This special issue of Vibration Magazine is dedicated to exploring vibrational remedies of many kinds. In our three-year history, we've most often focused on flower essences, but we'd be remiss if we didn't introduce our readers to the great spectrum of other types offered by the various makers.

Thus, this issue is a smorgasbord of remedies, from those that tap into the essence of wild animals to gem elixirs to environmental essences and even the cosmos itself. Each article explores a different sort of remedy, and we hope you'll be moved to expand your horizons by sampling some of them.

After flower remedies, GEM ESSENCES are the next-best known. We've celebrated them--and the dazzling qualities of gems themselves--through our cover graphics and backgrounds used on several pages. (This page, of course, features a closeup of an opal.)

In exploring the qualities of a gem essence, makers often refer to ancient teachings on healing powers of various stones. Research on gem essences needs to go beyond that, however, into actual observation and case collection.

For one thing, the texts contradict each other. For another, there is not always a one-on-one correspondence between a physical substance and its vibrational equivalent. In this issue, a seasoned essence practitioner, Theresa Tyagi Kersten, shares some of her experiences with gem essences.

ANIMAL ESSENCES are a fascinating and potent type of vibrational remedy you may not have experienced. The maker has ceremonially attuned to the energy of a wild animal and asked the animal spirits to imprint the qualities of that animal into water. (No animals are harmed in making the essence--everything happens on a vibrational level.) If you have a power animal, you might find it especially catalytic to try an essence based on that animal.

Daniel Mapel, one of the pioneer makers of animal essences, describes some of them in his article, along with examples of how members of a shamanic group have used them. In another article, a remedy user describes an amazing healing by Cobweb essence which repaired the damage a devastating experience had caused.

Perhaps a bit of a stretch for people who aren't even certain how flower remedies work, the STAR ESSENCES especially fascinate astrology lovers, for they incorporate the energies of the stars and planets. Some professional astrologers give them to clients who are undergoing difficult planetary influences, and one such astrologer, Kelley Hunter, shares her experiences in this issue. In a second article on this theme, Vibration Editor and remedy maker Deborah Bier discusses the cycle of Full Moon Essences she was guided to make some time ago.

Speaking of the tip of the iceberg, the Artic north is one of the earth's power spots that has produced an amazing category of essences. Called ENVIRONMENTAL ESSENCES, they tap into the energies of especially potent or sacred places on the globe. The Alaskan Flower Essence Project, for example, has essences based not only on icebergs, but also the northern lights, the midnight sun, and other features of their area, one of the purest and most untainted left on the earth.

In this issue we present an article by Sophia Savich on her environmental essences based on the energies of Ancient Forests. Another essence maker and regular Vibration Contributor, Gretchen Lawlor, has tapped into ancient sacred wells, the Ganges, Lourdes, and other holy waters.