“The Sages of Old instruct that the occult knowledge of Trees and Herbs, as well as the sacred arts of healing, divination and enchantments, was given mankind in remote times by the Gods.
According to the teachings of some religious traditions, these were the so-called Fallen Angels, exiled from the celestial mansions by a jealous demiurge; or descending by will to share their divine power with the races of men.
The ancient Books of Enoch reveal how those heavenly luminaries known as the Watchers took the daughters of men as wives and taught them the arts of astrology, writing, metalworking, perfumery and herbalism.
By other accounts, these tutelary divinities were the beloved nymphs, tree spirits, fairy folk, sylvan genii or rustic entities, allied unto the dominions of the wilderness, such as good Chiron, that venerable centaur who taught the great God Asklepios, the disciplines of medicine.
In many traditions, it was the Trees and Herbs themselves or the land wherein they were rooted, who taught the plant doctors their art, often revealing themselves by way of a unique ‘Language of the Trees’, whereby vegetal powers were accessed by song and incantation.
With the ascendance of monotheistic cults, a great many of these plant luminaries were assimilated to a false lexicon of demons, and the Art Magical, once the pursuit of sages, was made heresy.
Eventually, Nature Herself came to be viewed as an evil spirit, representative of powers to be bound, exploited and civilized’.”
– Daniel A. Schulke, Viridarium Umbris, the Pleasure Garden of Shadow