From the time Jim Lewis introduced Astro*Carto*Graphy to the world in 1976, he was sought after as a lecturer, and he also wrote widely in such magazines as American Astrology, Dell Horoscope and East-West Journal. Despite these activities, he didn't get down to writing any book length treatment of Astro*Carto*Graphy until he and Ariel Guttman collaborated on The Astro*Carto*Graphy Book of Maps in 1989. This book filled a real need, but it was not the comprehensive presentation of the subject that many wanted.

Foremost among the friends pressing Jim to write a book was Penguin Arkana series editor Erin Sullivan, and by the summer of 1994 she had finally convinced him to come up with an outline that she could present to the publisher. Not long after the project was okayed, Jim was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, a tragic condition which had cut short the lives of several other close members of his family. Erin convinced the people at Penguin to go ahead, but only if another writer could be found to work on the project with Jim and to complete it if he died before it was finished. In December of that year, Jim's longtime friend and editor Ken Irving of American Astrology signed an agreement with Jim, and a few days later, Jim and Erin inked the book contract.

Within two months, Jim was gone. Working from an outline provided by Erin and with materials from Jim and ACG librarian Ken Bowser, Irving edited, rewrote and wrote for nearly a year in order to give The Psychology of Astro*Carto*Graphy shape and direction, while still trying to stay true to Jim's ideas and to keep Jim's "voice" in the book as much as possible. Jim's caring, supportive and sometimes urgent and abrasive presence was all too fleeting in our lives, so perhaps this book will serve to pass along his ideas to future generations and to give them some notion of what they missed by not knowing him in person.