From the editor.

So many people today are searching for something that's missing in our lives. For many of us, this search has led us to focus on natural healing or spirituality. But what is this hole in our culture, in our souls, that we're all trying to fill? I won't pretend to speak for everyone, but for me the missing piece in my society has to do with connection to the world around us. Technology and science are amazing and helpful tools, but somehow our devotion to them seems to have created a rift between the human people and the natural world. So, in the spirit of reconnection, we offer you this Healing Plants issue. There is no part of nature more excited and ready to reconnect with us than our green friends. After all, their bodies are powerhouses of nutrition and healing energy, and, as Eliot Cowan explains, their spirits can bring more profound healing, connecting us to our world again, dissolving our fear and isolation.

As we all walk around throughout our days thinking lofty thoughts, pondering the meaning of the universe, trying out this or that new therapy or healing practice, could it be that our answers are all around us, growing quietly through the grass in our lawns, humbly putting on leaves, beckoning with flowers, and waiting for us to take notice? If what we need is to be rooted deeply in our world like the indigenous people who seemed to have what we lack, who is more prepared to teach us this skill than the rooted ones?

I don't know about you, but I'm skipping that workshop this weekend, and I'm going to hang out with a dandelion, then maybe I'll introduce myself to wild ginger. I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

I dedicate this issue to our flowered teachers, in gratitude. To all the readers of this issue, I bless you with the joy of true connection to our world.