Venus in the 12th House: Secret Love Affairs & Heartache

by Carmen Turner Schott.In our astrological chart, the planet Venus represents love, affection,beauty, and harmony. The house where Venus is placed in our natal chartwill reveal our emotional expressiveness and our ability to express love.Venus will show what kind of lover we are and what traits we find attractivein others. The house where Venus sits is extremely important for ourintimate relationships. It enables us to express our love nature and directshow we express that love to others. When Venus is placed within the twelfthhouse, there are many difficulties.The twelfth house is known as the House of Suffering. All issues that rulethis house are kept hidden or secret. The deep secrets about our ownpersonality, as well as our emotions are locked within this house. HavingVenus placed here is an indicator of suffering through love affairs andthrough heartache at some time in one’s life. Almost every astrology bookyou read will tell you, that a Venus in the twelfth individual is destined toexperience clandestine or secret love affairs. How and why does thishappen? This happens because the expression of love is kept secret fromothers. The initial emotion of love is held within and sometimes neverexpressed.Individuals with this placement often find themselves in love with someonethat is not free. This often manifests as falling in love with someone who isalready married or committed to someone else. Below, I will show several

examples of individuals that I have worked with who have experienced theintense shock of having Venus in the twelfth house. I have studied severalcharts with this placement and almost every time the client reveals to methat they either had an affair, were in love with someone they could not bewith, or they were in love with someone and never let them know.The first individual has the Sun and Venus in her twelfth house. She wasspiritual, compassionate, and sensitive to others feelings. Happily marriedfor three years, her life suddenly changed. She met someone at work andinstantly fell in love. The connection between her and this co-worker wasvery strong and undeniable. The feelings were mutual between them, butthey both were married with children. She described to me how devastatingit was for her to feel that way about someone else other than her husband.She felt intense guilt and shame for the love she had in her heart. That lovewas ignited and it seemed that nothing could ever shake it. This individualtold me that she cried in her room each night and asked God to take awaythe love in her heart for the other man. The sadness in her heart wasalmost unbearable. She learned to live with her feelings in secret.She believed in the sanctity of marriage and she never betrayed herhusband. She never told her husband about her feelings for this other man.Eventually, she moved to another state. This example illustrates howindividuals with Venus in the twelfth individual’s suffer through love andrelationships. This suffering occurs because it if often inappropriate to feeland express the love they have openly. The secret nature of the twelfthhouse forces the Venus love energy inward, deep within and in the darkest

recesses of the heart. There is often an inability to express the love naturedue to material, practical, psychological or moral reasons.There was a female client that I met recently, who has the Sun and Venus inthe twelfth house. She had experienced tremendous heartache andsuffering with her husband for seven years. She was in an emotionallyabusive marriage and did not realize that she was unhappy and lonely. Oneday she reconnected with an old childhood friend from her past who she hadloved deeply. There was a long history between them and a deep bond thatwas always there no matter how much time passed. They started outwriting to each other on email and the next thing she knew, her heart wasignited, opened up and energized for the first time in six years. Feelingintense love for this man again, she realized that love was always therelocked deep within her heart. She felt alive for the first time in ages.Excitement and energy rushed through her veins each time she spoke tohim on email.Eventually, the two of them decided to meet for lunch as friends. She didnot realize what would happen to her that day and how it would change herlife forever. She was walking into the fire with a bomb strapped on her back.When she saw him for the first time in seven years, she felt as though onlya few hours had passed. It was as if she had known him her entire life, dueto the deep, comfortable, feelings that she had instantly for him. She fell inlove with him all over again.The problem was that he was happily married and did not want to changehis life. She knew that he loved her deeply, but she knew it was not fair to