posted October 10, 2005 11:31 AM            

The classic problems associated with the 12th house are the very blocks that must be addressed in order to be more receptive: confusion, laziness, distortion, lack of clarity, doubt, addiction, alienation, and chief among them all, fear.

We also receive creative energy through Neptune, but remember that Neptune exists beyond Saturn, beyond logic and reason. How does the ego respond when it finds itself out beyond the orbit of Saturn? Panic. The ego is not supported by any of the activities of the outer planets, and, of course, it feels threatened - it is! We have to be able to accommodate this fear that the ego naturally experiences. So let's not be too hard on the ego; it's the voice that's going to help us get home tonight.

Fear shrouds our creative domain if it prohibits us from hanging out in altered states of consciousness. If we can't go into the darker realms of consciousness, insisting on an incessantly happy approach to life, we won't gain access to the deeper regions of the 12th house, Neptune, and Pisces. We might receive periodic insights, but we won't be able to sustain this level of consciousness. It's important to see fear for what it is - not as a warning to go no further, but as a message from the ego that we have gone beyond its comfort zone and need to develop some other type of control.

Since Neptune connects us to the heart of the universal mind, the realm where creativity is born, spiritual practices and the development of faith are instrumental to this connection and to the creative process. Spiritual practices of any kind align us with this Neptunian level of consciousness in a healthy and inspiring way. If we are regular in our practice, we'll notice an increasing ability to surrender to forces beyond our control and to face our fears.

The path to developing one's faith is a highly individualistic affair and may be especially challenging for those who do not find traditional religions satisfying. The fact remains that faith is something we experience or don't experience. We can't fake it and we can't fool ourselves. Unfortunately, without faith, fear wreaks havoc on consciousness. An important aspect of a healthy 12th house is the personal search and deep questioning that leads to faith. And the reward of faith is the overcoming of paralyzing fear.

These are the generic blocks we all have to face, no matter what combination of astrology we have. How do you hang out with your own insecurity and still take the necessary risks that creativity demands? Can you enter the mystery of your own "unknowing" and "know" your way back? Can you become elastic in consciousness? If you insist on only being happy, you won't get there, but allow yourself to get just a little bit crazy and you'll discover the edge of creativity.
Astrological Formula

* The sign on the 12th-house cusp represents your approach to the spiritual, creative reservoir where individual consciousness merges with collective consciousness. This sign describes your natural attitude toward this deepest kind of receptivity. This is the mystical receptivity that is open to the intuitions, omens, and intimations of the spiritual and creative realms.
* Look to where the ruling planet of your 12th house is, by house and by sign, to provide an area of activities that will create non-logical experiences, forcing you to resolve them creatively. We call this the "ruler," but it could more accurately be called the "server," since the ruling planet is serving the needs of the house it rules. It is creating experiences in the house in which it is located that must ultimately be worked out in the house it rules.
* Aspects to the ruling planet of the 12th house are going to tie other planets and houses into your creative web. These aspects can facilitate or interfere with the creative process. Interfering aspects are the squares, quincunxes, and oppositions; they tend to create issues that cause you to go into a reactionary state of mind, which makes it hard to receive intuition. Facilitating aspects are the conjunctions, sextiles, quintiles, and trines: these are going to provide experiences that readily facilitate intuitive awareness because there is a sense of harmony that gets you out of reactionary mode and allows receptivity.
* Look to Neptune in your chart - by sign, house, and aspect - to discover how your imagination most naturally functions. This is where you may have a strong urge for transcendent experience. At best, this links all of us to the spiritual and creative realms through inspiration. We all have Neptune, and we all have fairly active imaginations - the fuel for the creative process. Of course, Neptune is also the blind spot, creating as many problems as opportunities, through escapism, drugs, alcohol, and illusions, if it is not harnessed and directed toward inspirational activities.
* Look to the house in your chart where the sign Pisces resides. This is an area where you must proceed with faith in a greater wisdom if you want to understand the experiences you encounter here. Logic will not work.
* Planets in the 12th house and the houses they rule add to the creative puzzle. Normal methods of expression just don't work with planets here. Planets in this house don't seem to be connected to our everyday lives, and we need to approach them through meditation, prayer, dreamwork, and other inner-directed activities. These planets cause disruptions in our lives, forcing us to contemplate the deeper issues at work.

Ranking the elements in terms of their natural affinity with the 12th house makes water the most receptive, followed by earth and air, with fire having the least affinity. If you have a water sign on the cusp of the 12th, you practically fall into this 12th-house approach to life. Earth signs are also receptive, although they can have difficulty surrendering to information beyond the logical and tend to be too practical for their own good. Air signs are very open to mental inspiration, but find it hard to allow for the deeper emotional qualities that arise in the 12th house. Fire signs have a propensity for idealistic and positive action, and, therefore, tend to outrun the 12th-house need for isolation and alone time.