In astrology, the Ninth House is the area primarily concerned with systematic understanding and the laws that govern it, a reaching out for the meaning of human existence.

Associated with the publishing profession, with philosophical, religious and educational systems, the Ninth House also signifies the symbol-making capacity of the psyche – the springs of poetry? A sense of purpose is central to this house; an awareness of patterns; a looking to the future for what is yet to unfold. It is the House of the traveller, of journeys to far-off places, exploration of the great abroad, but denotes equally, journeys of the mind. These ideas have been the guiding principles behind the poems collected in this volume.

Louise C. Callaghan was born in 1948 and grew up in County Dublin. Her first poetry collection, The Puzzle-Heart, was published by Salmon in 1999. Her second, Remember the Birds, was published by Salmon in 2005. She compiled and edited Forgotten Light: An Anthology of Memory Poems (2003). Her poetry, which is widely anthologised in Ireland and England, is included in the Field Day Anthology: Vols. IV & V. A play, Find The Lady, based loosely on the life of Kate O'Brien, was signalled by the Abbey Theatre Company, Dublin.