12th House Sun: You Don’t Know How Much You Shine
You are the heart of this community. When you are there, it lives. When you are gone, it dies.
No one else has that power. I try to revive the community when you're gone, and everyone looks at me like I'm a spleen trying to pump blood, and they're right.
Your presence is the light the community orbits around. You pull things into shape with your gravity. People follow your lead, and the energy in the place goes through the roof when you're around.
And you can't see the shadows when you're gone because you take the light with you.
Astrologically, that must be a description of a person with Leo rising or the sun in the 1st house, right? Someone with a really strong and capable sun in their natal chart.
Actually, that quote is a slightly edited version of something I said to a dear friend with the sun in Scorpio in the 12th house recently, and everyone involved in the conversation agreed with me.
Scorpio is supposed to be secretive. The sun in the 12th house is supposed to struggle to express itself in the world. How can a person with the sun in Scorpio and the 12th be the sun of their community?
12th House Planets: We Can See You, But You Can’t See Yourself
The first house is the house of dawn. We say that the ascendant is how you “dawn on people.”
In truth, if you look up at the sky, in most places on earth, planets in the 1st house are usually too close to the horizon to be seen. They’re hidden behind buildings or mountains. If a planet comes out at sunrise, we can’t see it because it’s hidden in the light of the rising sun.
It is only when a planet leaves the 1st house and reaches the 12th house—planets travel through the houses in reverse numerical order over the course of the day—that we begin to be able to see that planet.
This means that planets in the 12th house are the parts of ourselves that are beginning to be visible, but they have not been visible long enough for us to intuitively understand how to work with them in a conscious way.
In other words, everyone can see our 12th house planets but us.
12th House Sun: I Hold The Light And Live In Shadow
When the sun is in the 12th house, it has come to a place where it can really shine. It is the time in the morning when light hasn’t just returned to the world. The sun has risen over the houses and trees, and you can actually see the disc of the sun in the sky.
Having the sun in the 12th house means that you are a person who is a light and a joy to the people around you. You are like the sun in the solar system of your community. People organize themselves around you. They light up when you’re around, but you have a hard time seeing yourself that way.
There are many reasons why a person might not know the power and importance they have in a community. The rest of the birth chart might give clues, but the thing people with the sun in the 12th have in common is that they underestimate their own importance.
People are drawn to people with 12th house suns because they are unselfconscious. One of the defining qualities of cool people is that they don’t know how cool they are, and the un-self-awareness of the 12th house of people with 12th house suns tends to come across as a casual disregard for what other people think of them. The lack of posturing and display of ego gives others the chance to have a “day in the sun,” endearing the 12th house sun to the person they gave the chance to shine.
In reality, 12th house people tend to believe it doesn’t matter what they do. They think no one cares whether they are present or absent. They feel invisible or alone.
Living Happily With A 12th House Sun
If you have the sun in the 12th house, the thing you need most of all is a mirror that shows you who you are, the impact of your behavior on the people around you, and the joy you bring to others.
An astrology reading can be that mirror. In a reading, the reader tells you stories about who you are and who you have the potential to be, and you can choose which of those stories you want to learn to live up to.
You also need trustworthy people who love you and tell you the truth in a way you can hear, but you need to listen to them when they tell you things about yourself that might sound fantastical.
In time and with effort, a 12th house sun can become a real asset. You may never become fully aware of how you shine, but the unselfconscious that endears people to you can begin to be something you can trust.
You don’t need to hide in the dark feeling so alone.
