author

Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell Ver Planck Keightley

An American writer and lecturer in the early Theosophical movement, she is best remembered for thoughtful spiritual writing published under the pen name Jasper Niemand. Her life moved through deep personal loss, literary work, and years of involvement with the Theosophical Society in New York and beyond.

1 Audiobook

Letters That Have Helped Me

Letters That Have Helped Me

by William Quan Judge, Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell Ver Planck Keightley

About the author

Born in 1851 as Julia Wharton Lewis Campbell, she came from a prominent Pennsylvania family and spent part of her early life in Europe before living in Philadelphia. After marrying Philip William Ver Planck, she was widowed young, and the deaths of her husband and two small sons were followed by a long illness during which she turned seriously to writing.

Later, as Julia Ver Planck and then Julia Keightley after her marriage to Dr. Archibald Keightley, she became active in the Theosophical Society. She joined the Aryan Lodge in New York in 1886 and contributed extensively to early Theosophical literature, including articles for The Path and editorial work.

She is especially known for writing under the pseudonym Jasper Niemand and for her connection to Letters That Have Helped Me, a book associated with William Q. Judge. Reliable sources found here focus mainly on her Theosophical work, so this overview keeps to those well-attested parts of her life.