BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS AQUARIUS: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

Mystic and scientist, born in Stockholm, Sweden. He studied at Uppsala, travelled in Europe, and on his return was appointed assessor in the college of mines. He wrote books on algebra, navigation, astronomy, and chemistry, and in 1734 published his monumental Opera philosophica et mineralia (Philosophical and Logical Works), a mixture of metallurgy and metaphysical speculation on the creation of the world. Curious dreams convinced him that he had direct access to the spiritual world. He communicated his spiritual explorations in Heavenly Arcana (1749–56), and spent the rest of his life in Amsterdam, Stockholm, and London, expounding his doctrines in such works as The New Jerusalem (1758). In 1787 his followers (known as Swedenborgians) formed the Church of the New Jerusalem.