The California Homeopath
Journal of the California Homeopathic Medical Society

Kentianism is not thinkable without the Swedenborgian soil in which it grew to maturity, nor has it seemed able to grow or develop further since it largely lost contact with this nutrient and sustaining environment. --  Ralph Twentyman

The influence of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg has been considerable in many fields. It can be seen in the writings and art of William Blake, in Strindberg’s drama and in the work of Goethe, Baudelaire, Milosz and of many of the fathers of American Literature including Emerson and Henry James; indeed it is to be found in the work of the whole James clan which covered a multitude of disciplines, including philosophy and psychology. Some of the great figures of American folk history, figures as diverse as Johnny Appleseed and Helen Keller, were inspired by their understanding of Swedenborgian theology. However, it is in homœopathy that the influence of Swedenborg has perhaps been most substantial. The list of homœopaths who were members of the Church of the New Jerusalem and influenced by Swedenborg’s writings stretches from John Garth Wilkinson, who was both one of the first English homœopaths and the first translator of Swedenborg into English, through most of the great American homœopaths of the later 19th and early twentieth century, to a few of us today. The major figures who were responsible for the development of classical homœopathy, particularly Hering and Kent but also Grimmer, Farrington, Boericke, Tafel, Holcombe, Gram and Wesselhoeft were not only members of the New Church but were also deeply influenced by Swedenborg’s philosophy. Until very recently many, if not most, members of the New Church used homœopathy as their primary form of medicine.

By Peter Fraser

Peter Fraser practices homeopathy in Bristol and London, England.  He is the author of many provings, working with the The School of Homeopathy, Devon and author of a number of books, including The AIDS Miasm, books on Snakes, Spiders and Insects and the series of Using Maps and Systems in Homœopathy, which includes: Miasms, Realms, Mappa Mundi and Philosophy. He is currently working on a Supplement to Clarke’s Dictionary of Materia Medica that extends it to cover many new homeopathic remedies. He is especially interested in the diseases of our times: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Allergic Reactions, Hyperactivity and Concentration Disorders, Auto-Immune Disease and HIV. Visit his website at http://www.homoeopathist.info/.