Like a light bulb going off, when I first encountered the principle in the Edgar Cayce readings about the importance of a prayerful attitude when employing any therapeutic procedure, I experienced a revelation about healing—it’s the spirit that heals, not the material in the medicine. Today, as the materialistic conception of all reality is beginning to evaporate in favor of the recognition of the immaterial, the invisible, the energetic, or vibrational nature of things, spirit is gaining recognition. It is becoming clearer that intention governs mechanical effects and the imagination administers sensory perception. One such area of reformation in understanding is underway with regard to the medicinal value of plants. Did you ever wonder how indigenous peoples ever discovered what plant was good medicine for what ailment? The shamanic journey, that inward flight of the imagination practiced by our ancestors, provided diplomatic encounters with the spirit of plants, and resulted in the practitioner learning the secret of the plants healing ability. Putting a newly encountered plant under one’s pillow, for example, might result in a dream where the plant teacher instructed the dreamer on how to invite that plant as an ally in healing. The earthly ingredients in the plant provided a convenient, but not necessary, medium through which the plant spirit cooperated with the healer’s intentions. I’d been familiar with this scenario, but it was something out of distant history until I encountered the book The Secret Teachings of Plants: The Intelligence of the Heart in the Direct Perception of Nature by Stephen Harrod Buhner (Bear & Co.). This well respected herbalist had discovered the psychology underlying our ability to communicate with plants. It involved making a heart connection with the plant and then observing one’s stream of thoughts, memories and daydreams. In our conscious state the intuitive connection comes indirectly, as a subliminal influence on the stream of consciousness. I was particularly pleased to read of his methodology, as it matched exactly the type of communication I had discovered through my research on how people can dream healing dreams for one another, as described in my book, The Intuitive Heart. Today, many explorers of this type of communication call it “enchantment,” as it operates through the imagination, creating a “spell,” which is very suggestive to the flow of consciousness. Because the distinction between subject and object (perceiver and that perceived) is absent in such moments, enchantment is a great example of “oneness.” Recently another book came to me that builds upon Buhner’s work. It is Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness, by Pam Montgomery (Bear & Co.) Whereas Buhner devoted much of his book to explaining how the heart can perceive, Montgomery spends that time informing us about research into the intelligence of plants and their creative behavior. Yes—behavior, because plants do have a life and they do things with intent. This realization has resulted in the new field of plant neurobiology. I was also pleased to read her analysis of the difference between energy and spirit. She writes, “…the vital principle of spirit within plant consciousness guides the energy in its movement.” One can communicate with spirit, but one operates on energy. In the application comes the awareness. I attempted an experiment with poison ivy, which grows abundantly where I live (to the delight of my goats!). I approached the shiny green vine, greeted it and extended my heart to it in gratitude that we might communicate. Using a clue from one of the Cayce readings on nature, I entered into a more empathic attunement to the plant by physically imitating its physical stance by my own, and even performed a brief poison ivy dance as I watched the leaves sway in the wind. Trusting my imagination, I listened for its song and silently imitated what I heard. Soon I found myself in a daydream with Chef Boyardee. He was extolling the virtues of spices, especially those that add “heat” to the food. Awakening from this reverie, I reflected upon what I experienced. When I googled “healing properties of poison ivy,” I discovered that it was once used as a poultice for arthritis because of the heat it brought to the area. I believe that the poison ivy communicated to me and it has opened to me a new world.