Messages from the 12th House….

Art: Between the Sand and Stars by Jeff Christianson

NOT EVERYONE HAS TO LIKE YOU-MESSAGES FROM THE 12th HOUSE

Pisces, the 12th House, is the home of our secret self. Where the mysteries of our own soul’s reside. The ones even we are yet to discover.

My son is a Pisces, and I often joke that he’s sooo deep, he’ll likely never touch the bottom even if he spends his whole life deep sea diving in the oceanic waters of his soul.

To quote Tracy Marks, author of several works on Astrology, “The 12th House is a reservoir of the past, of all that lies beneath the surface, feelings, thoughts, images from childhood, and further back still, to our past lives. It’s what we hide from ourselves and others. It’s what emerges in solitude, both threatening us, and enriching us.”

In other words, Pisces can be a place where subconscious fears come up to be reckoned with. Wild messages float to the surface in our Dreamtime. Providing information that rolls around our mind for hours the next morning.

My daughter and I compared dream notes this morning. Both subjective and strange. We then set out to decode them.

Her dream had a mirror theme. She’s 11. An age where almost everything is centered around identity.

Mirrors suggest a link between the known world and our subconscious contents, and reflections can mean we are concerned with how others perceive us.

I’m a parent to 4 children. And at this stage, there’s always this heartbreaking transition. When they move from their radiant, shining, authentic selves. To desperately trying to fit in.

Made even worse is the environment of over-acculturation we live in.

There are shockingly few culturally acceptable archetypal cut-outs available to embody.

With social media, and dueling political factions, the pressure to conform is IMMENSE. (Yes, even she has her finger on the pulse of politics)

As an Aquarius, I’ve had high hopes that she, my last child, might sail through these years with her authenticity in tact. Especially with my guidance.

But no, I realize that grappling with identity is a part of development. And deep insecurities can be part of our refinement.

But what of adults?

There came a time when I hit 33, that I didn’t give a f%ck anymore. I got the message from the 12th House, be yourself, not everybody has to like you.

So like me or hate me, I was done contorting my body, my soul, my psyche, to fit into a pre-determined box.

But between adolescence and 33? Lots of pain.

It came about through an episode of total madness. My identity and all I thought to be true about myself and the world shattered into a trillion pieces. The vessel of compression that held all my fractured pieces fell to floor in front of me. In an instant. I spent days trying to put that too small, wrong sized body suit back on. But it no longer fit. So I left it there. In Texas.

I see that episode now as fortunate. I had the unlikely benefit of spending lots of time with ALL OF ME.

The pieces of me I was most disgusted by. The ugliness, the shame, the orphan, the unwanted one. The liar, the thief, the beggar, the victim. The one who wanted to be rescued. They all came up for acknowledgement.

But madness isn’t the only way to explore this realm.

Pisces season, especially as the Sun comes into a conjunction with Neptune (in its Modern Domicile) provides an opportunity to traverse our unconscious. Ride the ridges and valleys of our mind, until we hit the chasm.

To “shine” a light on deep seated fears and insecurities. And all of the maladaptive behaviors that we’ve developed to survive. The way we’ve warped ourselves, buried, and dissociated from our wounds and created a “formula for success” in spite of them.

It’s a prime time for excavation. For plant medicine, if that’s your thing (responsibly). For liminal work. Dance, art, ceremony, dream journaling, meditation, EMDR, etc. Anything that will help you unlock what lives beneath and behind. In fact, there are even 12th House Astrologers that specialize in this work.

We are supported in a metaphorical closet clean out, not just today. But as Jupiter meets Neptune, in the coming month, we will collectively have the opportunity to face the 12th house. To see our WHOLE reflection. When we do, we can step more fully into our true size, and authenticity. To gather the messages that bring in further clarity and direction from our soul.

As Mercury makes his way through Pisces, (March 9th - March 27th) the focus is undoubtedly on giving the “talking stick” of full expression to our liminal realms.