Welcome to the Extreme Makeover Edition of Vibration Magazine! Never hesitating to jump on any currently-fashionable bandwagon, here we are: teeth fixed, a radically different hairdo, stitches all healed, and a entirely new wardrobe. Thank goodness OUR makeover was just digital and not even electrons were harmed in the process. We took some of the most important articles from our first two years of publication (1998 and 1999), gave them spiffy new artwork, and gathered them here together in a single issue.

Despite their fabulous visual makeovers, don't think for a minute these articles are just another bunch of pretty faces. We chose them also because they offer universal, timeless information about vibrational and flower essences. This collection should provide depth and breadth of understanding about this field for both consumers and professionals alike. Our readership has expanded so much in the six years we've been publishing (our site receives more than 100,000 visitors per month), and it's likely that many of you have never seen our earlier issues. (See an index of all our back issues as well as all the Virtual Booklets we have published see here.)


We Look Great Now!
How can I put this delicately? The prior incarnations of some of these articles were...uh...less than lovely. Ok: honestly, we think some were downright embarrassing. (You can see the old versions in miniature on the new pages throughout this edition.) Not that we disliked them when we first published them years ago....nooooo. We thought they were the bee's knees back then. The cat's pajamas. Groovy beyond all saying. What WERE we thinking??! When you raise the bar on your abilities, you see new possibilities... and how your previous best maybe wasn't as quite as good as you had thought. And we found as we developed both our discernment and artistic abilities that some of our older work came to look very sad.

The advancement in our artwork has been something that both of Vibration's editors have been responsible for, often one spurring the other on. But a good portion of our upgraded look is due to my Co-Editor, Donna Cunningham, figuring out she that possessed artistic ability. She used to have "Venus envy," thinking she couldn't create anything visually beautiful to save her life. As you can see from the glowing page treatments on this and the following pages in this edition, that's simply not the case.


A Beauty More than Skin Deep
When hanging around with people who use flower essences, it's not unusual to witness powerful innate abilities emerge and blossom in unexpected ways. That's exactly my own personal experience with essences -- and one of the great delights of doing this work. Essences help us become more of who we really are and realize the gifts we hold within, so seeing our talents emerge is often part of the processes. (For Connie Barrett's new class on Essences and Creativity, see here).

While we are relieved to see the artistic upgrade for aesthetic reasons, there is method to our madness. Over the years, we have come to understand that the visual aspects of the articles we publish in and of themselves are a form of healing and learning. Color, texture, form, visual metaphor and content all contribute energetically and multi-dimensionally to the experience of reading these pages. For more about this fascinating and powerful effect we have come to call "web healing," see Donna's article here.


Do You Ache for a Makeover, Too?
If your own desire to be more than you are has been magnified by the current spate of makeover television shows -- from rooms to backyards, faces and lives -- then you have come to the right place. Vibrational and flower essences can help the beauty of your spirit shine brightly from within, where all beauty begins. Many men and women our culture considers to be great beauties do not have "classic" features; they seem beautiful because of something they project from within. Anyone who radiates confidence, soul, love, humor and intelligence is going to be beautiful -- in the same way that a perfect face or a fabulous figure cannot cover up a vacant mind or a darkened soul.

Sadly, our society's too-high, narrow standards for beauty have made it difficult to love and accept ourselves as we are -- or to even recognize the great beauty we possess. Below are essence suggestions to help bring forth your inner beauty and to help you embrace how lovely you really are...warts and all.

Key: B = Bach, H = Healing Herbs, F = FES
V = Various Makers, W=Whole Energy Essences

PERFECTIONISM, SELF-WORTH, SELF ACCEPTANCE: Beech, Century, Pine, Rock Water, Vervain (B, H), Dandelion (V), Clover, Daylily (W)

FEELING MORE BEAUTIFUL, CONFIDENT, OR LESS UGLY, ASHAMED: Crabapple, Larch, Agrimony (B, H), Buttercup, Evening Primrose, Pretty Face (F), Self-Heal, St. Johns Wort, Sunflower (V)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Deborah Bier, PhD is co-editor of this publication and the founder of the World Wide Essence Society. For more about her and to read her many articles in Vibration Magazine, see here.

ART CREDITS: This page treatment was created by Hometown Websmith with additional images from Art Today.

The World Wide Essence Society does not mean to imply any recommendation of nor give certification to any individuals or companies above. This article is provided purely for informational purposes. We ask consumers to make their own determination as to quality of the services and products offered above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.

Vibration Magazine/The World Wide Essence Society
PO Box 285     Concord, MA 01742     978 369-8454
Website: Hometown Websmith and Word of Mouth Web Design