself into the lives of those who try to ignore it. This is another reason why the Twelfth has such a bad reputation. The means by which this placement of the sun brings us back around to our mission are often disruptive and sometimes catastrophic.

If you have the Sun in the Twelfth House, you may feel inclined to step away from the apparent and the physical. You may feel more drawn to spiritual exploration and to alternate ideas about reality. People with this placement are sometimes highly intuitive and sensitive to unseen forces. They tend to be more open to the the occult and they often find comfort in religious and spiritual practices. Other people with this position find their inward path through a struggle with an impediment handed to them by life or by fate. Their real-world struggle with this impediment becomes a means of self-discovery and self-exploration. Through an up-close and personal experience of the limitations of the human body and psyche, they find wisdom and even joy.

This is not an easy placement for the Sun. It can bring severe challenges and trials. But there is a purpose behind these hard times. They are part of a process of learning about yourself, a part of a journey toward the inner peace and self-mastery that is the ultimate promise of the Sun in the Twelfth House. As long as you travel this road willingly and share what you have learned with your fellow travelers, the supposed horrors of this "very unfor-tunate house" will fall away, and it will become your road to fulfillment. Excerpted from Behind the Horoscope: How the Placement of the Sun & Moon Tells a Story About You. Grab your copy today to discover what your Sun and Moon placement say about you, and how you can make the most of their placements in your chart.

Sun in the 12th House Traditionally, the Sun in the 12th House is not a strong placement for the Sun.  Rather than expressing and affirming the self, the focus of the 12th House is the dissolution of the self or the turning of the self away from the external towards its own interiority. Thus, you may find it difficult to function in the world and to assert your selfhood. In the 12th House, the self’s natural state is non-assertion. With your Sun in the 12th House, in order to manifest a strong presence in the world you must either overcome this centripetal tendency or you must compartmentalize yourself, creating  an artificial self which deals with the world, and an inner self which watches the  activities of the outer self and lives inwardly. Often, your activities may take place from behind the scenes, from a hidden or private place. Sometimes, you choose to withdraw into yourself and not deal with establishing a strong presence externally. You may also seek shelter, either emotionally and psychologically or manifestly by entering some reclusive institution.

Insecurities

As an individual with your Sun in the 12th House, you become insecure when you subconsciously know that your ego-self is not real and, therefore, cannot really take part in the activities of the world. Having no real self, you cannot really assert yourself. This may lead to two reactions. First, you may become self-renouncing. You may be overly timid and shy, with no self-confidence or self-esteem. You may withdraw from the world rather than face it and reveal your secret – that you are not real. You may also try to destroy the “illusion” of yourself through drugs, alcohol or self-destructive behavior.  Alternatively, you may try to protect yourself from discovering your essential non-existence by projecting a false self that operates constantly in illusion. This persona has no concept of truth and seeks to keep everything hidden and behind the scenes. You are, in essence, your own puppet. Focus of Your Self-identity With your Sun in the 12th House, self-identity is problematic for you. You may lack an identity-focus or you may focus your identity through one of the traits associated with the 12th House. You may see yourself as someone who is alone and withdrawn from society. You may see yourself as someone who is compassionate and caring. You may identify with some larger institution within which you can become lost. Or, you may identify yourself as a spiritual being. You may find it difficult to identify yourself with anything corporeal or be attached to corporeality. Instead, you may seek your identity as a transcendent being, destined to be absorbed in the One Essence of Being.

Sun in Twelfth House 12 The Sun in the 12th House indicates that consciousness is being opened out by the experience of functioning in the world with a perspective which gives no great awareness of self as a separate being. The vibration in this area of the horoscope weakens the dualism inherent in perception of human kind. A 12th House child does not readily distinguish between self and other, mine and thine.

In their childhoods, 12th House people are not encouraged to think of them­selves as individuals. The circumstances responsible for this are numerous and, on the surface at least, very different in nature. This placement is common in the charts of children brought up in orphanages, put up for adoption, or required to spend long periods in hospital. This placement may be found in the charts of children sent away to boarding schools, no matter how exclusive and no matter how loving the parents, in the charts of children born onto large families where clothes and toys are common property and the directed attention of the parents a rare commodity, and in the chart of an only child smothered by a parents love and concern.

In every case the child’s individuality is overlooked. Within the home and with­in the institutions, he is treated the same as everyone else and is not encouraged to recognised what makes him distinctive. Where the parent is smothering he exists for the needs of the parent, not in his own right. The early years of a person with the Sun in H12 tend not to be easy and are frequently unhappy. A person with this placement is prone to bullying. Other children detect his inability to stand up for himself and are likely to take his natural givingness as evidence of the need to buy friendship. Through out his life a H12 person runs the risk of being bullied, exploited and misunderstood by people who as unnerved by his lack of self-interest, as they are contemptuous.

By the time they reach early adulthood, many H12 men have cultivated a tough or flamboyant image. In his dealings with the world a 12th House person tends to be handicapped by his lack of self-interest and competitiveness. Unless he adopts these qualities along with a worldly veneer - and some Ascendant signs, notably Capricorn and Scorpio, make this more likely than others - there is a tempta­tion to drift or retreat into drink and drugs because he can see no purpose to the struggle. In terms of spiritual development, however, a person with this placement of the Sun is greatly advantaged by a perspective, which sees unity rather than separation.

A 12th House person tends not to think in terms of Heaven and Earth, rather he is aware of God’s imminence. It is characteristic of experience in the House of Pisces that for what is denied on the physical plane there is compensation on the spiritual. Psychic, particularly clairvoyant powers are often conferred by this placement of the Sun There appears to be no one profession which attracts 12th House people more than any other. They are found in all walks of life and fame is by no means denied them. As artists they tend to be concerned with the universally applicable. It is notable that 12th House celebrities are frequently seen as embodying the spirit of a movement or they become the figurehead of a trend or fashion.

This placement of the Sun is often found with the Moon in one of the houses of Relative consciousness, indicating that the soul, having learned about self and other is now learning that the dualship perspective can be trans­cended. It may be that the Sun in H12 indicates the completion of a cycle of soul development.

Mercury in Twelfth House 12 Mercury in the 12th House with the Sun reinforces the impartial perspective and although it increases the difficulty a person experiences in defining and promoting his own interests, it enhances his capacity for spiritual understanding. When Mercury is in H12 and the Sun in H1 a person operates from an understan­ding that the whole is the sum of its parts: people with this combination tend to develop and project themselves with a sense that in doing so they are making a contribution to something more significant than themselves alone. With Mercury in H12 and the Sun in H11 a person is likely to approach communal endeavour with a greater compassion and awareness of the emotional level than is normally associated with the house of Aquarius. A person with this combination is also likely to speak through the group, using it as a medium for his views and ideas. When Mercury is in H12 with the Sun in any placement a person is not encouraged in childhood to express his opinions or preferences and tends to have difficulty in his adult years in speaking out. When Mercury in H12 is afflicted by Mars, Saturn or Uranus then there may be a physiological reason for problems in communication

This placement suggests an introverted, quiet person. You don’t really know how to express yourself, and often feel stuck in your head. You are often anxious, and need a lot of solitude and sleep to function properly. A natal Mercury in twelfth house loves to reflect on its thoughts. You observe a lot, and you think in a creative way. Even though you are not the most apt when it comes to conversations or small talk, you have very valuable thoughts. There are many writers with this placement. For example, Ernest Hemingway had his Mercury in the twelfth house. Mercury in Twelfth House: Tapping into the Unconscious People who have planets in the twelfth house are extremely sensitive. They are easily overwhelmed by loud noises, strong smells, vivid colors. Too much stimuli makes them anxious and they tolerate it poorly on a physical level, too. The twelfth house is the natural house of Pisces, a water house. Planets here tell about a powerful intuition. Twelfth house placements suggest that you have what some people call a sixth sense.

With your Mercury in the twelfth house, you experience a tight connection to the unconscious. You don’t know how you do it, but you intuitively understand the undercurrents of the mind. This placement talks about a lively imagination. Finding some creative outlet can be of great help for a Mercury in twelfth house. Give a try to writing! Incorporating routines like writing morning pages each morning will help you sort out your thoughts and see clearly what belongs to you and what have build up from the expectations of your environment. The twelfth house is the house of the collective unconscious. Mercury here suggests a person who intuitively understands the dynamics of the unconscious. You have a free entry into this world, and you are drawn to understanding what is under the surface of our personalities. Mercury in Twelfth House: Invisible Thoughts Mercury in the twelfth house has a very intense mind. Your head is full of observations, ideas, opinions, but they are stuck in there. Mercury in the twelfth house people have a hard time expressing themselves. You lack the connection with the world. In this void, you talk a lot with yourself. People with this placement often feel that they can’t share their thoughts or that others don’t care about what they think.

 

Mercury in the twelfth house sometimes suggests that in your childhood, you experienced that adults around you wanted you to keep silent and don’t speak up. These behavioral patterns reinforced in the early days stay with us for a long time, even when the external forces disappear. The twelfth house is also called the house of self-undoing. And it’s the house of hidden enemies, too! Do you know where these enemies tend to hide? In your subconscious! Planets in this house show that there are some parts of your personality that are more or less invisible to you. Mercury here describes that you sometimes feel guilt or shame because of your thoughts. However, this just makes the situation worse. You have to learn to love yourself and allow yourself to be who you are. This is of course, easier said than done, but the alternative is not an attractive one. Changing your destructive thinking patterns will improve your life quality a lot.  

A Need for Solitude This placement suggests that you think the best when you are alone. Your mind is subtle, and you need to spend a lot of time on your own. You don’t need others to entertain you. A Mercury in the twelfth house shows an active mind, and you find yourself enough things to wonder about. Planets in the twelfth house make you very sensitive to the influences of your environment. You easily become overwhelmed with all the expectations, sounds, colors, people around you. A Mercury in the twelfth house can make you nervous and anxious, so make sure that you spend enough time alone! You absorb the energies around you, and solitude helps you find yourself again. Through being alone, you clarify your thoughts. A natal Mercury in the twelfth house makes an introspective person. You think a lot, but you don’t share your thoughts with others. Writing and reading are activities you enjoy. Journaling can be very beneficial for Mercury in the twelfth house people

All about the twelfth house

The Twelfth House relates to the organisation of energy as it oscillates between matter and frequency – the beginning and the end points of materialization.

Twelfth house people are the kindest, most compassionate and sensitive people on this planet. From a young age, they often feel different from everyone else. Many twelfth house people tell me that they felt like they were an alien from a foreign land, because they never felt like they belonged here on this earth. I have heard similar stories from people from all over the world. Many people with twelfth house planets have told me that at some time in their childhood, they often wondered if they were adopted. They felt so distinct and different from their immediate family, that they would grasp at straws trying to figure out why they were so different. A common personality trait that all twelfth house people share is that they feel like they have something inside them and the way they perceive the world that is not like normal people. This uniqueness is something special, it’s true, they are not like normal people. They often feel like they are from another world.

Most twelfth house people experience strange, mystical and unexplained experiences from a young age. They see ghosts, dream things that happen and can sense when other people are upset or angry. Many people call these abilities empathic and intuitive abilities. It is like twelfth house people have spider senses and can pinpoint the emotions that others experience. It is no surprise that many people with problems and unhealed pain are drawn to twelfth house people. I used to feel like there was a sign on my back that said, “Come to me, I will help you.” This trait sounds like a positive trait, but in reality, it can be very painful. The reason it becomes painful is because twelfth house people often lack boundaries. Our energy is wide open and gives freely. Twelfth house people are like a flame that moths are drawn to. Candles that attract everyone and everything. Lights that shine brightly in the darkness.

They have to be careful how much they give energy and how much they can withstand, because by being selfless, twelfth house people often feel drained. They not only crave time alone, but it’s crucial that they make time for themselves to be alone. Being alone is not a bad thing for twelfth house people, they actually need this time to recover, recoup and re-emerge into the real world. This is why the twelfth house is often referred to as the house of escapism. The only reason we want to escape from the world is so we can find peace, connection and comfort. Twelfth house people love to be home reading a book, doing art, journaling, writing or listening to music. They love to sit in silence with their own thoughts, emotions and energy and they are completely fine being in the house alone for days. Sometimes they never leave the house unless they have to, and they are content with this. Many people don’t understand twelfth house people and why they withdrawal from social situations and family obligations. They often make excuses as to why they can’t go out to eat or attend a social event, because they know how they will feel once they are among others. They usually want to leave and return home to their private world.

Surrounding themselves around spiritual art and music brings comfort. Owning pets, like small dogs or larger animals such as horses, can be healing for them. Animals often become a surprise therapy pet for twelfth house people. Giving unconditional love is natural for twelfth house people and animals can be something that helps them survive the more difficult times in their lives.

Twelfth-house people are what I call, “fallen angels”. It’s like they fell to earth, to a foreign land. They wander weak and weary wondering why they are here. They question who they are. They feel disconnected at times from their environment as if they are living in a dream. When they are with groups of people they can dissociate from their physical body and feel like they are an observer, like the world around them is a movie. I remember this happening to me all the time and it was so hard to explain this experience to anyone. Sometimes when they walk, they feel that they are walking on air and that their feet are not placed firmly on the ground.

They often feel like no one understands them until they find their spiritual circle and group. That is what they are seeking deep inside their hearts, they are seeking other people who are just like them. It might take them a while, but they will find them. They need a spiritual support system in their lives to help them achieve the goals they choose to accomplish this lifetime. Twelfth-house people are here for a purpose. Sometimes this purpose is forced upon them, and the universe strips away from them the very things that they love and cherish. Through these difficult experiences they often feel that they have to sacrifice themselves, their feelings, and their emotions for the greater good. A greater lesson is that they learn that they sometimes have no choice, but to let go.

Twelfth house people are giving and enjoy healing others. They like to feel helpful and to serve those in need. That is why many twelfth-house people and people with Pisces energy are drawn to the helping professions such as psychology, social work, counseling and spiritual advisors. They like to listen to other people’s problems, and they have such an empathic and strong listening ability that others are drawn to them. They can listen to others and offer a kind word and validation because they truly feel other people’s pain. They put themselves in other people’s shoes fully. If someone begins to cry, then tears will swell up inside their eyes and they will cry too. They absorb other people’s pain, which makes them spiritual healers. There is a price to this ability because sometimes they neglect themselves and avoid their own self-care.

When planets are placed in the twelfth house, I see someone that wears their heart on their sleeve. There’s a very strong, compassionate nature that is otherworldly, just like the traits of an Angel. They often take on other people’s pain, karma, and burdens. Walking around on the earth as empaths absorbing all the dark, painful emotions of humanity that surrounds them.

People with planets in the twelfth house often ignore themselves especially when they love someone or when they care about someone. And that’s the natural energy of this placement. It’s not that they choose to do it. It comes naturally to them to focus on other people and to care about their friends and their family. Twelfth-house people forget themselves in the midst of helping. And they’re meant to do that. They’re meant to help others, but they need to have a good balance because the lack boundaries between themselves and other people can cause them pain and suffering. They can be so selfless that they get taken advantage of by those they trust. They can be wounded by selfish people who only take and never appreciate or give back to them. This is why the twelfth house is also known as the house of suffering. Feeling used, tossed out, abandoned and betrayed is often a twelfth-house experience. This happens because twelfth house people see other people with rose-colored glasses and they are so innocent they believe that other people are like them, and that is the greatest lesson to learn. The fact is most people are nothing like them and are incapable of the kind of love and sacrifice that they can give to their fellow man.

Even Angels need time away from people to recharge and recuperate their great amount of healing energy. Twelfth house people are truly angels on earth, fallen angels who wander here helping everyone that crosses their path and blessing others with their vast amount of kindness and compassion. The world needs them, and they are the shining lights in the darkness who show those who are struggling that there is a glimmer of hope. That glimmer of hope is the fact that twelfth-house people exist in this mundane world. They walk among us.

We need twelfth-house people to be strong, to take time to withdraw from the world so they can go back out into the real world and serve those who need them. This is when they will feel that they are meant to be here in this world. They will begin to realize that they are fallen angels, they are not where they are used to being and they know it’s hard and cold here. They begin to realize that they chose to fall to earth, to be a support and a light for others.

Twelfth-house people need to allow their angelic light to shine, even if their wings are damaged and they have some scars. They need to straighten the bent halo and remember who they are. It is not an easy mission to love like angels and to give like angels, but twelfth-house people naturally do it. They are God’s healers and messengers on earth.

Twelfth house people discover how the world works early in life – mapping it out and knowing all the rules. It’s just not the world everyone else lives in. Paranormality is their norm. They move through life as if it were a shamanic journey, and they’re sleeping somewhere else. Their cosmic consciousness is innate, an organic awareness that others go crazy trying to attain.

One person’s “and then I spent a year at a retreat/did Ayuahuasca again/took up sacred chanting” is the 12th house person’s peak spiritual experience at the supermarket/saw Buddha in the bathroom at the club/astral-traveled-by-mistake-last-night experience. They assume everyone sees ghosts or visions and then stop talking about it once they realize it gets them in trouble. Twelfth house people often get more camaraderie from animals and deities than they do from fellow humans.

Supernatural things occur to and around them all the time, and no, they can’t place it in a religious context. Nor do they need to join a magical group, memorize chants and start summoning things up. The 12th house in astrology is your esoteric roots. It is the soul sector. Classically, it’s also the domain of concealed enemies instead of the open ones of the 7th house. It can sound terrifying, as if people with a concentration here will be stalked night and day by mysterious foes.

Paranormality Is Their Norm
But let’s break this down a tad. Certain characters envy the 12th house person’s aplomb with magic and astral realms but they’ll never admit it. They’ll behave perfectly – even obsequiously – to someone’s face and let rip with the slander when they’re out of range. 12th housers are not usually brash or confrontational, so they’re unlikely to have overt enemies. Hence the importance of trusting vibe over words.
If you want to go full throttle with this, say the person with a loaded 12th house has a strong spiritual lineage, cosmic guidance, and subliminal recall of occult powers/supernatural experiences from other times. If you’re all that, then, of course, you’d have a few grubby low-life entities lurking around still stinging from a spat in another era. Twelfth house people naturally gravitate to aura and space protection, but excessive use of drugs, including alcohol, leaves them energetically unguarded.
Leaving aside the fact that they don’t really need mind-altering substances as their mind is already alt-dimensional, some 12th house people see themselves as psychonauts, exploring the edges of consciousness or narco-philosophers: Terence McKenna, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg had huge soul sectors,  a massive capacity for drugs and agreed on something they called “the syntactical nature of reality.” Too intensive to go into here, it drew in chaos magic, synchronicity, hallucinogens, and hieroglyphics.

Artists with prominent 12th houses don’t simply do work that ‘lives on’ – their movies, music, and literature haunt people. It is as if they wove a beautiful ghost into it that would keep operating after they transferred dimensions. Watching, listening, or reading feels like a spell. This is the realm of Iris Murdoch, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Agnes Varda, and Leonard Cohen.
Even allowing for the fact that many well-known people don’t have their birth time on public record, there is a shortage of 12th house-dominant celebrities. Think about it: they’re reclusive by temperament and have a refined, poetic psyche that shrinks away from publicity junkets and their coarse interrogations. LED lighting fries their aura. They’re also scarily attuned to frequencies, find solitude rewarding, and guard a multitude of secrets. It’s not the innate profile of a publicity-hustler.

The twelfth house is the natural house of Pisces and Neptune. Before the discovery of Neptune, Jupiter ruled Pisces, and this house is not a bad placement for Jupiter.
However, when it comes to other planets, it’s a different story. Planets in the twelfth house show parts of your personality that are for some reason locked down here. You cannot fully access them. 

The twelfth house is the last house of the chart wheel (if there is a last house at all). It’s the house of all endings, isolation, suffering, but on the other hand, the house of divine inspiration and unconditional love. A strange place to be in, for sure.
The twelfth house governs a lot of things in astrology. Here’s a list of the most important associations of this house in astrology:
• seclusion
• places of confinement: prison, hospitals, monasteries
• dreams and sleeping
• the sea
• overseas
• inspiration
• fantasy
• spirituality
• escapism
• self-undoing
• addictions.
As you can see, there is a lot going on here! (And this is not even the full story, if you want to learn more about what belongs to the twelfth house, click here!)
The twelfth house has been considered a very bad place for a long time. Astrologers thought that planets here indicate bad fortune. This house is sometimes referred to as the House of Self-Undoing.
The twelfth house is not an easy one to understand. It can lead to suffering or it can be a source of divine inspiration. You have to learn how to work with this house, but once you do, you will find a treasure house here.

THE TWELFTH HOUSE

The twelfth house is one of those hard to define things in the world. What is it supposed to mean? Secrets? Backstabbers? Sabotage? Attics? Loss?

The twelfth house is called bad spirit because Saturn, the diurnal malefic rejoices here.

In classical or Hellenistic astrology, the twelfth house ruled not only enslaved people but also foreign places. Rome’s economy was built on enslaving foreign populations. Later, the twelfth house ruled asylums, prisons, witches, and attics. In a wealthy person’s house, the basement held the ancestral crypts while the attic was where the servants and enslaved people lived. Not died—lived.

If the twelfth house is the house of enmity and danger, then it is also the house of resistance. If it’s the house of self sacrifice, then it is also the house of escape.

This is the place of attic ghosts. Attic ghosts are different from basement ghosts, which tend to be the ghosts of the ancestors of those who live in the house. The people living in the house tend to fear attic ghosts for different reasons than they fear basement ghosts.

Avery Gordon writes that ghosts are not “a case of dead or missing persons” but is, instead, “a social figure.” She writes that “to be haunted in the name of a will to heal is to allow the ghost to help you imagine what was lost that never even existed, really.” To do this, one must “follow ghosts, neither to memorialize nor to slay, but to follow where they lead, in the present, head turns backwards and forwards at the same time.”

Following ghosts does not result in professional success, Gordon writes, but as failure. Following ghosts means that you sit in a room and quietly call attention to the fact that “There’s something in the room with us.” Following ghosts, Gordon writes, “is about making a contact that changes you and refashions the social relations in which you are located.”

Gordon quotes Patricia Williams who is a lawyer and professor of contract and property laws. Williams's great-great-grandmother was enslaved by the father of her children, Austin Williams, who was also, like her, a lawyer. Williams writes, "I see her shape and his hand in the vast networking of our society, and in the evils and oversights that plague our lives and laws. The control her had over her body. The force he had over her life, in the shape of my life today...I look for her shape and his hand."

Ghosts, then, are not just the dead. They are the unmemorialized dead—the forgotten dead. There's another meaning for the twelfth house: it's the house that contains the things that your mother repressed during her pregnancy. It's the things that the ghosts in your lineage couldn't find access to.

There’s an episode in the new Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix that tells the story of a Japanese town that was haunted after it was hit by a tsunami. Asian ghosts aren’t wisps of vapor like western ones but fleshy. The ghosts would show up, getting rides from cab drivers all around the city, sometimes dripping wet. The cab drivers picked up the fare for these ghost rides. They said that they would always welcome a ghost because they, too, lost people during the tsunami.

That's the twelfth house. It's the house in which we take a ghost for a ride because we, too, know what it's like to lose something.

THE TWELFTH HOUSE CHANGES

Our capacities for seeing and noticing ghosts changes throughout our lives. It is more likely for children to notice ghosts. It is also more likely for a child to be taken by a ghost.

Classically, the twelfth house rules enemies in the first phase of life, sadness and sorrows in the second, and big animals in the third. When we get older, ghosts sometimes become a synonym for grief. We learn to love the people we know in life and must contend with loving them when they are no longer alive. We learn to contend with love that never disappears.

It’s after our first big losses, which can happen at any age, that the twelfth house becomes our mourning rituals. It becomes the dreams in which our dead come to see us and the memories we carry of them that adjust and change after their passing. Grief makes a break. Grief is not about success but about failure.

The thing about animals is that, the larger we are, the longer we tend to live. Big animals have slower metabolisms and slower heart rates. The larger an animal is, the slower it tends to move. We forget this sometimes because humans live so long now, often longer than elephants which are supposed to live for a hundred years but often die at nineteen when in captivity. But big animals move slower and live longer.

There’s things in the twelfth house that you can’t notice unless you are living slowly—you can’t follow ghosts unless you call attention to what can’t be perceived. That’s the twelfth house. It’s the things that you don’t notice unless you are moving at an elephant’s pace.

This is interesting because I often see impatience characterize the twelfth house. We are impatient for the things that we feel like were denied to us. We hold them like duties and think that we must curate and force a path.

And, yet, the twelfth house works like a ghost. It resists impatience. It never lets us know what it knows until we are paying slow attention.

WORKING WITH THE TWELFTH HOUSE

I find it easier to work with the twelfth house by looking at it through the lens of childhood. Children are more likely to notice ghosts. Childhood is for following ghosts, even if the ghosts follow you out of childhood.

Inside the twelfth house live the things that you felt you were denied when you were a child, when you were becoming, and before you were completely finished. Because we are never completely made, there will always be ghosts that we notice if we give ourselves enough time to do so. The twelfth house rules the things that you know you were denied without really knowing, without really knowing what those things were.

Sometimes, the planets in the twelfth house can feel like a duty. There’s another meaning for the twelfth house—it’s the things that the birthing parent felt like they were denied during their pregnancy with us. I’ve seen people react to twelfth house planets like duties that they must fulfill for that parent while frustrated that they must bend themselves to define these things for themselves.

Venus is the twelfth house is a denied pleasure. Mars in the twelfth house is denied emotional expression. Jupiter in the twelfth house is denied freedom—there’s a great number of people who grew up in very strict families with Jupiter in the twelfth. Saturn in the twelfth house is the little rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, the one who never has enough time. Saturn in the twelfth house people are urgent people because they are afraid that they will be denied enough time.

The best way to work with the twelfth house is to follow ghosts. It’s to acknowledge that there’s something else in the room with you. It’s to let contact with those ghosts and those failures change your social context. The best way to follow ghosts is to use your imagination.

Jo Gleason has an excellent workshop about waymaking to the twelfth house. She shows you how to use the ruler of the twelfth and its friends to make your way towards what can seem like a hole in the ground. Waymaking to the twelfth house uses imagination because imagination is the only way you can contend with uncertainty. You literally don’t know what will happen tomorrow. That’s the twelfth house and that’s what the ghosts are trying to remind you of.

The best way to work with planets in the twelfth is to acknowledge the physical, financial, and spiritual wounds that not having enough of something has made for you. And then, it’s to confuse your ideas of what it means to have enough. This is part of what it means to accept suffering. Confusion happens when we learn something and we must learn from suffering. What does having enough time mean? Having enough friends? Having enough freedom? Feelings? Working with the twelfth house means that you must remember that you are enough even when you feel miniscule. Remember—big animals live longer but they also live slower.

Self-Undoing
For some people with the Sun in the Twelfth, the troubles that interrupt their rise in the world have little or nothing to do with their own actions. They just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there are also plenty of people with this placement who make their own trouble. Drug and alcohol abuse crops up frequently, along with secret love affairs and bad decisions. In some cases, the Sun in the Twelfth person seems determined to make a mess of his or her life.
None of this is recommended, but, if we look closely, we can often see elements of the deep examination of self that the Twelfth House seems to require in these behaviors. Drugs and alcohol can represent an ersatz and typically fruitless inward journey. A secret life with a secret lover can come to represent a secret self that is more meaningful than the one you show the world. Bad decisions and self-defeating behaviors lower the world's expectations of us and leave us free to consider our lives outside the context of success.
In some cases, acts of self-undoing like this can take the Sun in the Twelfth House person to an point of increased self-awareness and facilitate an inward journey. However, it is a dangerous road to take, and it seems more often to lead to addiction, misery, and alienation. People with the Sun in the Twelfth House are better off avoiding these kinds of behavior. The quick fix they promise is more often than not an illusion.