Below is the preface to the book, providing some of the facts that motivated this fiction.
Some people love prefaces and some don’t. While not necessary for understanding this story, it provides a context for its genesis. Below is a glimpse at the two key facts that influenced this story’s structure.
- One is the actual tribe of people who were the original Bohemians
- The other is the modern day scientific investigation into a unique and separate intelligence within the heart, called the Heart’s Code. If such things interest you, read on. Otherwise, skip to Chapter One.
Bohemian: A Brief History
The word Bohemian holds iconic stature in our society. While evoking disdain in some, to others it is an ideal state of being, defined in the dictionary as: a life unhampered by social convention, often artistic, with freedom to live as one chooses.
Where did this meaning begin? While used as a moniker for starving artists in 18th century Europe and a synonym for gypsy vagabonds, neither were Bohemian’s beginning. The term was first recorded in 600 AD when the territory we now know as the Czech Republic was claimed by the Slavic’s and named the Kingdom of Bohemia, in honor of the Celtic tribe of Boii who first established the land. Archeological and Linguistic researchers confirm a thriving Boii culture in 750 BC and some speculate they moved into the territory as early as 4000 BC.
Who Were These Original Bohemians? By description, they dressed like modern day hippies in brightly colored garbs and ornamentation. By profession, they were highly skilled craftspeople and traders, first to make bronze with tin and copper, among many other art forms. By culture they were independent and peaceful, expanding their families, business, and territory along the Vltava River between Prague and the Swiss Alps. By lore they were master storytellers whose tales traveled far and some were scribed by Greek scholars. And despite great population and political upheaval throughout Europe, their unique culture survived until 50 BC when they were attacked by a hired warring party (most likely Caesar’s) and forced out of their homeland. Many fled west and south to Germany, France, Spain and Italy, where Boii populations continue today, confirmed by DNA. Some may have “jumped the pond,” to find haven among the North Carolina Cherokee where the “Celtic Axe” arrived to those Woodland Indians during that same timeframe. But it is also presumed some of the original Bohemians must have stayed in their homeland, hidden away until the danger passed. For why else would the land be named in their honor 600 years after their supposed departure? The logic follows that as the Slavic people immigrated into the vacated Boii land along the river, the remaining Boii re-emerged from the mountains to share their heritage and customs with their new neighbors, creating valued bond. As a result, the land remained “Home of the Boii” until 1919, when the spoils of World War One changed the name to Czechoslovakia.
How do Bohemians connect with modern science’s study of a Heart’s Code? Documentation of the wide range of innovation the Boii Celt’s created with their natural resources proves them to be a society that valued creativity and must have encouraged their tribe members to explore and develop their unique skills and interests. For how else could they have continuously grown and prospered for three centuries? If the culture’s ethnology and folklore stands true, the original Bohemians represent the epitome of the universal ideal: “Follow Your Heart.”
Fast forward to 1990 where scientists began taking that notion a step further, investigating the separate intelligence residing in the heart and theorizing that each heart contains a unique life map called: The Heart’s Code. The theory began in early 1980 with discovery of the mechanics of how atoms, cells and the heart store coded information, i.e.: the heart could learn and carry one’s personal code. This theory was further supported though extensive clinical observations of heart transplant patients who admit to having dramatically new interests, tastes and preferences that identically matched the donor of their new heart (whom they’d never met). There is also the fact of the heart beat beginning on the 22nd day in the fetus, 180 days before the brain is fully formed and no one yet knows how it starts. Universally, our soul’s wisdom has always been linked to the heart and recently, TV host Dr. Oz identified the small white spot at the electrical center of the heart as the soul.
While the centuries have cultivated our brain smarts, many humans still cling to an ill-defined yet intrinsic stirring within our chest, as if it holds the magic potion for life’s happiness. Science is now catching up to our instincts, postulating a new revolution where the brain revolves around the heart, not the other way around. Something, perhaps, the Boii Celts understood, long, long ago. ~
THE HEART CODE NOVEL By Laura Matson Hahn 
Laura: I read the book as part of the North Pointe book club and I enjoyed the book. For me, the preface was so interesting. I was drawn into reading the book as my curiosity was aroused. I felt that I gained knowledge that I did not know when reading the preface, especially the scientific theory and the experiences of heart transplant patients. I was intrigued by Dr. Oz’s identification of the small white spot at the electrical center of the heart as being the soul! That is amazing and comforting. I think we are all seekers of higher knowledge that goes beyond brain intellegence and touches upon the mystery of life. I think your preface added a spark of wonder about the premise of your book. I hope you keep it in because even though some people don’t read the preface of a book, lots of people do and I was positively effected by the facts you presented!
Funnily, my brother and his wife moved their family, a number of years ago, to Bohemia, NY. And, I remember when we lived in our 179 year old farm house in Tinicum Township, Buck’s County, when I was a child…I had a friend named Elizabeth Ragland. Her family was from Cech. (sp?) and they had moved away because of strife in that country…and were living in “Smithtown” which were homes across the canal, along the Delaware River. You drove on River Road and turned onto one or another bridge to cross the canal at certain points — and they lived in a house, there. I wonder what happened to she and her family. Buck’s County, in the 60’s was considered rather bohemian. It certainly attracted a very artsy crowd from New York and so on. It was a wonderful place, then, to grow up in.