The 12th House & Secret Enemies

The Twelfth Astrological House & Secret Enemies

The Face in the Mirror

By Carmen Turner-Schott

Ever since I realized I had planets in the twelfth astrological house I knew it was important. When I was 16 years old, I had my first astrology consultation. I will never forget what the astrologer told me. He said, “Your Sun is in the twelfth house and if you put anything before God or a spiritual path it will be taken away from you.” I remember feeling a heaviness come over me. I could not imagine how I would overcome this lesson. I was worried. I thought I might never be able to find happiness or love. It’s crazy how impactful someone’s words can be and how words can affect our psyche.

One of the positive things that helped me was the fact that I had always been spiritual and believed in a higher power. Now that I am older, I understand what that statement means. There have been times in my life when I felt the universe took things from me. I felt that things I loved or was attached to would be stripped away. It usually happened when I became overly focused on something like a relationship, job, or anything that took my attention away from my spiritual work.

One of the questions I get asked often and see posted in my astrology groups is about the twelfth house and secret enemies. What is a secret enemy? The definition states it’s “a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.” Another word for a secret enemy is an adversary. An adversary represents a person who is our opponent or in competition or conflict with us. I will be honest; I have felt many times in my life that I have had secret enemies or adversaries that surrounded me. The problem was that who they really were was always hidden from me. My own trusting nature caused me to trust others too easily and this was a learning lesson for me. Many people with planets in the twelfth house have shared similar feelings with me.

I have had people who I felt wanted to hurt me personally or secretly did not like me but I never knew it. I always tried to be kind and friendly to them but no matter what I did, sometimes I found that certain people would never like me or treat me with respect. Some would lie, betray and spread rumors about me. I used to care about being liked and would get my feelings hurt easily and sometimes feel deep sadness by the actions of others. Now that I am older, I just don’t care as much anymore and I accept that no matter how nice I am, the fact is that some people will still hurt me and reject me for no apparent reason. I kind of expect it now from most people and have a deeper awareness of the true motives of others around me. Twelfth house people are often mirrors for other people. There is something about us that reflects back at others things they don’t want to see about themselves. This scares people and they lash out at us unconsciously and indirectly. Retaliation towards us often happens in secret.

Just like many people with twelfth house planets, I have felt betrayed by those closest to me such as partners, friends, family, co-workers and even strangers. I have felt under attack and sometimes abused by cruel people who I did nothing to. I have received abusive emails from strangers attacking my astrology work, ideas or even my family. The shock and sadness of these cruel comments and thoughts used to bother me greatly. Now, I kind of expect them and they don’t surprise me anymore. I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes to understand why they felt such a need to try to bring me down or hurt my feelings or reputation. I realize I will never be able to figure it out. All I do know is that I would never do these kinds of things to anyone because I would never want to hurt someone so deeply. Accepting that we are unable to figure out the purpose of our secret enemies will help bring peace. I say let’s leave it up to karma to sort it out. One thing I have noticed with twelfth house people is that when someone hurts them, that person always struggles later on. Twelfth house people often share with me that someone from their past came back to apologize to them for hurting them. They also share with me that people who abused, lied, used or manipulated them often have difficult life situations happen to them and the twelfth house person somehow finds out about it later in life. There is a sense of eeriness about these situations and it brings things back full circle for twelfth house people. It can bring them peace and comfort knowing that the universe took care of the injustices. They did not have to lift a finger.

I have always known that people with twelfth house planets are special. Even when people hurt them, they never allow it to change who they are or take away their kindness. There is something about twelfth house people that makes other people uncomfortable. Their energy is deep and brings out of hiding everyone else’s unconscious thoughts and feelings. Our energy makes people feel vulnerable and exposed. We don’t even have to say a word, we just have to be ourselves. Enemies are people who are intimidated or jealous of twelfth house people’s gifts or blessings. Most of these relationships or betrayals feel surprising to twelfth house people. They never expected it or saw it coming because they are naïve and compassionate. Their gift is always seeing the good in other people and they often are blind to the darkness in others and also in themselves. This is why the twelfth house is also associated with the shadow side of the personality. Embracing our shadow as the famous psychologist Carl Jung discusses helps us integrate all the different parts of ourselves making us whole.

The twelfth house is related to our karma and the debts we have to pay. Everything good and bad we have ever done sits here waiting patiently to reveal itself and be exposed. Some things might be from our past or previous lifetimes. Hidden energy and secrets feel at home in the twelfth house. This is the house of secrets and anything that happens here causes things to be concealed from our view. It’s like things are hidden from our conscious awareness and sometimes other people deliberately hide things from us. Twelfth house people are blinded because they can’t see things clearly, especially where emotions and people are involved. Twelfth house energy helps us connect within and we often feel drawn to the psychology, counseling and spiritual work which enables us to share deep feelings, thoughts and ideas with others.

Twelfth house people have a special mission. In order to reach their destiny, they have to be tested along the way. People in general can be the hardest test for them. They often find that the people they love and trust the most are the ones who hurt them. Secret enemies are a mysterious phenomenon and it fits well in the twelfth house. Anything that is deeply psychological is related to this house. I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients ask me about secret enemies. Many people with twelfth house planets feel that they are taken advantage, used and purposely hurt. They get overwhelmed, sad and depressed by this realization.

The truth is that the twelfth house people feel they have secret enemies but really their greatest enemy is themselves. Twelfth house people are kind, caring and empathic and have a special heart that enjoys helping others in need. The lack of boundaries that twelfth house people have and struggles to see people clearly is what often leads to their disappointment. Everyone has enemies, and at some time in their lives we all will feel betrayed. It is a part of life and the reality of this impacts twelfth house people more than others because they are empathic souls who came to earth to lesson other people’s suffering.