Jupiter in the 12th—When Does Good Luck Turn Bad?

©2009 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

 I’m supposed to be writing my Dell advice column—it’s due in just a couple of days—but here I am, writing to you, and it’s not even 5:00 AM. I woke up writing this piece in my head, as I so often do, and know that if I don’t get up and write it, if I turn over and go back to sleep, it will disappear and never be written. My muse has no patience, and I have the retention of a flea.

Our topic, of late, has been the 12^th house. With Jupiter and the Sun conjunct there, I’ve resided there my whole life and do know quite a lot about it but seldom write about it. Jupiter is supposed to be well-placed in the 12^th, lucky even. It’s luck that comes from unexpected places, just at the moment you need it the most. I’ve been so very lucky in my life, so blessed, in so many ways.

Others, if my life story were told, might not see all the hard things that have happened as lucky. They might say that I worked my tush off for everything I got and that I came from serious poverty and an extremely difficult background that generations of alcohol-addicted relatives were never able to overcome. And that I made it, despite all that, with copious amounts of good old Iowa GRIT.

 All true, but I don’t view anything that happened as hard luck. I think I’ve been exceedingly lucky throughout my life.  Here’s how I define luck:

•  Luck is a frame of mind, a capacity to discern the silver lining behind those looming clouds.
•  Luck is a philosophy of life.
• Luck is when you do stupid things and a) you get away with it, and b) you learn not to do that any more.
• Luck is growth and wisdom gained from experience.
•  Luck is Grace and all those other good, Jupiterian things.

It’s said that Jupiter in the 12^th confers last minute rescues—the kind where the cavalry arrives in the knick of time, just when you’ve given up and are prepared to meet your maker. And, sure, I’ve been lucky like that—waaaaaaay too many times.

There came a point, however—during one of the more memorable outer planet transits to natal Jupiter—when I had to ask myself why the cavalry was such a fixture in my life. Why did they even know my name? “It’s her again, troops. Saddle up!”

 My conclusion, reluctantly reached, was that the cavalry HAD to be called again because I was pushing my luck.

So, yes, some people with Jupiter in the 12^th do push their luck. They arrogantly eat up several lifetimes’ worth of good karma, secure in the belief that God will provide.  Bailed out all too often from the consequences of their unwise actions, they don’t learn from their experience until maybe their 4^th or 5^th Jupiter return. Then their luck runs out and a big, bad experience is staring them in the face.

One major way they run into trouble is by excess, often to the point of addiction.  They lack a mental/emotional appestat that tells them when Enough is Enough.

Jupiter IS associated with gambling, and some 12th house types are compulsive gamblers, but money isn’t the only thing they gamble on. They can be compulsive risk takers who get high on getting away with things.

They may eat, drink, overspend, or whatever—depending on their Jupiter’s sign and aspects—until they’ve nearly ruined their lives and maybe the lives of some of their loved ones. They go so far past excess for such a long time that they reach a tipping point where their luck turns on them.

Absolute worst case scenario, the 12^th can represent chronic illness, hospitalization, even prison, and so the most blindly, stubbornly Jupiterian of them may push their luck that far.

But those are exactly the kinds of environments where a block-headed Jupiterian DOES learn from experience. “Saved” from ruination, they may even dedicate their lives to saving others—like the recovering alcoholic who then becomes committed to helping others who’ve gone down that same path.

“Amazing Grace” is the theme song of the 12th house Jupiterian.  “There but for the grace of God,” is their mantra.

Service to others is one of the saving graces of 12^th house positions, but especially when it’s Jupiter.

As a social worker in New York City before becoming a full-time astrologer, I specialized in 12th house settings–hospitals, psychiatric clinics,  homes and schools for the severely retarded, and even a shelter for homeless women.

With Jupiter in the 12^th, I’ve found, infallibly, that whenever I do a service to others, I gain as much or more than they do. The things I learn, the growth, the joy are mine to keep the more I try to give them away.

The other day, I was struggling to explain why I love having my Sun/Jupiter conjunction in the 12^th, and this is the biggest reason why. A great deal of the “luck” I’ve experienced has come from that—the kind of luck where people say, “You must be living right.”  I never lose from serving.

No, let me qualify that by saying that when you’re serving foolishly—rescuing, desperately scrambling to save people who haven’t the slightest interest in saving themselves—you lose and so does the person you believe you’re saving.

People with 12^th house planets can become addicted to saving others as much as to any mood-altering substance. The crash from that addiction can be as agonizing as the withdrawal from a drug. Been there, done that, got smarter.

That’s  all I have to say on the 12th house for now. More will doubtlessly occur to me later, but that’s the neat thing about blogging isn’t it?  It’s never really done—we can add to it. And we have an instant audience for what we write, rather than waiting months or years for publication. And, especially, that we can get feedback so we can all learn from it.

  How about you, Reader?  Have you consistently pushed your luck, how is it related to your natal Jupiter, and how did you finally learn your lesson? If you feel you can share, leave it in the comments section.

Posts about Jupiter:

• How Strong is your Jupiter? Here’s the Score!
• Hyperactive Jupiter Syndrome—The Down Side of an Upbeat Planet
• What Jupiterians DON’T Know–but Think They Do
• Readers Ask—Q & A about the 9th House
• Use Jupiter Transits to the Vocational Houses for a Career Boost
•  Jupiter in the 12th—When Does Good Luck Turn Bad?
• Why Saturn has as much to do with Luck as Jupiter
• Jupiter and the Astrology of Self-Justification
• The Law of Progressive Annoyance—Mars or Jupiter? 

Skywriter’s  Complete Miniseries on the 12^th house:

• A Sensitive Guide to Planets in the 12th House—Guest Blog
• 12th House People as Introverts: the Power of Solitude
• Readers Ask: Q & A about the 12th House
• New Insights into the 12th House from our Q&A Session
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the 12th—but Were Afraid to Ask
• The 12th House—Comparing Ancient and Modern Views
• 7  Secrets You May not Know about the 12th House
• Daybreak and the 12th House Sun
• 12 Famous People with 12th House Suns
• 80 Qualities of Venus in the 12th or other Venus-Neptune Combinations
• Jupiter in the 12th—When Does Good Luck Turn Bad?
• Transits from the 12th House to the 1st–Like Night and Day

See more articles on the houses in the category Houses of the Horoscope and download a chapter on the houses here: AGSA ch13-houses

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Credits:  The signs used in this piece are part of a large collection at http://www.clipart.com.