Gifts

As mentioned earlier, the 12th house is our "connection" with the "collective unconscious."

The 12th house is the house of imagination, fantasy, mysticism, romance and illusion....

The 12th house is a house of spirituality, but it's an introverted, mystical, spirituality and faith which is quite unlike the more extroverted, Jupiterian, 9th house religiosity so popular in today's culture.

Karen Hamaker-Zondag on the 12th house:
"Responding to the rhythm of life, and going to meet life in an open and expectant frame of mind, with a              willingness to be fructified by the moment and to experience joy and sorrow to the full without a sense of guilt, is a yin quality that has been lost in our culture.

Another attitude to life is required, an attitude of openness to things as they are, and acceptance of life as it comes. In other words, what is required is some surrender to life, without being governed by the impulse to control life in
all its facets. We should learn how to flow with the stream while remaining fully aware. For centuries, this attitude has been laid under a ban in our Western culture.

If the 12th house symbolizes anything, then it is this very process,  this complete receptivity and readiness to take what comes your way to integrate it and  to use it as the germ of a new creation process,  whether this takes shape in music, art, science or daily life. By this means, wisdom and inner wealth can be our portion, and when we need
help -- doors can be unexpectedly opened for us. Deep down, in spite of pain and sorrow, life will be worth living."

Trusting

Trusting in "the process" is at times incredibly difficult. The 12th house is asking us to accept the times of sorrow as an equal partner in the creation process.

The 12th house is asking us to give up our sense of needing absolute, complete control over our life course and journey.

If, during times of crisis, we can but remain "quiet" and allow ourselves to flow with the process and unfolding of life events (while remaining fully aware) -- then, as Dr. Hamaker-Zondag has pointed out, very often the    questions we need answered and the doors we need opened will, in turn, be miraculously and unexpectedly brought to us without "conscious" effort on our part.

Speaking as someone currently exploring and learning lessons of the 12th house, Pisces and Neptune -- remaining "quiet" and accepting momentsof sorrow as equal partner with moments of joy is so, so much easier said than done.

Quoting again from Dr. Hamaker-Zondag:

"By daring to take things as they come, we find that in spite of their unpredictability, they often turn out well for us. If we interfere and try to control things, the very reverse frequently seems to happen! It is disconcerting to the conscious mind not to be able to foresee the course of events. But the unconscious finds ways to experience things that belong to us, that have a healing effect and can even support us socially."

Imagination

There's a famous quote (seen on bumper stickers) of Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

The full quote goes on to say: "Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

One of Einstein's methods of getting in touch with his inner source of creativity was to imagine in his mind's eye -- the numbers with which he was working.

He, then, reportedly allowed the numbers to "dance freely" within his imagination. (Don't forget, by the way, that Albert was a Sun Sign Pisces.)

Einstein's experience falls much in line with the response of the physicist, Prof. C.F. Weizsacker, of the Max Planck Institute in Gottengen -- when asked the question: "Do dreams or pictorial ideas or memories play any
part in the creative process?"

"When I know that I have to work on a certain problem in a certain field, I realize that a great deal of conscious work and concentration is required; as likely as not exceeding my own strength.

My own efforts never produce a breakthrough, but only a certain amount of spadework along conventional lines. By concentrating hard, I slowly burn myself out, like a small fire.

But if I can then manage to relax properly (for a few minutes or, if necessary, for days or months), I find that in certain circumstances at an unexpected moment, such as in the morning when I wake, I get an inspiration that more or less answers the problems concerned.

Afterward, I have to concentrate again; this time on interpreting the inspiration for the understanding....

Occasionally, an inspiration of this sort formulates or announces itself in a dream. Now and then, too, it takes the form of images, although not predominately so."

Summing it up....

On another part of this web site, while discussing the "elements" and the "modes of reaction," I illustrate them by giving the example of what might happen if you "threw a feeling" at a Pisces.

The "feeling, mutable" reaction of Pisces was to absorb and synthesize the feeling, and then re-fashion the feeling into their own creation and make it a part of themselves.

This, in a nutshell, is both the blessing and the curse of the 12th house
      (Pisces and Neptune).