Customer Reviews

The Twelfth House: The Hidden Power in the Horoscope

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This is a book to interprete many aspects of the 12th house. With several examples, the author describes how unconscious world is related to the issues descended from generation to generation and hidden talents that have not been cultivated by the ancestors. Since today�fs world is hustling and bustling, we often neglect the unproductive world of the 12th house. But if we set up favorable conditions to give insights into understanding our hidden power, the 12th house can provide us with plenty of potential resources and contentment that are lacking in our daily lives. I hope that this book will give you some indication of how to be familiar with such aspects of the 12th house and conduct conscious work to cultivate it.

Western students of astrology have heard for centuries that the 12th House of the horoscope is a gloomy, dark, isolated place. Karen Hamaker-Sondag, a Dutch Astrologer and Jungian Psychologist, turns that thesis on its head in this interesting book. As a person whose natal chart abounds in 12th House placements and aspects, I was curious to read what insights Hamaker-Sondag could provide.

There are many. Hamaker-Sondag has a brilliant, protean intellect. She is fascinated with all aspects of the human condition. She examines these elements from a variety of cultural perspectives.

THE TWELFTH HOUSE begins with a I Ching hexagram on its first page. Hamaker-Sondag thereafter calls upon an impressive and diverse array of sources to craft her discussion of the 12th House.

The major flaw in this book is that Hamaker-Sondag often digresses from the narrower topics of astrology and the 12th House into larger speculations on Family Dynamics, the Collective Subconscious, Mysticism, Mythology, the dichotomies between Judeo-Christian value systems and Oriental or Neo-Pagan value systems, reincarnation, karma, and so on.

Deconstructed section by section, each of these topics is fascinating, and she writes well and knowledgeably, with an erudition, a depth and a density that is truly gifted, especially for such a brief volume.

Unfortunately, the very density of the material occults Hamaker-Sondag's gifts. Even with my Doctoral degrees in law and psychology, the weight of the material made reading this book more a chore than a pleasure. This seems to be her writing style rather than the translator's impact, as the translator even comments editorially on some of Hamaker-Sondag's material.

This is a book that is less than the sum of its parts, primarily because Hamaker-Sondag fails to segue successfully from one topic to the next or to relate back the various theses that make up her presentation on the 12th House.

It's incredible stuff, but in the end, I had learned more about Hamaker-Sondag's vast range of interests than I did about the 12th House. It made me want to have her do my natal chart or date her, but that wasn't her purpose in writing this book, after all.

My Mercury is in Aries in the 9th house. My Moon is the ruler of the 12th in the 12th.


I like the book. Hamaker-Zindag gives a very thoughtful approach to the twelfth house. She considers the implication of her statements about people's charts. She never accuses anyone and is extremely respectful towards aspects. She fuses her arguments with major psychological theories. The book is rewritten in a professional manner and I have not come across a single silly statement or prejudiced remark.

Her understanding of family relationships is dead on. She understand the complications of gender in the birth chart. She doesn't attempt to encapsulate people in a gender specific model. She also understands how parents influence their children without repeating stereotypes and playing into people's preconceived notions.She makes sure that you understand that the topic of gender is complicated.

Her approach is very open-minded. She does not direct you to the answers. She gives possibilities rather than condemnations. The book is not written with absolutes in mind so do not look for anything with a strict outline. I look at this mainly as thoughtful suggestion, which in truth, is what astrology ought to be.

This book does not handle karmic astrology. Her approach is very practical. She views the 12th house as being influenced by unconscious factors that the child is inheriting from the parents or some other early experience. She does not reject karmic astrology, but she takes a different approach and provides a different interpretation. I like the idea of reincarnation myself, but I am also open to other interpretations.

A final note here is that she does not preach. She just looks at the possibilities without providing a moral framework. I think that that is ideal. I am skeptical with some of her claims about children, however. She claims that newborns do not distinguish their mother at birth. This is not true. Studies prove that babies do distinguish between people at birth and they are able to identify their mother as soon as they are born. Just know that it is based on old psychology that isn't entirely true. The response seems to depend on the child. When my daughter was born, she was unresponsive to who held her; she was also the result of an extremely traumatic birth. My son recognized me from birth. He would not look at others in the room at his birth, and immediately afterward would cry when nurses and attendants picked him up. He is a 12th house Moon and 8th house Sun. I think it really depends on the infant.

[...]

This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I was expecting more of an in-depth analysis and explanation of the 12th House itself, but especially in relation to each of the planets and how its influence plays out in our chart.

While there were a few nuggets of wisdom scattered here and there, I came away with a sense of not having learned much more than I knew before I initially picked up the book.

Too, although this is supposed to be a book on astrology, in many places it reads like a 4th year psychology textbook -- sometimes almost a bit too deep. And I'm a psychology student!

Maybe it's my Mercury in Virgo (in the 1st House) reacting here, but the organization of the content matter could have been better arranged. It seemed to skip around from one topic to another in no seemingly logical order.

However, with Uranus at 29 degrees Cancer in the 12th house, and a stellium (6 to be exact) of planets all in Leo in the 12th House, I'm sure it's evident why I'm obsessed with finding answers (Pluto in Leo in the 1st).

Kat Starwolf