The Search of the Heart (Paperback or Softback)

The Search of the Heart is on a little-explored area of traditional astrology: the interpretation of thoughts and identification of issues and questions prior to a horary consultation. In this important new translation of Hermann of Carinthia and other authors in numerous Appendices, modern students will see first-hand how to calculate and interpret significators of thoughts and charts. With a lengthy interpretive introduction by Dr. Benjamin Dykes, it is essential for the practicing traditional astrologer.

In the 1140s AD, Hermann of Carinthia assembled instructions from medieval Arabic-speaking authorities on interpreting the unstated thoughts of clients (now called "consultation charts"), often using a "victor" or mubtazz or almuten for topics or the chart. Hermann also offered his own reflections on the proper balancing of dignities, house rank, and planetary strength.

The Search of the Heart is now available for the first time. To Hermann's book, Dr. Benjamin Dykes has added similar instructions and source texts from such notable astrologers as al-Rijal (Haly Abenragel), Sahl bin Bishr, Masha'allah, 'Umar al-Tabari, al-Kindi, Abraham ibn Ezra, Leopold of Austria, Ptolemy, Hephaistio of Thebes, "Argafalau," and others.

In his lengthy Introduction, Dykes suggests that thought-interpretation and its victors in horary were supposed to identify what a client's interest is or should be, as a preliminary to crafting a horary question.

With its huge number of approaches and never-before translated texts, The Search of the Heart is essential for traditional astrologers.