This book is the first volume of the new Viridis Genii Editions series. Each year we intend to publish a book containing outstanding articles from presentations delivered at the Viridis Genii Symposium. This volume contains articles from nine of the seventeen presenters at the inaugural symposium held at Damascus, Oregon from July 31 to August 2, 2015.

We have selected works based on the spirit they invoke, the distinct thread that weaves the green gnosis into the great tapestry of the green art. The approaches presented here range from the scholarly (Hathaway Diaz) to the poetic (Wazka). Yet each also partakes in the perilous act of attempting to render in language something that necessarily escapes it. We hope that as the reader meanders through the pathways presented, the slippage in the spaces between the words and concepts allows another dimension to emerge. A distinct logic adheres in the plant realm; the repetitions appearing across the essays here evince a knowing that resists articulation in human language. It is a way of knowing that must be experienced directly, and the authors brave enough to share their wisdom reveal their dance around this elusive reality.

One must read carefully across these essays to fully perceive the force of what has been shared. The variety of tone and style demonstrate the myriad entryways to the green path. This book, a celebration of just a few of them, will leave the reader with specific recipes for intentional work with plants, testimony from living practitioners of traditions near and far, and a palpable sense of our inescapable embeddedness in the Viridis Genii. It is our hope that this volume serves as a keepsake for the symposium participant and as continued inspiration for the aspirant.

Bloom True,
Catamara Rosarium, &
Jenn Zahrt, PhD
Olympia, Washington
June 20, 2015