© Deborah Houlding, first published on this site April 2003; updated May 2024
Some horary students get confused by Lilly’s use of the terms ‘public’ and ‘private’, as in relation to the 7th and 12th houses where he attributes public enemies to the 7th house and private enemies to the 12th. Lilly wasn’t using these words in the way we commonly use them today (expecting a public enemy to be a threat to the nation at large, and a private enemy to be a personal one), but used the term public to mean ‘known’ or ‘discovered’ or ‘visible, while private meant ‘secret’, ‘hidden’, ‘not able to be seen’ or ‘unrealised’.
Wherever the querent is aware that they have an enemy or someone attacking their interests, the hostile person or attacker is signified by the 7th house and its planetary ruler. This applies to thieves, opponents or any kind of assailant, even in the situations where that person's identity is not known. The type of enemy depicted by the 12th house is someone whose activities or motives are concealed or where their attacks are subtle or hidden. It is a secret enemy that the querent is not aware of. An example of how this might apply in practice could be an afflicted 11th house ruler positioned in the 12th house (or conjunct the 12th house ruler), depicting a ‘friend’ who is acting against the querent in secret. Another use of this symbolism is if the 7th house ruler is placed in the 12th house, which might show that a known enemy is in hiding.
The symbolism of the 12th house has much to do with secrets or events that have not yet surfaced to public awareness. Generally, it is a very negative house, but it can sometimes show beneficial gains (perhaps from clandestine activities, for example) so we must be careful to read the general meanings of the houses within the specific context of the chart in question, and pay attention to the themes shown by planetary dignities (or debilities) and their aspectual relationships. We can only derive particular house meanings by combining the underlying principles appropriately - a nuanced chart reading will never rely on simply memorising lists of rulerships and significations.
An example of the secrecy of the 12th house expressing a positive effect is shown by the horary below, where the querent asked about the possibility of a successful pregnancy. The chart indicates that pregnancy has already occurred (even while the querent was unaware of it) by the presence of the Moon in the 5th house (pregnancy), separating from a trine of Venus (a natural indicator of fertility and here the ruler of the 5th house), positioned in the 12th (hidden matters). The positive chart context is set by the collection of strong, affirmative indications of pregnancy present in this chart, which allowed the 12th house placement of Venus to be read in a more positive vein, as an 'unrealised pregnancy' – the only way to make sense of the circumstances and specific arrangement of this chart.
Will there be a succesful pregnancy?
The main factors for a successful outcome in this chart are that the Moon is the significator of the querent and is in an harmonious trine aspect with Venus, ruler of the 5th house of pregnancy and so significator of the quesited. The aspect is separating however, suggesting a past influence rather than a future occurrence.
The theme of fertility is reinforced by the main significators being placed in water signs (which are known as 'fertile' signs) and application of the Moon and Venus to Jupiter, also located in the 5th house. All of these planets are associated with fertility so are naturally conducive to pregnancy, including Jupiter which is also a natural significator for successful outcomes generally.
Normally, the presence of the 5th house ruler in the 12th would give cause for concern about the strength of the child, because the 12th house is cadent and denotes weakness and limitations. However, all the other considerations suggest that there is no prevalent danger so my judgement was that a recent conception was in such early stages that it was still hidden and unknown to the querent.
The pregnancy was confirmed within a few days. This came as a big surprise to the querent who had been trying, without success, to have another child for almost 10 years. The pregnancy resulted in a healthy baby girl.
