We have finally arrived at the 12th house. This is a place that I personally took so long to understand that I couldn't even count exactly. Part of that is because it doesn't aspect the Ascendant - it's like trying to see the blind spot in the rearview mirror, thus so difficult.
Because it is in the solar realm, above the horizon, it relates to the mind and the spirit; but we have to remember that it is where Saturn rejoices, extending his essence to it - which makes it easy to understand the name kakos daimon, or "bad spirit." In ancient times, it was a house related to the curses that fall upon us, slavery, and different forms of suffering.
At its opposite pole, the bad fortune, we deal with external factors that fall upon us in a more bodily sense - physical illnesses and oppressions. But the bad spirits of the 12th house can be understood as more psychic factors that bring us loss, isolation, self-sabotage, and affect our mental health. There is a lot of discussion about this place being the house of hidden enemies, and what is more hidden than our unconscious and its afflictions, escapisms that become addictions? Addiction is usually something we don't admit or hide even from ourselves.
Like Saturn, exiled in the distant and dark Tartarus, we sweep - or are swept - out of the way. The Lord of Time still carries within him one of his most painful meanings: Necessity. Are the experiences of evil spirits one of the necessary paths to maturation?
If we imagine that in the pivotal house of the Ascendant the planets possess a lot of strength and energy, when they pass into the 12th in their primary motion, they arrive at a point of exhaustion, like a marathon runner who has crossed the finish line and needs to throw himself on the ground to catch his breath. Another alias for this place is 'between worlds' (metakosmios), as it represents the moment of birth for both mother and child, since this sign rises on the horizon before the two are separated.
Thus, in this 'in between' place there is a kind of confusion or blurring of boundaries, so that the characteristics of the planets/signs positioned here are more difficult to recognize; hence, projections occur easily. On the other hand, we can think of potential qualities that are ours, but because they are so far away, we don't appropriate them.
All the cadent houses refer to journeys, but this one is connected to those that isolate us - that is why hospitals, clinics, prisons and exiles are always mentioned. But it is worth remembering that this isolation is not necessarily punitive - it can be the movement towards finding yourself or isolating yourself to recompose and recharge, a place for you and your psyche.
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