An empty 12th House means that no planets were required there in order to find a deeper spiritual connection and greater inner peace. It does not mean that you are destined to struggle when it comes to feeling connected to something bigger and greater than yourself.
Wondering what your empty 12th House could mean for you? Keep reading to learn what you could expect with this empty house and ways to uncover insight from this house, even without a planet in sight.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- You can still connect spiritually and with your subconscious mind.
- Your 12th House sign and its ruling planet can reveal insight.
- Planets in transit will still bring energy into your empty 12th House.
Table of Contents
- What does an empty 12th House in my chart mean?
- How do I read my empty 12th House?
- Will my empty Twelfth House always be empty?
What does an empty 12th House in my chart mean?
With your natal chart broken up into 12 houses, but only 10 planets generally considered in an astrology reading, you are bound to find a few houses sitting empty in your chart.
But what if one of those houses is your 12th? What, exactly, does it mean to have an empty 12th House, and how can you learn anything about this house when there are no planets in it to read?
What does the Twelfth House mean?
You will hear many names thrown around when describing the 12th House, such as the House of Self-Undoing, the House of Secret Enemies, the House of Troubles, and even the House of Bad Spirits.
This is the house of unconscious triggers that drives your behavior without you even realizing what is happening.
Where these deeply hidden “hangups” of the 12th House come from is up for debate.
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While some astrologers feel as though these are formed in childhood, others see these triggers as stressors passed along in the womb from mother to baby.
And, some astrologers take it back even further, connecting this house with your karma, your residual feelings, and patterns of behavior leftover from past life events that still live in your unconscious, concealed even to you because you have no memory of them.
Your 12th House is about learning to overcome or find peace with these hidden triggers.
But, the 12th House isn’t only about unconscious baggage.
This house also covers the territory of your sense of oneness and your connection to something greater than your earthly human experience.
It is a sense that you are connected to something that you can’t feel with your 5 senses and a realization that you can access that here and now by exploring your own consciousness.
- Meditation
- Transcendental states
- Karmic patterns
- Letting go of the ego
- Connection to the spirit
- Detaching from earthly matters
- Unconscious triggers and drives
- Physical confinement
What are empty houses in astrology?
As the name implies, an empty house is simply a house with no planets sitting in it.
So the real question is what exactly is the significance of it?
As with many details in astrology, not every astrologer agrees on the exact meaning of an empty house.
My thoughts on the matter come from the branch of astrology I study, Evolutionary Astrology, which takes the stance that every person is born with the chart that is right for them.
So, if you have an empty house, it just means you don’t need a planet there.
If you think of your chart as a map toward achieving personal growth, pointing you in the direction that is best for you, an empty 12th House, then, would just mean that all of your planets were needed elsewhere.
But, an empty house doesn’t mean you will automatically breeze right through it, either, because it’s not that simple.
There are circumstances that can make an empty house a vital part of your life.
What if my Twelfth House is empty?
If your Twelfth House sits empty, in order to feel connected spiritually or deal with unconscious triggers you didn’t require any planets in this house.
From an Evolutionary Astrology standpoint, everyone is born with the “right” chart and no chart is “bad,” regardless of which houses are empty.
So if you have an empty 12th House, your natal planets were required in other houses in your chart in order for you to live and grow in the way that is best for you.
While this doesn’t guarantee that your 12th House will be a breeze (just like with any house in your chart), it does mean that you still have the potential to deal with your hidden hangups and triggers and also feel a spiritual connection with your planets placed exactly where they are.
And, luckily, your chart doesn’t leave you clueless about how you may move through your 12 House just because there aren’t any planets in it to consider.
How do I read my empty 12th House?
Follow along with the steps below to reveal more about how you may experience your House of Troubles, even with no natal planets in sight.
1. Your Twelfth House sign
Open your chart to see which sign of the Zodiac your 12th House cusp (starting line) sits in.
In our example natal chart, their empty Twelfth House cusp lands in the sign of Leo.
Your 12th House sign will unveil details about the approach you take with 12th House matters.
Traits and motivations of your 12th House sign can shed light on the way you deal with your unconscious triggers, what form they may take, and the style in which you come at your spiritual connection.
2. Look up your Twelfth House sign ruler
You have uncovered some insight about your 12th House, but you can gain more clarity by considering the ruling planet of your 12th House sign.
Every one of the signs has at least one planet that is said to be its ruler, and some even have two. This is another way of saying that the planet and sign have some sort of connection.
Below is a table of the ruling planets where you can look up the planetary ruler of your 11th House sign.
| Zodiac Sign of Your Twelfth House | Zodiac Sign’s Ruling Planet or Planets |
| Aries | Mars |
| Taurus | Venus |
| Gemini | Mercury |
| Cancer | The Moon |
| Leo | The Sun |
| Virgo | Chiron (modern), Mercury (traditional) |
| Libra | Venus |
| Scorpio | Pluto (modern), Mars (traditional) |
| Sagittarius | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | Saturn |
| Aquarius | Uranus (modern), Saturn (traditional) |
| Pisces | Neptune (modern), Jupiter (traditional) |
3. Find your Twelfth House sign ruler in your chart
Next, pull up your chart and locate that ruling planet or planets of your 12th House sign.
The sign of the Zodiac where you find this ruling planet (or planets) will be linked to your empty 12th House. This sign’s qualities will also help to shape how you experience your 12th.
Which house this planet is sitting in will also have a connection to your 12th House, linking the areas of life from that house with your 12th, as well.
Looking back at our natal chart example, you can see that their 12th House cusp is in Leo. The table above shows that Leo’s ruling planet is the Sun.
Their Sun is found in the 6th House and barely still in Aquarius. So, in this example, the characteristics of Aquarius and the parts of life defined by the 6th House will be linked to how this person moves through their 12th House.
4. Find Jupiter and Neptune in your chart
Just like signs, houses also have planetary rulers, and the 12th House has two, Jupiter and Neptune.
An additional way to pull more from your 12th House reading is to consider the locations of Jupiter and Neptune in your chart.
In the same fashion as you did in the steps above, the signs and houses of these ruling planets can be examined and their details used to create a more complex and detailed reading of your empty Twelfth House.
Taking another look at our example, you can see the rulers of the 12th House highlighted in their chart with Neptune in 10th House Gemini and Jupiter in 3rd House Sagittarius. These placements are linked to their 12th House, bringing more detail and insight to the reading of their 12th.
Will my empty Twelfth House always be empty?
Even though your natal planets never move from their positions, you will still find planets in your 12th House from time to time when you consider the planets in transit.
“Transiting planets” is a phrase used to describe the current and moving planets.
The transiting planets are always still moving, of course, and continuously moving around your chart. If you want a clearer understanding of transiting planets, you can learn more in this article from Cafe Astrology.
Looking at our example chart above one last time, notice there are a couple of planets on the outside ring of the chart. Those are the transiting planets.
Notice that the transiting Moon is their 12th, introducing its planetary energy to their otherwise vacant house.
But, the Moon moves around the chart quickly and will soon move on to their 1st House, taking its energy and influence with it when it goes.
So, even if you think you see no signs of planetary life in your empty 12th House, it still holds the potential to be a hub of activity when you look at the transiting planets.
Other articles you may enjoy:
Empty 11th House
Empty 1st House
