One thing about hacking the sky code as an astrologer is that arcane knowledge becomes practical and oh-so-useful for navigating this trip called life.

The last and 12th house in the natal wheel is a mash up of the spooky haunted house at the carnival, the movie “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” meets the layered reality film, Inception, and a trip to the ashram to find God.

It’s truly one hell of an all purpose Cave of Self Discovery and in each of our lives this moksha (liberation/enlightenment house) is a place we wander into at certain “profection” ages.

These ages (11, 23, 35, 47, 59, 71, 83, 95) invite us to go inward, to commune with our nightly dreams, to find who we really truly are beneath the layers and layers of learned identity.

I am there, again, for the 5th time in this life. I have learned the terrain well. Age 11 was my first encounter with God, a first time prayer that was answered in a miraculous way. It was the birth of my seeker-self.

Twenty-three brought me to a pilgrimage of sorts — with my Let’s Go Europe book and a back pack, i did the Cathedral circuit and discovered my first real disillusionment with romantic love (we drop the weight of expectations in our 12th house, along with the tendency to jettison worldly goals and attainments).

Thirty five was a quiet cave, where I saw clients from my riverside home as a professional clairvoyant and contemplated a whole lot of metaphysical truths. Forty-seven I got very sick with an auto-immune condition that brought me to the recognition that my body was not invincible (12th house is the house of hospitals).

And here I am, age 59 as of April 4th, and already I can feel myself wanting to cave dwell, to pull away from the frantic work load of the last two years in which as a consulting astrologer I did over 1300 zoom sessions, taught several classes, mentored over 30 online entrepreneurs, and posted a slew of regular you tube videos.

This 12th house journey comes after Saturn’s sojourn through my Capricorn 12th house — the ‘hermit transit” from Dec 2017 to December 2020, And as much as I would like to break out of my cave of single, celibate aloneness, it looks like I have a year here to top up the navel gazing, dream-incubating, deep-diving into solitude and solace. (Covid sure made being a hermit in 2020 socially acceptable).

In end with this poem that speaks to the 12th house year. I intend to post this one on my fridge to remind me that there is divine purpose in this dark cave — who knows, maybe I will write a novel here, or a screenplay, or a poem. I hope there is something in this poem for you too.

SWEET DARKNESS

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone,
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your home
tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.
The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

~ David Whyte