Relationship Astrology (2) Connecting from the 12th House

The last post mainly discussed transits into the 12th house, but what about the natal planets in the 12th?

We covered already that the "props" we lose in 12th house has to do with worldly ties that anchor us in life - family, friends, relationships, work, wealth, status, etc. It boils down to connection with the world.

Since 12th house often has to do with confinement, isolation, secret, and 'behind-the-scenes' involvement, we can see that planets in here would experience some challenges in finding a way to connect with the world directly.

Noel Tyl suggested that Pluto in the 12th house, when stressed, often carries the feeling "the world doesn't understand me" - which is the manifestation of difficulty in connecting with others.

Venus in 12th house is also associated with challenges in relationship - "a private sense of beauty" is Noel Tyl's wording - which suggests the existence of ideals and emotions that are not easily shared with others.

Mars in 12th house is said to suggest "hidden anger" - or anger that is not easily shared with others.

Rather than becoming fatalistic about these challenges, we could ask "why?": Why is it so difficult to share your perspective, ideals or emotions with others? Is the aim "not to be hurt ever again?" How will that work in building a relationship?

Connecting from the 12th House
Several thoughts, with examples:

1) How could we use the energy of the 12th house to connect with others? One way may be to pursue a 12th house activity. The reason that connecting with the outer world is hard may be because there is a need to connect with the inner, or even paranormal, world.

Coleman Barks, a renowned Rumi translator who gives very cool poetry readings of the ecstatic poet, has Pluto in the 12th house.

2) Another poet Charles Bukowski, who has Moon in the 12th house, wrote poetry and writings that appealed to those that were marginalized, the poor, insane or incarcerated - his own 12th house experience has touched others that feel the same pain of not being able to connect or "fit in."

This suggests that we could connect with others through sharing or empathizing with their pain. Work of art, literature, or screenplay often touches people when it is able to speak to the parts of us that feel the same pain that the writer (or the character) feels.


3) Other way might be to "Connect from Behind the Scenes" - It's interesting Alexander Graham Bell has three planets in the 12th house, and he invented the telephone (talking with people without seeing them.) I checked about a dozen radio broadcaster's charts and found similar emphasis of the 12th house.

This leads me to think about the people that like to connect via internet discussion board, Facebook etc, who have a challenging time with in-person relating...I think it's a double edged sword - it's a start to connect with others online, but we don't want to stay stuck in virtual relationships.

Conclusion

My feel is that 12th house planets work best if you can somehow use its energy toward productive or meaningful activity - whether it's writing, painting, meditating, or programming, etc. It's not an accident that many creative horoscopes have 12th house emphasis.

By channeling the 12th house energy this way, the need for introversion or isolation may be fulfilled enough, that it doesn't have to spill over into the relationship arena.

If you have 12th house planets and have some input in how best to handle it, please feel free to write or comment...

12th House Metaphors & Stories - Crossing the Threshold

12th House experience has to do with losing your props, i.e. the anchor that grounds you to the earthly life. Since most of us acquire a sense of identity, power and self worth through our work, relationships, marriage, family and status, it can be devastating to lose one or more of these props. Hence, the classic astrologers called this "the House of Troubles."


Examples of 12th House Experience

• Stephen Forrest gave the story of a man walking out of a divorce court, feeling the loss, but at the same time, free and joyful: the unhappy marriage that was his life no longer exists - by losing that anchor, he is free to recreate his life.
• Transit Saturn comes into 12th house, and a healthy woman experiences a series of accidents that keeps her in pain and at home - for a span of two years or so, she lost the identification with the healthy, pain-free body that was hers. As a result she developed a deeper level of compassion for other people's pain. She is now a certified healing practitioner who is busy helping other people heal from their pain.
  
• In dreams, you often lose your props - you're just your consciousness, without the worldly trappings of jobs and money and relationships. This also happens (presumably) after we die and leave the body - the ultimate question is, what will we be able to take with us after we die? Only the quality of your consciousness; meditation is the way to experience the quality of your consciousness, and hence it's a 12th house practice.
• Transiting Saturn moves into 12th house, and a man files bankruptcy. He is forced to face the worst in himself, in work and in relationship. After two years of struggle, he senses that he is beginning to become a totally new man.
  

Transiting Saturn conjunct Ascendant (ASC) - Crossing the Threshold

What happens after you lose the props, but life goes on? Often the passage of Saturn and outer planets through the 12th House into the 1st House mark a dramatic departure from the past. The process of dissolution is almost complete, and a new sense of self emerges - sometimes gradually, other times quite suddenly.

When my Saturn crossed the Ascendant, I graduated from high school in Japan, and decided to come to United States to study music in college. I effectively lost all of my social ties in Japan, and was disoriented for a while - but after a year or so, I emerged with a very different self image - it was like I died and took on a new life (there is a funny thing that happens in your brain when you divorce from one language and switch into another. Now I think in English.)

So several times in your life, there are experiences that happen that change your life forever. It may start out as "troubles," in the form of an illness, loss of family or marriage, or some kind of failure. But as long as you keep on living, chances are that you'll emerge with a new identity, even a new life.

If you have your own 12th house story, please feel free to write or comment...

Learning From Physical Pain

It's amazing how much unexpressed/suppressed/repressed emotions our body can store. Before the breakdown occurs, there are many clues that our bodies give us - headache, backache, neckache, chest pain, stomach pain, breathing difficulty, etc.

It's not just about nutrition and genetics - although I believe both factors play a part, we give far less credit to the disease that happens in our emotional body, which then will affect our physical body.

How much emotional pain, fear and anger do you think is stored within your body? At certain times the environment will trigger the stored emotions to be released - this sometimes manifests as various physical pains.

The pain may seem like it's coming from nowhere, but it's trying to tell us that certain emotions need to be released (Louise Hay says cancer comes from stored resentment.) Going to a doctor might not solve the problem if the core emotions that are stuck in the emotional/physical body cannot be released.

I recently experienced a sharp lower back pain, which is unusual for me. There was a transit Saturn square Venus that was separating (Venus and Libra rule lower back, according to Astrological Timing of Critical Illness.) As I worked with a friend who happens to be an extremely gifted healer, she felt that there was some emotions underneath the pain that needs to be released.

So I tuned into what I've been feeling for the past week or so, and I realized that a lot of it had to do with a fear of not being good enough with several projects I had going on; a kind of self criticism that was carried over from the past. I realized that I was being way too harsh on myself, and not being accepting and loving of myself - which represents the transit Saturn-Venus dynamic well. After the session, just about all the back pain was gone - I left very impressed about the first hand experience of the deep connection between body and emotions.

When we work this way, the pain could become a teacher in showing us what needs to be released. Astrology reveals some aspect of this (planets and signs correspond to certain body parts) - but the healing needs to come from our internal awareness, and perhaps help from a gifted alternative healing practitioner that understands such dynamic.

Free Holistic Astrology Class - This Saturday

In case you're local, I'll be doing a free class in a library in St.Petersburg, FL. It'll be on natal astrology and mind-body health (since it's a Virgo new moon that day.)

I'll publish some notes from it after the class.

Free Astrology Fonts for Mac/PC

After switching to mac I had to install astrology font for my classes...It's nice to have if you want to make handouts or slide presentations.

link

Update: Astro Gadget is also nice.

Why Stories Are Good For Us

Whether you're working with a Jungian analyst, or simply reading a novel or watching a movie, stories have a therapeutic effect. But why? Here are two thoughts:

• In real life we often hit an impasse, that can last for quite some time (think of the slow transit of outer planets - "how long til Saturn leaves my Venus alone?" etc.) In a novel the protagonists may go through an impasse, but the resolution follows fairly quickly (for the readers at least), and we get to experience the vicarious satisfaction of moving through an impasse.
  
• Many aspects of our personality - the good or evil, strong or weak, honorable or shameful parts of us - take on the form of a character, and they each get expressed or "acted out" in the story and meet their own resolution (i.e. ending.)

Hence we can see a story is therapeutic in at least two ways*:
1) resolution of psychic tension through the storyline (tension and release.)
2) expression of all (including the repressed) parts of our psyche, which leads to synthesis

So next time you sit down to read a fiction, comic book or watch a movie, don't feel guilty - you might be engaging in a very productive activity for your psyche (just tell your family "I'm resolving my psychic tension!")


*We could posit that learning astrology in itself is therapeutic, since learning all the planetary symbolism leads to recognition of many parts of our psyche (point #2 above), and learning about the potential for resolving the aspect tension can lead to actual resolution of psychic tension (point #1).

Working with Saturn, part 4: Now or Later

Ben Franklin said if you want to live a life of ease, do what you ought to do, not what you please. This thought may be paraphrased as the following Saturnian principle: you can choose to do the difficult thing now and life gets easier later, or you can choose to do the easy thing now and life gets tougher later.

There are so many examples where doing the tough thing now helps you to live a life of ease later:

• Saturn contacting Neptune* (testing the ideal): Let's take any artistic endeavor for example - if you go through the anxiety and potential (and real) pain of criticism by showing your work (be it music, art, writing) to a teacher and a peer group for their feedback, provided you select the right people, you will improve through the interaction. It's not easy to humble yourself and keep seeking constructive feedback from a skilled teacher and supportive colleagues - our inner artist is very sensitive after all - but by doing so you will eventually attain expertise and security in your own work. Here, to be secure in your own skills is the experience of "ease". If you choose to take the easy path now and do not seek out the pain of constructive feedback, later you may experience the pain of unrealized potential.
  
• Saturn contacting Venus (testing relationships): Sometimes, reaching out to others can be difficult or painful - whether it's making a sales call or contacting your customers or talking to your spouse about difficult issues - but by going through the fear (and occasional, actual pain) of rejection and speaking with them, you come into an entirely new level of relationship with them. If you keep doing this, pretty soon there will be a solid relationship established, which will give you the sense of "ease." If you choose the easy path and do not reach out now, you will later experience the pain of isolation and underachievement in the relationship arena.
  
• Saturn contacting Mercury (testing thoughts and mindset): Learning anything deeply - investing, nutrition, a fitness program, meditation - involves conscious engagement and enduring of the dry spells, plateau and disciplined practice. Learning these things is a challenge, but life gets easier if you choose to make them part of your life now. If we choose the easy path now and do not deepen our learning, we later suffer the consequence of our ignorance (e.g. missed retirement, serious health concerns etc.)
• Saturn contacting the Moon (testing emotions): It's really difficult to do the work of emotional healing, when we have been accustomed to shut ourselves off from uncomfortable, vulnerable feelings within ourselves. We can take the easy path and not bother with feelings at all, which most likely will result in the feeling of emotional numbness; or we can take the difficult road of self healing through introversion and psychological self inquiry - which will lead to emotional wholeness later on, meaning you'll feel "easy" within your own skin.
  

Note that the "easy" thing to do in many cases listed above is to listen to our fear and not do anything new, daring or challenging - which almost inevitably seems to result in some difficulty later on. In our work and relationships, we're faced with this choice all the time. So whenever I'm working toward some goals and I hit a spot of insecurity or challenging experience, I ask myself the question: Do I want the pain now, or later?


*I list the aspects here as typical examples, but people without such aspect can also face the choices and fears associated with the examples listed here. For example, if your 7th or 11th house is under tension (e.g. 7th or 11th house ruler squared by Saturn, etc) then what's written in the Saturn-Venus paragraph may be very much relevant to you.

Transformation of Mars Archetype

Mars is the energy we use to get what we need. Its animal root is hunting for food.

I was taking a long walk on the beach this morning, and saw a huge bird flying over me, gliding gracefully and looking down at the water, presumably looking for some prey. Suddenly it occurred to me that eating=hunting for all animals except us.

We used to have to hunt, too, but not anymore. In the absence of the need of this classic Martial activity, we have learned to express it in physical sports (Olympics anyone?), exercise, and year-round sexual activity (which could be a kind of hunting, I guess.)

Sometimes the physical energy gets channeled into mental or intellectual activities: think video games, mathematics, software programming; Mars-Uranus aspect has often been associated with people that deal with invention, mathematics, and technology - it is a creative cerebration of the physical energy.

If we do not have enough outlet for this physical energy through vigorous work, there may be depression (stored anger) or unnecessary fights to discharge the aggressive energy.

The common myth is that we'll be happy when we get rich and don't have to do any work at all, but the dynamic of Mars archetype clearly illustrates the falseness of this notion. I mean, Bill Gates doesn't have to be doing what he's doing with charity (I just don't get the people that say he's doing it for tax reasons.) Mars has to be utilized one way or the other, whether you're rich or poor.

The way to think about it is, "Now we don't have to worry about starving. So we have all this energy that used to be reserved for hunting - what shall we do with it?" This is an enormous reserve of vigorous energy, just waiting to be put to use (imagine the amount of energy it took to create wikipedia.) Depression is a refusal to bring it out into action.

I think we can do something great with our Mars.

A Quick Tip For Creativity

If you feel stuck writing or designing or playing music, the best thing you can do is to stay away from the instrument.

This means if you write or design using a computer, the best thing that you can do is to stay away from computer: Get a pen and paper, keep your laptop or desktop off, and start writing (or drawing conceptual designs, etc.) If you compose or play music using a piano, guitar etc, you stay away from it - get a pen and paper, and see what you can compose or how to play certain tunes certain way.

It is a very freeing experience, because our mind doesn't have to be trapped by the limitation of the softwares we use - you can draw mind maps and write notes and pictures, and otherwise just flow. I learned the idea from a book called Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds*, which talks about how to design great powerpoint presentations. Enjoy!

*to be more precise, Reynolds said it was important to plan away from the computer just using pen and paper.

More on Quintile Aspect: Some Interpretive Guidelines

Following the previous post on quintile, I'll share some guidelines for interpreting individual quintile aspects:

• Quintile aspect from Mercury, Gemini planets, 3rd house ruler can all suggest "creative communication"
• Quintile from Uranus can suggest "creative innovation"
• Quintile from the Sun or Leo planets can suggest "creative self expression"
• Quintile from the Moon "the need to be creative"
  
• Quintile from Saturn "creative discipline"
• Quintile from Neptune "creative visualization, creative imagination"
• Quintile from Pluto "magnified creativity"
• Quintile from Venus "creative talent; creative relationships"
• Quintile from Mars "creative action, creative energy"
• Quintile from Jupiter "creative inspiration; creative optimism"
• Quintile from MC or 10th house ruler "creativity expressed at work"
• Quintile from ASC "creative personality"
• Quintile from IC "creativity at home; creative results from psychological work"
• Quintile from DSC or 7th house ruler "creativity expressed toward the public, or partnership"

Yes, they are similar when you think about it - hence if you have multiple quintiles, you basically need a creative outlet. We could go on a little more about house tenancy and rulerships - 5th house may have to do with creatively performing or teaching and so on - I think you get the idea.

Quintile Aspect: Creativity and Innovation

Someone asked me to write about the quintile (72 degrees) aspect. It is an aspect that has been associated with creativity - but what does that mean in terms of interpretation?

Noel Tyl's working thesis is that if a horoscope contains many quintiles (let's say 3, 4, 5 or more), the person very much needs a creative outlet - either as a profession or a hobby. Following this thesis, I've made it a point to ask clients "what is your creative outlet?" whenever I see more than a few quintiles on their horoscopes*.

Sometimes the people say they have no such outlet - but they aren't very happy about it. Maybe they had a passionate love of writing, art or music that was suppressed in the course of development (parental pressure, saying it's "not practical" etc.) The question then becomes, what can they do to start exploring their creativity again?

Morning pages (from Julia Cameron's Artists Way) might be a good start - to pay attention to the small inner voices that tells us what we want.

Other times, the creativity is channeled into their current work (creating one's own business, for instance.) Educating a child also takes creativity - so it doesn't really have to manifest as a career in art, music, etc. Usually you can tell if a person has a creative outlet or not, because it tends to manifest as the feeling of being alive.

A tricky question: What if you don't have any Quintiles?
Creativity is something that is within every one of us, so this obviously does not mean you are not creative. I have looked at several dozen horoscopes of people in so called "creative" professions, and am here to report that the number of quintiles varies quite a bit - zero through many - and it doesn't have to do with how good of a musician, artist, or a writer you are.

So do not despair if you don't have many quintiles in your horoscopes - the number of quintiles can never be an indicator of whether you can succeed at a creative profession. Most artistic horoscopes have emphasis on Neptune or Venus, and quintiles may never be involved.

Question #2: Does having many quintiles suggest that you are an innovator?
If a number of quintiles aren't necessarily indicative of a creative profession, can it suggest how innovative (a variation of creativity) a person is? Here I'm getting mixed data:

• Fashion innovator Georgio Armani has 4 Quintiles
• Music innovator John Cage has 4 quintiles; Jazz innovator Miles Davis has 4 quintiles, and innovative composer Igor Stravinsky has 2 quintiles
  
• In a scientific realm, Albert Einstein has 4 quintiles; mathematician John Nash (featured in the film Beautiful Mind) has 5 quintiles
  
• Auto business innovator Henry Ford (mass production concept) has 5 quintiles
• Software entrepreneur Bill Gates has 4 quintiles, whereas Steve Jobs has only 1.
• Writers commonly seem to have more quintiles: Jane Austin has 6 quintiles, Mark Twain has 4 to 6 quintiles (depending on birth time); George Bernard Shaw has 6; E.E. cummings has 4. William Butler Yates has 3 quintiles.
• Walt Disney has 2 quintiles, and so does Pablo Picasso.

2 quintiles seem pretty average to me, but other factors in their horoscopes (Neptune etc) are certainly more pronounced in the cases of the giants mentioned above. As far as interpretations are concerned, my approach is that multiple occurance of quintiles can be used to confirm the creative emphasis suggested in the rest of the horoscope, but cannot stand alone as a sole indicator of creative potential.

Question #3: How do we interpret the individual quintile aspect?
Quintiles are interesting in that they aren't treated like a hard (challenging) aspect, but neither are they static (dare I say boring?) like the soft aspects. They seem to call for a creative resolution much as in hard aspects, but possibly without the ordeals of square or opposition.

Example: In the case of Sun quintile Neptune, the expression of core life energy takes on a very creative tone (both because it's Neptune and it's quintile) - but possibly without as much vulnerability associated with Sun square Neptune etc.

This is just a feeling that I've been getting by looking at the way quintiles are being discussed by other astrologers, as well as how they work in the vocational profiling. If you have any other thoughts or anecdotes I'd be glad to hear it.

UPDATE: Someone suggested that the other side of creativity could be things like problems with authority (i.e. not conforming to the traditional way of doing things), as well as not being able to think like others (which can lead to problems at work, etc). I also want to add susceptibility to chaos (see John Nash above) - one may see too many possibilities, and the mind may lose touch with the grounding provided by the traditional method of doing things (atonal Free Jazz, anyone? )

UPDATE#2:Yet another element of creativity is independent, original thinking: I had a client with 6 quintiles tell me "I do best when someone gives me an objective, and lets me make things happen on my own. If I had to follow a prescribed path, I do not enjoy it at all." The innovators seem to have this in common, and we can see how this ability to "think outside of the box" would be very useful in the world of business, design, software engineering, music, etc.

Conclusion

As always, some people make the best use of their innate potentials more so than others. Pay attention to the entire horoscope to see what your best outlet for your creativity may be. If you happen to have a number of quintiles, great - enjoy using your creativity. If you don't know what your creative outlet is, try a morning page - pay attention to the small voice inside of you that wants to try something new, or pick up something that's old. The point of all this is for you to feel the joy of expressing your talent, so that you feel more alive.


*A (very) technical note for astrologers: When counting the number of quintiles, I do not use the asteroid aspects - as the number of quintiles will naturally increase the more number of asteroids you use. For the same reason I'd rather not use biquintiles - since by including them the number of the aspect quickly increases to make most horoscope appear "very creative" (hey, if that's what you want to see, that's okay too. For my part, I prefer simplicity.)

On the other hand, I count the quintiles to Descendant and IC, as well as South Node - since they are each part of an axis (ASC axis, MC axis, Nodal axis). In your software, include the 108 degree (tridecile) aspect if you want to count these aspects - but only count them in if they show up in the ASC, MC, or Nodal axis column in your aspect grid.

Sun and Moon in 12 Signs - Blending Energy & Needs

I just posted a simple introductory lesson on Sun-Moon blend on my site. The PDF is downloadable by clicking on the table - the words are from Noel Tyl's Synthesis and Counseling in astrology, as I remember them.

The blending of the energies of Sun and Moon is the beginning of synthesis. Think this way: The energy of the Sun is utilized in order to meet the need of the Moon. It is almost as if Moon uses the Sun’s energy to get what she wants (think of it as a marriage, wherein the husband is driven to please his wife, so works in order to meet her needs.)

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