When Saturn transits the Twelfth House the need for security and achievement influences how you deal with the subconscious and spiritual realms. This transit marks an important transition in your life where you’ll prepare for the rebirth that will come when Saturn crosses the ascendant and enters your 1st house. But first you must undergo the dissolution.
When Saturn transits the 12th house you must deal with the consequences of all the thoughts, desires, and actions that you’ve engaged in during Saturn’s cycle through the houses. How you’ve been expressing yourself has created the life you’re now living and it’s time to confront your karma. This is the end of an old cycle, so if this is the first time Saturn has visited your 12th house, the cycle may have started in a previous life.
This is a period of self-discovery where you’ll withdraw from the expectations of others in order to find out for yourself who you are on the deepest level. This can be difficult and disturbing, especially if you try to hang on to your old identity. It can be a time of confusion, disorientation, and frustration as the old structures of your life begin to collapse. As the boundaries and structures of your identity dissolve, you may feel spaced out, vulnerable, or lost, especially during the early part of the transit.
Saturn wants you to let go of your past way of doing things and define new values and ideals for the future. This is a good time to explore what you really want on an ultimate, spiritual level – your bottom line – so you might want to experiment with new ideas and approaches to life. Anything that no longer works, or feels empty and meaningless, will fall away, and you’ll be left with the things that really matter to you.
Old fears and anxieties may come up from the depths and demand to be faced. This is a confrontation with the unconscious, a period of darkness and entering the unknown. You’re taken into an abyss of identity loss and change that you can’t control, and you may try to resist – but resistance only makes the process harder. Remember that not everything in the unconscious is dark and nasty and trying to kill you. There’s good stuff down there too, and you may discover a transcendent dimension to your experience that will become a source of strength and support through this process.
You may feel isolated now or actually end up alone for long periods. You may want to withdraw into solitude, but you may also just feel cut off from others and unable to relate on an emotional level. When the outer world feels unreal and distant this is your cue to turn inwards to listen to the promptings of your deeper Self and find a source of internal strength and meaning.
This is a good time to go on a retreat or to study spiritual, mystical, or occult subjects. You may also be drawn to other Neptunian forms of expression such as music, poetry, and art, and you may find it easier to express what you’re experiencing through images, vibrations, and symbolism. It’s also helpful to explore your dreams or undergo therapy in order to understand the symbols that come up from the unconscious.
Remember that the old structures of your life are being dissolved to make room for the birth of a new you. In the meantime, this is a period of waiting, dreaming, and inner exploration. A liminal space in which you can’t do much except learn to listen to the promptings of your soul.
Possibilities with Saturn transiting the 12th:
- Letting go of the past
- Learning to meditate
- Encounter with your soul or true Self
- Going on retreat or holiday
- Healing body and soul
Watch out for:
- A stay in hospital, prison, or asylum
- Psychosomatic health problems
- Low energy
- Despair
It will help if you can get your ego to cooperate with this process of dissolution and willingly let go of your old attachments. If you can see this experience as natural and part of living and growing then you should feel enriched by the process, even if you also feel scared and lost at times.
It’s also important not to get ahead of yourself or try to force the process to go the way you want. The rebirth is on its way, but don’t think for a second that you can control it or dictate how things will unfold. You must allow your deeper Self to lead the way, and that way may be hard for a while, depending on what needs to come up from the unconscious.
Saturn will help you to change if you cooperate. If you resist and carry on regardless, it’s likely to cause some kind of backlash from the unconscious and you could find yourself on the wrong side of a locked door. But willingly turning inwards and asking for guidance will restore your energy and hope, and new possibilities for the future will start to appear ready for the rebirth when Saturn crosses your ascendant into the 1st house.
(Personal note: when Saturn was in my 12th I experienced a total collapse of my identity which triggered an awakening and the start of my spiritual journey. Read about it here: First Contact)
References:
- Planets in Transit – Robert Hand
- Saturn in Transit – Erin Sullivan
- Astrology, Karma, & Transformation – Stephen Arroyo
More Transits: 1st house – 2nd house – 3rd house – 4th house – 5th house – 6th house – 7th house – 8th house – 9th house – 10th house – 11th house – 12th house
Browse: Saturn Transits to Planets
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Jessica Davidson 
Thank you for this Jessica, like Anne my ascendant is Aries at 0.23 degrees also my sun is Aquarius and in the 12H. My moon being in cancer at 23.42 degrees, the past three years have been hell, with having a stellium of Saturn 14 degrees Venus 17 degrees and Mars 20 degrees all in capricorn, the release of trauma from my childhood started in 2018 as transit pluto and saturn were passing over my stellium and approaching opposing my moon, this all kicked off big time by April 2019 just as south node and pluto transited at 23 degrees capricorn with saturn not far away at 20 degrees, I started going dizzy at this point as things I had blocked from remembering started resurfacing and I had to stop working in my job and seek therapy an horrendous time 2019 then came the conjunction of transit pluto and Saturn at 22.46 capricorn on the 12th January 2020 ( which was Opposing my Moon) the mental anquish and layers of abuse in childhood just kept appearing in real time, layer by layer bit by bit then in February 2020 I went for a chest Xray as a cough had been causing me concern from 2017 an Xray in 2018 showed clear, this Xray in 2020 showed I had a tumour on my lung, and was diagnosed with lung cancer just as lockdown came in, as no operations were taking place because of lockdown I was just referred for Radiation therapy so with all this mental stuff going on which was worse than the lung cancer diagnosis, I proceeded with my radiation treatment, 20 sessions 55 radiation greys altogether this through May June, then in August 2020 I got radiation pnumonitis which is not fun, to cut a longer story short a CT scan in October 2021 showed no evidence of disease as did my follow up Xray 3 months later, today I await another Xray on 19th July then a further CT scan in October hopefully it has not come back,
Saturn entered my Placidus12 house at 10 degrees back in December 2021 and has just gone retrograde near my Chiron at 26 degrees Aquarius, soon to pass back over my sun at 20 degrees again, it appears most of this dark/mental stuff has changed me, I now realise how much this locked up trauma had affected my daily life all these past years, which I believe came out because of pluto opposing my natal moon which in many interpretations means a dark night of the soul, which I believe I have passed through, how much more with Saturn in my 12 house for a number of years from now til it reaches my ascendant at 0.23 degrees Aries in May 2025 just around the same time Neptune does also, awakening is a true interpretation of all this, I just hope saturn passing over my natal sun and chiron and my mercury all in my 12th H does not bring too much more, as I am in my early sixties.
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Thank you for sharing your experience, Greg. I hope Saturn is kind as he moves through your 12th house – it may be time to make friends with the unconscious and find the treasure lurking under all the horrible stuff. Good luck and best wishes!
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Hi, thank you for this. All of my houses are in “natural” position, so my 12th house is in pisces. My mars is there as well, and I’m an Aquarius with Aries ascendant. As you can imagine, anything Saturn does is automatically obnoxious, infuriating, and feels unnecessary. That said, I’ve spent a lot of time working through very old wounds in therapy, and moving steadily toward my goals while being as supportive and authentic a friend as I can to people in my life. Whenever things about deep Saturn transits come up, I think any of us who’ve spent a long, long time doing transitional and self-understanding work get very confused by the whole “it’s time face your stuff” interpretations. I’d like to know how this transit can be interpreted for people who have already been doing the heavy work? Is it that the transit uncovers yet another layer of stuff just as I think I’m “done”? Or is it getting to enjoy the good stuff that’s buried too (thanks for mentioning that, because good Lord do many other interpretations go to town on the This Is Going to Be The Worst Period of Your Life version of things)? Speaking for myself of course, I just started a new phase of my life after what is already a period of rebirth. What on earth would the point of more restriction be?
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Yes, you never know whether there’s more stuff to come up. But the more work you do on yourself the better you get at dealing with what does come up – you’re also more likely to find the positive manifestations of them too.
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Saturn has just crossed into my 12th house. I lost my mother, my last living family member, three months ago. I’ve just been diagnosed with ADHD and I don’t feel very grounded. I’m not sure how I’m going to make my rent next month, and I’m afraid I owe the IRS money that I can’t afford to pay. My natal Saturn is in my 12th house in Pisces, so I know as Saturn travels through the 12th house, I’ll also be facing my Saturn return. Do you know if this makes things different? Or if it just makes the experience more intense? Thank you for your insight.
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I’m so sorry for your loss, Halie. I hope you can find some peace and healing as Saturn moves through your 12th house. It may be a challenge but your Saturn return is when you come of age and find out who you really want to be. This isn’t the best time to be going through what you’re experiencing but if you can, make some space and time to relax and meditate – come back into your body as much as you can so you can keep yourself grounded – especially important once Saturn goes into Pisces next March. Saturn in the 12th natally isn’t the easiest placement, but with work you can build real inner strength and profound compassion. Best of luck.
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Superb summary, Jessica! I’m ensconced in this now—and N Saturn is also in 12th, so Saturn return imminent. Just imagine going through this without knowing what’s going on! Blessings- Chris
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Glad you found it helpful. The first time Saturn went through my 12th I had no idea – it was a nightmare! I didn’t start studying astrology until after it crossed my Ascendant, and then it all started to make sense 🙂
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I entered a whole new spiritual realm, had a Jesus experience, found a guru and read a dozen or more spiritual books for the Gita to the Kaballah… having never had any interest in any of this. I meditate deeply using an ancient kriya yoga technique and have found that all of life is a complex of energy, vibration and frequencies. I’m still quite surprised at how personal and private these experiences are and must be done mostly alone.
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Also, my ascendant is Aquarius… Capricorn is in my 12th house.
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Thanks for sharing your experience, Leticia 🙂
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•Letting go of the past
•Learning to meditate
•Encounter with your soul or true Self
•Going on retreat or holiday
•Healing body and soul
•Low energy
All of these have been happening to me since Saturn entered my 12th house cusp. I started feeling extremely isolated, stopped working and have spent more than a year in a state of lethargic contemplation. Yet I’m a “Saturnian”, with Saturn in Capricorn at the ascendant, as part of a stellium in this sign.
It seems that every movement and aspect that Saturn takes part, it moves my life too.
Now that Saturn moves closer my ascendant, I feel like being reborn in some way, returning to outer life, renewed and human again.
Thanks for sharing 😊
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Thanks for sharing your experience, Pricila 🙂
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I concur. Same!
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Thank you very much for your thoughtful insights. I found they put my mind at rest after another stay in hospital for my 88 year old dad with dementia, for a clot the length of his leg, pneumonia docs think partly caused by his failing swallow muscles allowing fluids into his lungs and – what else – can’t remember.brain like a beehive half the time & zombie the rest dealing with sundowning starting lunchtime, incontinence & general irascibleness to any suggestion put to him to help make life easier or less poo to clean up! Sorry for graphic detail! Thank you again. & best wishes from Australia.
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Glad you found it helpful!
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Thank you.
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Reblogged this on Lost Dudeist Astrology.
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