The Planets Within asks us to return to antiquity with new eyes. It centers on one of the most psychological movements of the prescientific age—Renaissance Italy, where a group of "inner Columbuses" charted territories that still give us today a much-needed sense of who we are and where we have come from, and the right routes to take toward fertile and unexplored places.

Chief among these masters of the interior life was Marsilio Ficino, presiding genius of the Florentine Academy, who taught that all things exist in soul and must be lived in its light. This study of Ficino broadens and deepens our understanding of psyche, for Ficino was a doctor of soul, and his insights teach us the care and nurture of soul.

Moore takes as his guide Ficino's own fundamental tool—imagination. Respecting the integrity and autonomy of images, The Planets Within unfolds a poetics of soul in a kind of dialogue between the laconic remarks of Ficino and the need to give these remarks a life and context for our day.

Thomas Moore (1940-Present), has been a monk, musician, university professor, has practised depth psychotherapy for over 30 years, and is a consultant for organizations and spiritual leaders. He is the author of the bestselling Care of the Soul and twenty other books on spirituality and depth psychology that have been translated into thirty languages.

Moore lectures and gives workshops in several countries on depth spirituality, soulful medicine, and psychotherapy. He has Ph. D. in religion from Syracuse University and has won several awards for his work, including an honorary doctorate from Lesley University and the Humanitarian Award from Einstein Medical School of Yeshiva University.