The Misunderstood 12th House

The 12th house is my favorite house because it’s the most misunderstood. I guess that fits considering people with person planets in this house tend to feel misunderstood. The 12th house is the house of hidden things, so when a planet is located here, it tends to have the energies associated with it hidden. That doesn’t mean you don’t have the energy of that planet in your personality or life. If just means that the energy only comes out behind closed doors, in situations where you’re completely comfortable, and with people that are familiar and soothing.

Take an Aries Sun, for example. Aries is THE sign of energy and action, and an Aries Sun is supposed to be super active and outgoing and an extrovert. But if their Sun falls in the 12th house, they come across as shy, quiet, introverted, even socially awkward at times. They may hate being around strangers, and feel like they don’t know how to talk to new people. Now get them away from the crowd, away from the noise, and with just a few people that they know really well, and see how different they behave. They’re bouncing off of the walls and going faster than you can keep up with, and you never would’ve figured that when you first met them.

Let’s take another example. Someone with Mercury in Gemini should be a super talkative person, the kind that you’d like to tape their mouth shut to have some peace around. But if their Mercury is in the 12th house, they clam up around other people, don’t share their ideas, are afraid of what other people will think of their opinions or thoughts, and could even have a speech problem or learning difficulty. Now get them alone and then they can’t stop talking. You think they’re erupting with words, and you see how quick their brain works.

The Sun, Moon, or Mercury in the 12th house tend to produce the shyest, quietest, and most unassuming people in public. They have a hard time presenting themselves to the world, and some can cope by putting on a mask, a persona when around other people to make themselves feel comfortable. Mercury in the 12th house also tends to feel like a person who has Mercury retrograde in their chart, and the impact can be similar, except Mercury retrograde natives come alive when Mercury is currently retrograde.

The other personal planets are Venus and Mars, and with Venus in the 12th house, you tend to be someone who doesn’t want to show affection in public, finding public displays of affection to be uncomfortable. People might see that and think that you’re not affectionate at all, not a romantic, not touchy-feely, but alone with someone, when you’re comfortable, you can let it out. With Mars in the 12th house, you can seem lazy, always starting late, lacking drive and the ability to get something started. When comfortable, and when no one is looking, you’re going faster than anyone else can. With Mars and/or Jupiter in the 12th house, you tend to not only thrive in the background, behind the scenes, and out of the spotlight, but you actually perform quite well and can have great success that way.

Filed under General Astrology, Learn Astrology | Comments (6)