The 12th House as Underworld, Bestower of Gifts
I have a special fondness for the 12th house, as my natal Moon is located in the 12th, so my analysis of the house is informed by that placement. The twelfth can convey a great many blessings, to those who can calm themselves and accept the gifts offered. However, those gifts will not always be easy to handle and may not be understood as gifts in all instances. The twelfth is often associated with terrible experiences - imprisonment, hospitalization, confinement, hidden enemies - but these only represent the dark side of the house. In modern astrology, the twelfth house is the house of Pisces and is therefore ruled by Neptune, while in traditional/Hellenic astrology, the twelfth is a houses of Saturn. As I have observed in other posts on this blog, I find that many of the traditional associations with the planet Saturn are now assigned to Pluto. I don't find the twelfth to be overwhelmingly Neptunian, though certainly, the foggy, hard-to-define nature of the house is Neptunian. Rather, I find that Saturn and Pluto most directly define the experiences and energies of the twelfth house, though others may have different experiences of the house. It is my perspective that I will focus on here.
Those of us with any affiliation to the twelfth house will find that we are a little different from the majority of people. We see things others don't see. Exactly what we see, and how we deal with that, will depend on the sign that falls within the twelfth house, what planets we have falling within the twelfth house, and what planet is ruler of the twelfth and any planets it contains. Some signs sit more comfortably in the twelfth than others. However, any planets there will give the native an outsider's perspective (which, of course, is Saturnian...). In my experience, there is a significant number of people who are neuroatypical, especially people on the autism spectrum, as well as garden variety introverts who are neurotypical, with twelfth house planetary placements.
The world at large, with its extroversion and focus on external display and achievement, tells us from birth that we must all be extroverted, conform to the 'way things are' and get busy focusing on material achievement and participating in pack cohesion. No matter how much we might be the opposite of that, we internalize the over-arching narrative and, even if subconsciously, we believe that it is true, and therefore our introversion and inward focus is 'wrong', 'weird', 'unacceptable', even 'unloveable'. So we start with this disadvantage, set apart and segregated, not experiencing pack cohesion with our peers and, even if only slightly, broken by our perception based upon the world at large telling us that we are not 'right'.
But we are not broken or 'wrong'. We are exactly what we are supposed to be, and the world needs us, perhaps now more than it ever has. By being detached from the pack, we can observe the pack, and its behavior, in a manner that the regular person cannot. I suspect that twelfth house people were the creators of art, culture, religion, spirituality and shamanism, theater, manufacturing, etc. I suspect they were with high frequency the shaman who traveled into the underworld to bring back new information, and the eccentrics who created new ways of doing things. The twelfth house offers the gifts of insight, the ability to travel into the underworld/subconscious and the ability to recognize patterns. It is these abilities bestowed upon twelfth house people that manifest as both the blessings and curses of the house, depending upon how we react to them - acceptance or denial.
As we go about our lives, the twelfth house person is constantly being confronted with a paradigm that tells them they are wrong, out of synch with the world and not connected to the concerns and interests of their fellow human beings. We are being told that we are less-than because we don't excel in the arenas that others find so valuable. We are told we should have conventional relationships, successful careers, be extroverted and socially competent, and if we don't excel in these things, then we are told that we just aren't making the right effort. For many, this constant barrage of negativity becomes too much to bear and they turn to drugs, alcohol, risky behaviors, or criminality and antisocial acting out. This can then lead to the negative manifestation of the twelfth house such as incarceration, hospitalization or confinement, madness, illness or anguish - in short, the Underworld as hell.
The twelfth house represents the Underworld, and as such, it is the closest we living mortals can come to the world of the dead and the ancestors. It is through the twelfth house that the shaman accesses the Underworld, and that we can commune with those who came before and those who are yet to be, draw upon their knowledge and power, and bring that insight back into the daylight of the Upper World. It is also the well of creativity, and where we go to discover new solutions to old problems. Those of us with twelfth house placements have access to the Underworld, whether we want it or not. Hades (Pluto), as Lord of the Underworld, owned a Helm of Invisibility, and twelfth house people are often quite invisible, being able to be stealthy, but conversely, finding it difficult to impossible to be seen or acknowledged. I believe that we have a gift in our access to the twelfth house, and through it the Underworld, but it can feel like a curse, because I think people without access to the twelfth house find us scary. They sense the Underworld energy that hovers about us, if and when they can even see us, and it is an energy that reminds them of their powerlessness and mortality, for if the twelfth house reminds us of anything, it is that all is transitory and all things have an ending.
For many of us, the combination of isolation with the heavy energies of the Underworld, combined with the beliefs and reactions of other people, can make a twelfth house placement miserable. It can lead to feelings of isolation, judgement and failure, but when we break out of the beliefs that hold us tied to a paradigm that does not fully apply to or serve us, we can find a well of gifts, often quite otherworldly, within its confines. Like the tree which flowers in spring after the long winter, a twelfth house placement can be a revelation, a reawakening, a light in the mist to guide you to a deeper and more fulfilling season of being.
The gifts of the Underworld may be physical, as in an aspect of living in the world, or they may be spiritual, magical or mystical. In my experience, these two types of twelfth house gifts often intertwine and blur. For instance, one may be able to hear people's thoughts, and through that, recognize patterns of behavior that have physical, real-world, results. I would strongly suggest though, that in reality, the mundane, the spiritual, the sacred and profane, cannot be separated or untwined, and no matter which path the twelfth house person is pursuing, aspects of the other will bleed over constantly. Of course, that is likely the case for everyone. It just may be that the twelfth house person is more able to see the exchange. I believe that it is through combining the physical, real-world aspects with the spiritual/magical/mystical/Underworld energies that the twelfth house person has the surest path to being effective and creating a satisfying life for themselves.
This is a difficult path, but it is a rewarding one. It also requires considerable bravery, because you have to dismiss the judgements of those around you and simply walk the path that is laid out for you. You have to unwind the beliefs that society has imprinted deep into your subconscious mind. When you do this, you will find that reality is quite a bit different than you thought it was. This is the transformation that will see you, like a phoenix, rise from the ashes of your limitations and use the many gifts offered to you by the Underworld and the twelfth house. This transformation is, perhaps, the greatest gift the twelfth house and the Underworld have to offer. When you find that gift, you bring the light of awareness into the dark depths of the Underworld, and into the loneliest and most confined parts of your life.
The Spirits of the Underworld are always available to those with twelfth house placements, but those without introspection, who have not worked on their own shadow, should be careful about what they might call up. All work is first on self, recognizing and healing the inner shadow, before there is any focus on dealing with others, but once the shadow has been embraced, with anger and the victim mindset transformed into self-empowerment, and the false beliefs that crowd the mind and make your 'cup be full' have been unwound and emptied, then there is a place to begin to reach out to those others who inhabit the Underworld - the Deities, Spirits and Ancestors. Anubis is a powerful Underworld guardian and guide. Hades/Pluto, obviously, is a Chthonic deity with much wisdom to impart. Persephone is an Underworld deity, at least through the dark half of the year. Inanna's sister Ereshkigal is a powerful Underworld queen, and Inanna takes on the Underworld mantle for half of the year, and at the Venus retrograde cycle. Mercury/Hermes is the only Greco-Roman god that can go to and leave the Underworld freely, being a messenger and guide of souls (psychopomp). Saturn/Cronus is related to the Underworld, and serves as the gateway to the Underworld, from the physical to that which lies beyond it.
But of all those who dwell in the Underworld, none may be more transformative than our own ancestors. Many of our issues will have their roots in our ancestors, and in healing ourselves, we often find we have to work with these ancestors. Some ancestors will be benefic, while others are malefic, and we have to build up our inner strength to deal with the later, while courting the former to help protect against the later. While we work to heal all our ancestors, we always must protect ourselves first. And that is true for all spirit work. Another aspect of spirit work that twelfth house individuals may encounter is mediumship, working with the dead who are not ancestors, who may be on the other side, or who may be on this side and not have crossed over, be they the recent dead or those who have lingered amongst the living. In times of crisis, people who can perform these twelfth house functions are needed to help those who have recently crossed to find peace and rest.
In times of upheaval and crisis, twelfth house people have a unique set of skills that they bring to the table. These are often skills and talents that the masses without twelfth house placements may not be able to access or make use of. We are in a time when the abilities of twelfth house people are necessary, whether the world sees that yet or not. I believe that as our environment declines, exacerbating other societal ills that are already demanding attention, twelfth house people and their unique skills and insights will become more and more needed, as they likely have been throughout history in times of upheaval, crisis and accelerated change.
