site design by
re:Ward, Inc.
The Four Pillars
The primary symbol used throughout The Hermit’s Grove depicts four pillars. (1) I first encountered the concept of the four pillars of medicine in a compact but powerful book, Occult Science in Medicine, by Franz Hartmann. (2) I spent years studying this book and continue to do so when working with students in the advanced levels of The Master Herbalist Program. My students in The Mystery School of The Rowan Tree Church are also required to spend time with this book.
When I first read the book, having only recently embarked upon my own pursuit of metaphysics and occult sciences, it spoke so clearly to me that my original copy remains at hand by my desk. I refer to it often and, in fact, the information contained in it greatly shaped the two major educational programs I established: The Master Herbalist Program and The Mystery School.
These four pillars are:
Philosophia
The word ‘philosophy’ translates from the original Greek as a ‘love of wisdom.’ In the context of this pillar of medicine, the wisdom we seek comes not only from studying written texts but also from observing and studying "the mysteries of Nature for the purpose of gratifying scientific curiosity." Franz Hartmann also writes that "the whole of nature is a manifestation of truth."
As a Master Herbalist my learning never ends, whether I am on my knees in the soil working in my gardens as the Wheel of the Seasons circles around me or engrossed in the newest scientific information being made available.
Astronomia
Within The Hermit’s Grove the knowledge of astrology is used to better understand the individual in a completely holistic manner. The knowledge of astrology in its higher form allows us to understand the emotional, psychological and psychic components of the person, thus better able to see how the individual may manifest illnesses and other afflictions. Working to remedy imbalances and tendencies toward self-negation, learning how a person handles stress or anger, better understanding a person’s emotional worries is of great value to the healer.
Alchemie
From the time I asked for (and received!) my first chemistry set in 1955, I’ve had a desire to understand the underlying energy of physical substances. In The Master Herbalist Program the advanced work (and work of a spiritual healer) is to move beyond the confines of an herbal remedy based solely upon remedial principles. Rather remedial work is expanded to incorporate the energy of the herbs.
Hartmann speaks of Terrestrial Alchemy, that work which encompasses the "whole science of chemistry." Then there is Celestial Alchemy, which seeks to work with the spiritual components of both the patient and the remedies. Lastly there is the Alchemy of the Astral Plane which includes, as Hartmann writes, "spiritism, hypnotism, witchcraft and sorcery: all of which things are superstitions if believed in by those who know nothing about their laws, but realities for those who know the laws by which such phenomena take place."
Fideles
Hartmann wrote that "Virtue means power. He goes to state that "The true physician as well as the real priest is ordained by God," along with "Medicine is much more an art than a science." Other ‘virtues’ which Hartmann states include this: "The true physician does not brag about his cleverness or praise his medicines or seek to monopolize the right of robbing the patient... There is knowledge which is derived from man, and another knowledge which is derived from God through the light of nature. He who has not been born to be a physician will never succeed. A physician should be faithful and charitable." Hartmann stresses the spiritual and moral nature of the healer as an essential component of one’s work. I can only concur.
Just as I am known, internationally, as a Master Herbalist, I am also known as a Wiccan Priest. I am both priest and healer and cannot separate the two. Those whom I wish as students are those who seek knowledge motivated by a love of wisdom. They are humble, a word which shares the same root as ‘humus.’ Their growing knowledge of herbal work based upon these Four Pillars will allow them to see the divinity present in all of the herbal world, in all of Nature.
(1) One logo shows the four pillars as ancient, hewn, stones. The other shows the pillars as architecture. These two original drawings were done for me in the early 1980s by Karen Weed, an artist who then lived in Missouri and who has since relocated to Minnesota. We also use the image of Mars and Tarragon, one of the drawings by artist Dianne Lorden, the illustrator of The Holy Books of the Devas.
(2) Samuel Weiser, Inc. NY, printed in 1975 from the original text published in 1893. This book has gone in and out of print several times in the past thirty years and is usually out of print.