Emigration, Distant Travel and the 12th House

In Bonatti’s 13th century book on horary astrology he comments in his discussion of journeys and pilgrimages that the 9th signifies long journeys, the 3rd represents short ones, the 5th indicates trips of moderate length, and the 12th signifies the longest types of journeys. In tabular form, we can summarize Bonatti’s comments pairing houses with travels as follows:

— 3rd house: short trips
— 5th house: trips of moderate length
— 9th house: long-distance travel
— 12th house: the lengthiest journeys

In Vedic astrology, which borrowed from the medieval Arabic and Persian texts on horary, the 12th house is used to signify travel to a foreign land, especially to relocate or reside abroad. This view of the 12th house is probably related to the signification of the 12th as a place of exile, far from one’s home, family and friends. Emigration, relocation and moving house are typically highly stressful situations. Bonatti includes as a 12th house signification the things which people fear and whether those things will happen or not. The 12th house also signifies large animals of the type that you can ride (e.g., horses, camels, elephants, etc.) to go on a long journey.

From the point of view of astrological aspects, planets in the 12th cannot see or behold planets in the 1st, and vice versa. The 12th and the 1st houses are “in aversion.” In addition, the longest distance a 1st house planet must travel on its orbit around the zodiac is to the 12th house. If we consider Bonatti’s list of the length of travels signified by the houses, we can pair the following aspects with each type of journey.

— 3rd house: short trips and local travel (sextile to the 1st house); the 3rd house is also related to siblings, neighbors, kin and things we do in the neighborhood.
— 5th house: trips of moderate length (trine to the 1st house); the 5th house also signifies pleasures, messengers and ambassadors whom we send to various places to represent our interests. In this case, the person sending the message belongs to the 1st house, the messenger to the 5th house, and the person to whom the message is sent (the recipient and destination of the message) to the 7th house.
— 9th house: long-distance travel, often to other lands (trine to the 1st house); the 9th also signifies pilgrimages, that is, travel to distant locales for religious purposes.
— 12th house: the lengthiest journeys (aversion to the 1st house); the 12th house also signifies exile, banishment and confinement, that is, being cut off or disconnected from the 1st house significations (life force, health, the body, personal initiative, customary mores, etc.). Thus, 12th house journeys are likely to be the most stressful.

Few western astrologers pay attention to the 12th house signification of long trips abroad, especially those related to emigration. Nonetheless, this meaning is often relevant to chart interpretation if you bother to look for it.

As an example, let’s consider the chart of Albert Einstein who emigrated to the United States in 1933 to escape persecution by the Nazis. One would expect the 12th house and its lord to figure prominently in his solar return for 1933. The following quote from the Times of Israel summarizes Einstein’s flight from the Nazis in 1933:

“When Adolf Hitler came to power in early 1933, Einstein, a native of the southern German city of Ulm, was already teaching his theory of relativity in the United States. Hitler’s Nazi Germany swiftly hunted Jews, targeting Einstein’s home near Berlin and confiscating his belongings. On his return to Europe from across the Atlantic, Einstein landed in Belgium in March 1933 with Elsa, his second wife, fearful that returning to Germany would be too dangerous. The physicist spent six months at De Haan under the careful watch of Belgian police.”

Einstein finally officially emigrated as a refugee to the USA and arrived there on 17 October 1933.

Einstein’s birth chart (left) and his solar return of March of 1933 (right) cast for De Haan, Belgium where he was residing. (His solar return for his birthplace has the same signs on all the cusps).

In the birth chart, Cancer rises and Gemini is on the 12th cusp, ruled by Mercury.

In the 1933 Solar Return, transiting Mercury is making a station in conjunction with the return MC. In addition the natal Asc at 11 Cancer lies in the return 12th house, placing a heavy emphasis on 12th house issues (enemies, things which people fear, relocation abroad, etc.). This makes sense with regard to the meanings of the 12th house because Einstein was at considerable danger from enemies (the Nazis and their sympathizers) but also because he was seeking to emigrate abroad (another 12th house meaning) as a solution to his risky situation.

In the solar return, the Sun in the 9th certainly places an emphasis on long-distance travel, and the angular stationary Mercury (ruler of the natal 12th) adds the meaning of emigration to a foreign land. In the return chart the Moon (his natal Asc-ruler and his return 12th house ruler) occupies the 4th (place of residence) and is opposed by Uranus (sudden or unexpected disruptions).