Saturn Rejoicing in the 12th House

The scheme of Planetary Joys is an ancient Hellenistic principle, in which each of the 7 traditional planets are said to rejoice, and have an affinity with being, in one of the 12 houses. The Joys of the Planets are some of the underlying, foundational, principles that have informed the modern, significations we get for the 12 Houses in Astrology. In this series of exploring the interpretative principles of the the planets rejoicing, we’re going to dive into understanding the underlying principles of Saturn rejoicing in the 12th house, to not only further unpack information about Saturn, but also about the 12th house.

Underlying Rationale

There are a few themes that are fairly similar across the board with the rationale for any planet rejoicing in a particular house. For a more lengthy explanation of this, visit Chris Brennan’s paper about the Planetary Joys and their Origin. The main pieces we can extrapolate from this scheme going on is that

1) Saturn is part of the Air Triplicity, in addition to the Fire Triplicity, so it gets priority in rejoicing above the Horizon. Saturn is inherently a cold planet, as it is the further planet visible to the naked eye, thus being the coldest. When Saturn is placed below the Horizon, it could not rejoice there because the nature of Saturn as a malefic is to have coldness pushed to an extreme (whereas Mars is extreme heat), and the coldness under the earth, amplifies the malevolence of Saturn. The Angular Triad of the 1st House (the 2nd, 1st, and 12th) and the Angular Triad of the 10th House (11th, 10th, 9th) are of the element of Air and Fire. The Ascendant’s Angular Triad is ruled by Air; the rationale for this is that Air and Fire are upwards rising elements, and in these houses, planets are in a rising state of motion. Aristotle’s Doctrine of natural place states that Fire rises to the top of the cosmos whereas Air rises and sits just below that. My understanding of this is that the Earth has air contained inside of the atmosphere, and as things exit or leave the atmosphere, they burn up, which would make sense. Additionally for the fact that Water sits on top of Earth, which is technically true. With Saturn being part of these triplicities, the placement of which house Saturn should rejoice in is narrowed down to the 9th through 12th house. Saturn generally likes to be cold, and so placing Saturn in a house where it has just risen and is still freshly out from under the Earth, it would be a little colder, since when the Sun passes through this house, my metaphor to describe the 12th is that, usually the Sun has not heated up the Earth enough, and thus planets in the 12th house are much colder, even though it’s above the Horizon.

2) The Joy’s of the Sun and of Saturn are square each other, the 9th and 12th house, which makes sense with the nature of the Square being Malefic, and the malefics being in a challenging aspect to each of their luminaries. This same principle goes for Mars rejoicing in the 6th square it’s Sect Light, the Moon, whose joy is in the 3rd.

3) The 12th Houses is in Aversion to the Ascendant, representing something out of the individual’s field of conscious view and engagement.

4) Finally, the Ancient name used to describe the 12th House was called The Place of Bad Spirit (kakos daimōn). With this translation, we understand the principles of bad being signified by the fact that Saturn is a malefic, and that because it was above the Horizon, visible in the sky, that it would signify issues pertaining to the intangible, our spirit, our “daimon”, which is translated to be a spiritual entity that acts as a guiding force, but in this instance for challenging or malefic related reasons. Jupiter on the other hand gets the name of Good Spirit, since it is the other planet that rejoices above the Horizon, and represents good things happening to the Spirit, represented by the Sun. The Sun is seen to be a symbol of our Spirit, of our consciousness, our mind, our intellect, our will, volition, and facilities of perception.

Delineations of Saturn and the 12th

I wanted to include some passages of what other authors have to say about both of these houses, and compare and contrast the language used in describing both.

Vettius Valens, Anthology: “Saturn makes those born under him petty, malignant, care-worn, self-depreciating, solitary, deceitful, secretive in their trickery, strict, downcast, with a hypocritical air, squalid, black-clad, importunate, sad-looking, miserable, with a nautical bent, plying waterside trades. Saturn also causes humblings, sluggishness, unemployment, obstacles in business, interminable lawsuits, subversion of business, secrets, imprisonment, chains, griefs, accusations, tears, bereavement, capture, exposures of children[…]”

On the 12th House: “If the malefics happen to be in this place, they will cause great wounds and traumas, especially if they are in their proper face. […] benefics found in this Place will not bestow their benefits. Whenever these three stars fall in this sign (the rulers of the Ascendant, of the Lot, and of Daimon), they make men unfortunate and disgraced, those lacking their daily bread. Many will hold out their hands <for alms>.”

I think there’s a lot to extrapolate with these passages, and I’ve selected the portions of each passage from Valens’ basic significations because there’s a current pattern amongst this list. Valens’ signification for Saturn looks very horrid at first glance. I mean who would want to be petty, malignant, and self-deprecating, although these seem to be my everyday moods (which may further prove that Valens is correct, as I have Saturn in the 1st house LOL). These first sets of significations list out a clear theme of experiences that are geared towards decay and decrease in quality. Which is natural for Saturn, as the significance for its exaltation in the sign of Libra derives from the fact that Saturn is the principle of Darkness since it is the furthest planet out from the Sun, as a result, it is naturally colder. Coldness is a decrease in temperature, so we already see this as moving towards one extreme, as the malefics do, whereas Mars moves towards the opposite extreme of heat. During Libra Season, it is the autumnal equinox, and thus the length of nights and days are equal, but moving towards decrease in the length of days. For a lot of people, this is when seasonal depression can kick in, which is a commonly listed signification for Saturn. I’ve seen clients who have Saturn prominently placed in relationship to their 1st house, the lord, angular, etc. and these people have had serious issues with depression and other mental-related issues.

I find this interesting because the 6th and the 12th are known for these themes of health, but in different aspects, since one house is in the lower hemisphere of the chart (under the Earth), whereas the other house is above in the sky. The Sky and the Earth are important concepts because their relationship is a constant theme in what Astrology tries to explore. The Sky represented by the Sun, and the Earth represented by its Moon (its satellite and the controller of the tides). We know ancient authors often regarded the Sky as the realm of the spirit, the intangible, and the energetic aspects of life, whereas the Earth is regarded as the realm of physicality, materiality, and the tangible. Having the 6th be below the Horizon, and its traditional name be “Bad Fortune”, whereas the 12th is regarded as the House of “Bad Spirit” shows this dynamic clearly. This is something pointed out in Chris Brennan’s paper, mentioned above. The way I’ve come to interpret and see this is through the 6th being events that are physically unfortunate. Such as physical injuries, cuts, pains, scrapes, and this can also be literal fist fighting or physical malice since Mars Rejoices here. Whereas Saturn in the 12th can talk a lot about mental health, spiritual health, people throwing evil eye, people speaking badly about you, because it’s the realm of Spirit, people making decisions poorly behind your back (since the Spirit is seen to be a metaphor for free-will and our autonomy). I’ve seen 12th house transits for folks, especially with 2021’s Mercury Retrogrades in Air Signs, be important for themes revolving around mental health and examining one’s own mental health. Saturn can also represent more chronic and drawn-out issues, which is also a theme in Valen’s significations.

It’s interesting that Valens mentions the following in particular, “solitary, deceitful, secretive in their trickery”, because of the secretive themes of the 12th house overlap. Solitary confinement is often a Modern 12th house signification, but Saturn naturally represents that which it is hidden. Saturn is what conceals, the medium for concealing, and a lot of time that can because something is in the dark. Saturn rejoicing here in the 12th house can make the 12th house feel much more elusive and mysterious to folks because there is darkness here. To demystify the 12th house, I always describe it as one’s own privacy. You’re not just going to share your 12th house shit with everyone, right? There are certain levels of boundaries for even what we can express as humans. All of our thoughts, all of our emotions, pain, joy, pleasure, guilt, sorrow, euphoria, can all exist in the 12th house. But what we don’t share. What do we think when no one is around. When we are completely alone with ourselves, how do we feel? A place where some might experience the 12th house is: their bathroom. When you are alone on that toilet, doing Saturnian stuff (releasing waste), what are you thinking? Where does your mind go? Is it a place of escape? I would go take 10-minute breaks in the bathroom all the time at my old job just so I can catch a breath. And this is why the 12th is not also a place of solitude, but it can be a place of serenity. It can be a place of retreat and into a cocoon. I often associated the 12th with cocoons as well, because this is where one goes to retreat and to continue to marinate. Sometimes this can look like a spiritual retreat, especially if benefics are in this house (moreso Jupiter), or really finding a lot of comfort in privacy. Although there are other instances where benefics in the 12th can create people who oversharers, whether it be information or giving themselves away too much, to a point where those benefics may not be super constructive. So there are multiple ways to look at the 12th house. The fact that the 12th House is in Aversion to the Ascendant does emphasize this shadowy theme, as the conceptualizing for the houses in aversion to the Ascendant is that they are signs that don’t see each other, and they’re out of their peripheral vision. Because of this signification, the subconscious is such a great keyword for this house, and that really overlaps with what Saturn signifies: condition, being conditioned, the underlying structures in the mind that inform the decisions we make. Saturn often rules over systems, teachings, ways of life, rituals, and this very disciplined part of life, rules, and sometimes spirituality, and ultimately this is conditioned. What structures do we live in that are greater than us? On a psychological level, the 12th house is our conditioning and habits we have, and sometimes those habits can be self-destructive. I also see the 4th house as a house dealing with the subconscious, because the 4th rules the past, things that happened previously, lineage, ancestors, etc. and a lot of the time we can see what are the patterns on a generational level in the 4th house. Whereas with the 8th house, the final house in that triplicity, we see the opinions and the minds of others, the power of others, the magnitude and weight others have over us, sometimes grief and pain we experience from other people, the ways people hurt us, the ways we feel loss and depravity.

Diving into the 12th house is not easy though, as diving into the subconscious is never easy. Processing trauma is never easy, and the 12th house is a space we need and is vital for us to process trauma. It is deeply intertwined in a relationship with the 4th and 8th house, as signs here are all a part of the same elemental triplicity. Saturn asks that we go in there strong and be ready to fight some battles that have been going on for a long time. Chronic things are represented by Saturn. Unlearning patterns of behavior requires that we replace the conditioning with something else, and we must be careful of what type of teaching or pattern we replace because we need to think about the long term effects of how this will affect our psyche. Saturn always shows things that happen long-term. Saturn is the deeper parts of our brain, where we forget, don’t think about, or even don’t pay attention to as time goes on. And with Saturn, the longer you let something go unattended or uncared for, the more it rots and becomes more of a chronic issue. This is why processing trauma is important because the long-term effects of not processing trauma can be very harmful to our mental health. And simultaneously, processing trauma is not easy because Saturn is a malefic. We must go slow. Give ourselves time. And not rush into making drastic changes. I always tell people if they want to work with Saturn, you should not be making drastic, sharp, commitments or changes that place too much responsibility. It’s like trying to pick up a 200lb barbell when you can only lift like 20lbs. You need to work up your endurance and you have to give yourself time. Saturn is all about working slow, and in working slow, it is about not rushing the process. You cannot rush a grand oak tree to grow 100ft tall overnight, that’s going to take a few years.

Brittany Spears and her Saturn Exalted

On another hand with these significations, Saturn also brings in this theme of suffering. Where we feel trapped. We feel bound. We feel like we cannot escape something and we lack freedom, “Saturn also causes […] obstacles in business, interminable lawsuits, subversion of business, secrets, imprisonment, chains […] capture”. One really striking example is Brittany Spears, who’s been in the news recently because of the battle over her conservatorship with her Father, who has been abusing and manipulating her through legally binding contracts of conservatorship, be completely present with Brittany’s Natal Saturn being in her 1st house. Often times Ancient Authors will say that Saturn in its Exaltation can do no harm, although I clearly have to disagree with this because it’s clear, with Saturn being the ruler of her Whole Sign 4th House of Capricorn, being in her 1st, the abusive, binding, and diminishing tone he carries, and because that planet is exalted, and Brittany is born during the Night (with a Libra Rising), this Saturn is the most challenging part of her chart, and the literal translation for this aspect (from Astrology to English) is “The individual will have some of their greatest challenges (Saturn as the malefic out of sect) be about themselves (1st House), their binding, legal situations, and law (Libra) because of home, family, father, privacy, related themes (4th House).” Here we Saturn in a difficult light, but this isn’t the only way Saturn can appear.

More on Saturn

As for what Valens indicates based on his passage of the 12th house, I have to disagree, to some extent. “If the malefics happen to be in this place, they will cause great wounds and traumas, especially if they are in their proper face”. I don’t disagree with this statement, because even in Brittany’s chart, Mars in Virgo in her 12th has literally shown up as her enemies (in this case her father) micromanaging her privacy. However, the goal with malefics here, especially with Saturn, is setting boundaries and privacy. Which can both be very hard and challenging things to accomplish, especially when a lot of the times our boundaries can be disrespected, and when some of us are not taught how to enforce boundaries. A lot of people of color, queer, and folks at other intersections of marginalized identities can experience this 12th house as challenges with boundaries, and not because there is anything wrong with the individual, but because of the 1) audacity of others 2) the conditioning of our society. This is why I say the 12th house can represent the topic of GateKeeping. Saturn is a gatekeeper. And a lot of the times, gatekeeping is extremely necessary for marginalized identities to preserve their culture, to preserve their identity, because you cannot just let anyone into a culture or society who may potentially have malicious intentions. The 12th house can be a source of empowerment through the lack of access, because those who do have access to the most intimate parts of ourselves, our culture, secrecy, etc. are people who can understand our struggles, understand our experiences, and work towards building community. This is not to negate the signification of the 12th house which can also represent enemies, infiltration, invasion of privacy, etc. but that we can use the 12th house to empower ourselves, and that we engage with it every day. And the lessons to understand the 12th House are found through Saturn rejoicing here.

When we engage with the 12th house, we’re ultimately dealing with our shadow. I think this is one of my favorite significations from Modern Astrology that is given to the 12th house because the shadow self accurately describes not only Saturn, but the nature of the 12th house being a dark house. There is an element of lack of attention or awareness given to this house, and it’s actually very funny one word that Valens uses to describe the 12th is “squalid” meaning somewhere dirty, as a result of poverty or neglect. And I find that in our society, we are taught to ignore the 12th house, and as a result, it does become more “squalid”. American culture seems to have this obsession with Jupiter as a principle of expansion, growth, opportunity, and not giving a fuck, whereas Saturn does care, Saturn does give a fuck, oftentimes too many fucks. But Saturn most important says to the Jupiterian principle that you cannot just act however you want without consequences. Those consequences of your actions are what the 12th house is. And so when we do not do this self-reflection work, shadow work (another great signification for the 12th) we can find our minds cluttered, tethered, worn out, exhausted, and it’s because we have not put any care towards it. I think the movement towards talking about mental health is really important with Saturn being in Capricorn and Aquarius (2017-2023) because mental health is important. And if we do not take care of it in the way this society conditions us to, it can become squalid, but as it even states in that definition, that is a result of poverty and neglect. Many times the 12th house can represent where we are neglected and where we feel like we aren’t taken care of. Saturn asks that we be intentional about who we let into our 12th house, and as I said earlier with gatekeeping, we must gatekeep our 12th house. Saturn is very tender in the core of the hard exterior. Almost like a rock-hard candy with a gushy center in the middle. Saturn also says that if something is not cared for, especially for long periods of time, it will deteriorate and it will rot. I often use rotting wood as an example for Saturn. The wood has no longer become fortified and strong, and has not become soft, brittle, and turns to dust. Decomposition is a Saturnian principle, and decomposition plays a role in the cycle of life. Like mushrooms, worms, bugs, things that grow in the Earth. These are all Saturnian as well, especially because Saturn has a heaviness to it. When we reframe our understanding of Saturn to be less about things that harm us, but to be the protector from harm, Saturn can turn into our biggest ally. Giving us clear signals when something needs to be taken care of, or maybe when it is time to let something go. When something is spoiled, such as food, that’s Saturn. Mars gives us warnings that something is on the verge of being push to an extreme as a malefic when we are in pain, and this reaction is immediate, stark, and we notice it instantly. With Saturn, you won’t notice the effects over time. You’ll understand them more as time goes on. I think about dental care as a very Saturnian principle, and how too much sugar can literally rot your teeth and create cavities. When we neglect to care for ourselves and our bodies, we pay the price and pay the toll for that not in the current moment, but in the future. It is the consequence. And that is also another Saturnian principle. This is why Saturn is hellbent on decision making and picking the right time to do something, saying the right thing, doing the right thing, there is a rigor towards picking the decision that will be more beneficial in the long term with Saturn, but who it’s beneficial for and why is treated on a case by case basis. Slowness is a part of Saturn, I mean it takes 30 years to go around the Zodiac, so the changes it brings up are literally visible as you let time move on.

William Lilly’s 12th House Horary

One of the other topics I often talk about with the 12th house, and what occasionally gets mentioned with the 12th is Witchcraft. This is a very interesting signification because authors will usually ascribe divination to the 9th house, and even the 3rd house since it is opposite the 9th house. We see this in William Lilly’s signification from Christian Astrology where he goes on to list the basic significations of the 12th house:

“It has significations of enemies, witches, great cattle […] imprisonments, all manner of affliction, self-undoing, and of such men as maliciously undermine their neighbors or inform secretly against them”.

Even when we examine the types of Questions he has clients asking about in his section on the 12th house we get questions like: “Of Secret Enemies; If one is bewitched or not; natural remedies for witchcraft; If Bewitched”.

And it’s funny because he actually gives a chart example for a client asking if they are bewitched. One thing that jumps out to me immediately that William Lilly would’ve not known is that Pluto is on the Ascendant, and the chart in question is to know if someone is bewitched, or having witchcraft down against them. While Saturn in the 12th is an incredible argument for witchcraft, having Pluto on the Ascendant makes that even more visible and loud that the type of question being asked about had underlying motives of control, power dynamics, and someone wanting to execute secret ways of control. In this instance, Lilly said the client became sicker and sicker after suspecting someone had done witchcraft on them.

“in regard the physicians had prescribed much Physic, and it wrong no effect, but the patient worse and worse"

The Doctors said the client had much “Physic” (seems to be a term representing good health, but can also be interpreted as prescribing a drug to further better one’s health), but the client felt otherwise. William Lilly goes on to say that he understands that the Moon applying to an opposition to Saturn was indicative of suspicion of some sort of Witchcraft. Although William Lilly claims in that passage that he affirmed the client was not cursed, it’s evident that later in the passage he says “civilly acquaint them, that the disease peccant was occult”, so it seems William Lilly was trying to calm down the nerves of the client, but he does actually believe that he has had witchcraft done on him, which manifested through this physical illness. Having Saturn in the 12th in this chart. He says it is because of Venusian activities, since Venus is the ruler of the 12th house, in its exile, in a day chart, while also being under the beams of the Sun. Saturn rejoicing in the 12th makes this evident here.

Wrapping things Up

Ultimately we’ve taken a pretty clear look at some of the things the 12th House can bring, as well as Saturn, and why they are connected. However there are multiple ways that the 12th house can show up, especially if it’s ruled by a benefic or a benefic is in the 12th house, I’ve seen, when it becomes activated by protection, individuals take spiritual retreats. They’ve gone in search of isolation and loneliness to block out the noise of the world. The 12th house can be our escape from the world, a cocoon in which we can rest. In another blog post, I may cover more authors’ interpretations of the 12th and of Saturn, but for now, focusing on William Lilly and Vettius Valens has proved to be potent enough in understanding this connection.

Sources and Further Reading:

• Vettius Valens, Anthology

• William Lilly, Christian Astrology

• Chris Brennan: Planetary Joys and their Origin https://www.hellenisticastrology.com/the-planetary-joys.pdf