DEMYSTIFYING 12th House Planets! 🔮

The 12th house in astrology is among the most confusing and difficult energies to understand. 

In fact, the most common questions I get from my students and clients are often about the 12th house and what it means to have natal planets in this nebulous, intangible, and elusive house. 

The 12th house represents qualities and personality traits that have been unconsciously repressed.

It’s the house of spirituality and self-sabotage, representing topics and themes ranging from the truly sacred to the truly profane.

And, yes, the 12th house is also the house most closely associated with the subconscious realms and past life experiences.

People with planets in the 12th house tend to be extra sensitive and, in keeping with the 12th house being the “house of solitude,” people with 12th house planets require extra “alone time” to restore and replenish their energy.

In medical astrology, not only is the 12th house connected to hospitalizations, but it’s also tied to addictions, self-sabotaging health behaviors, and, most importantly, SLEEP. 

In the video below, we’ll de-mystify the 12th house in astrology, including what it means to have each of the 10 astrological planets in this rather intangible, difficult-to-understand placement. 👇

The 12th House in Medical Astrology

We all know that the 12th house is a traditional malefic house and is considered to be the house of “Solitude and Self-Undoing,” but you may be surprised to learn that this house is also very important in medical astrology.

Rest and restorative time are crucial to good health. The 12th house rules sleep, sleep quality, and a person's ability to revitalize him or herself through relaxation and adequate rest.

The Zodiac sign that occupies the 12th house and the planets in that house paints an important picture describing how a person sleeps, their dream world, and their inner reality. 

Sleep quality, dreams, and sleep disorders often show up here.

The 12th house also shows whether a person rests and replenishes their energy by curling up on the couch with a good book, meditation, and breathwork or feeling the most revitalized through  "active" rest. 

Spiritual well-being and mental health are also shown strongly in this house, which can also be a prominent player in certain types of addiction.

And, because it is opposite the sixth house of health, we'll often see physical illnesses showing up in connection with the medical astrology significations of the signs and planets in the 12th house. 

Illnesses that show up here are sometimes considered “karmic” and can be tied to past life experiences (if you’re into that sort of thing).

If learning these medical astrology interpretations makes you feel super excited to learn more, jump on the waitlist for my medical astrology foundations course at the link in the description below. 

Additional 12th house topics:

• Hospitals and rehabilitation centers
• Prisons
• Brothels
• SOLITUDE (often forced) is the biggest theme here 
• Loneliness and alienation
• House of exile or confinement
• Connected to slavery and bondage (along with the 6th house)
• Problems and difficulties with foreign countries
• House of Hidden Enemies
• Sorrow and disappointments
• Tied to past lives and events that occurred prior to birth
• “Self-Undoing” and “Self-Sabotage,” often we unconsciously suppress the energies of the planets placed in this house OR actively work against our well-being
• Planets here are often considered to be physically "weakened" and psychologically "repressed" due to early childhood experiences
• Spirituality and your spiritual understanding and practices
• Creativity and imagination

12th House Planets

Sun: This placement brings shyness and the inability to "shine" (something "dimming your light). Sun in the 12th may indicate a lack of vitality. This placement is sometimes connected to the father's absence or disconnected from the father. People with this placement sometimes suffer from disrupted circadian rhythms, and this can also indicate a lack of solar exposure, especially in the water signs. People with Sun in the 12th may dislike others who are outgoing, flashy, and center-of-attention types. Because they often repress this energy within themselves, they resent others who are able to express it openly. 

Moon: Moon in the 12th house people are often good sleepers, however, their moods and emotions can disrupt their circadian rhythms and their sleep may be heavily influenced by the phase of the moon in transit. This is a common placement for restlessness and insomnia near the Full Moon. Emotions kept buried can eventually reverberate into the 6th house and cause physiological complaints. 

Mercury: Mercury in the 12th house can indicate obsessive or intrusive thoughts that prevent one from sleeping. Mental restlessness at night is extremely common. Journaling, reading, calming music, and breathwork are therapeutic for rest and restoration. Information diet is SUPER important for sleep quality. Negative thoughts manifest as ILLNESS for those with this placement. Mental “exercise” and intentional control over one’s thoughts are important. Mercury in the 12th may indicate keeping secrets or holding one’s tongue instead of speaking up or sharing ideas. This placement needs an outlet for communicative expression. 

Mars: This placement often indicates restlessness, movement, and activity at night! It’s common for those with Mars in the 12th house to experience nightmares, night terrors, or fear of night or the dark (especially in childhood). Exercise is important for sleep quality, and movement can be a form of rest. Repressed anger is indicated by this placement, which can lead to health problems in the 6th house if left unexpressed. 

Venus: Venus in the 12th is a positive indicator for good-quality sleep. People with this placement often like to sleep with a partner or close to others. They can be indulgent rest-takers (in a good way). This placement is the least likely to have nightmares unless otherwise indicated. Venus in the 12th sometimes indicates hidden love, secret affairs, or self-sabotage in relationships by selecting partners that are physically or emotionally unavailable (note: this is also true of the ruler of the 7th in the 12th). 

Jupiter: This planet does well in the 12th house. Jupiter in the 12th house natives often have a strong sense of spirituality. Esoteric study revitalizes the mind, body, and spirit of those with this placement. People with Jupiter in the 12th tend to get abundant rest and replenishment. Because Jupiter is a benefic, protective influence and the 12th house rules all things hidden, it can indicate “hidden protection” or someone or something working in your favor behind-the-scenes.

Saturn: Saturn has its "joy" in the 12th house, which isn’t as joyful as it sounds. This placement often restricts one's sleep. The weight of responsibilities and burdens inhibit true, restorative rest. People with this placement may become fearful at night, especially in childhood. This is the most common placement for “forced” isolation or having to contend with long, uninvited periods of solitude. It’s also one of the most common astrological markers I’ve seen in cult survivors. Trauma around solitude and isolation can eventually lead to psychological or physiological imbalance. Fear of loneliness or alienation is also indicated (often due to direct, personal experience with such things). Natives with this placement often report difficult experiences around spirituality.

Uranus: People with this placement may be very restless at night and generally have difficulty "truly" resting. Sleep and rest patterns are often sporadic and inconsistent. For those with Uranus in the 12th, EMF frequencies impact sleep quality and may cause internal agitation. This placement also indicates repressed rebellion. Natives with this placement may not feel like they’re particularly rebellious or contrarian, but others will see these qualities due to the unconscious need for the Uranian influence to be expressed.

Neptune: Neptune in the 12th house makes a person highly sensitive and, therefore, prone to anxiety and addictions to substances used as a means to escape from the harshness of normal reality. People with this placement are very psychically attuned and often harbor fear around their own sensitivity. This placement brings solid sleepers with active dream lives (unless otherwise indicated by additional anxiety markers or afflictions to Neptune) and is a natural placement for lucid dreaming.

Pluto: This 12th house placement is the most likely to be connected to nightmares and night terrors. Some astrologers believe that Pluto in the 12th indicates a prominent past life trauma subconsciously impacting the native in the present lifetime. Past life trauma has a massive unconscious impact and can show up in dreams, meditation, or other altered states. Pluto, in the 12th house, people value solitude and alone time. For them, spirituality is a solo experience. They may be secretly or discreetly interested in the occult, magic, or other “taboo” forms of spirituality.