Whitney, Jerome (1934 – 2018)

Jerome Warren Whitney (13 August 1934 – 5 August 2018) was an American-born professional homeopath and Druid who spent much of his career in London.

Whitney was a student of homeopath Thomas Lackenby Maughan.

His colleagues and contemporaries included Peter Chappell, Robert Davidson, Martin Miles, Misha Norland, Rix Pyke, and Sarah Richardson.

In 2007, Whitney wrote a short article titled “From the Cooper Club to The Homeopathy College of Birmingham,” in which he outlined the development of professional homeopathy in Britain. This remains an important and informed history, written from the perspective of one of its central figures.

Jerome Whitney was born on 13th August 1934, in French Creek, Chautauqua, New York, the son of farmer Wilford Randall Whitney (1906 – 1954) and Clara Irene Wenzel (1911 – 1997).

Whitney was a gifted learner, earning a Bachelor’s degree in maths and physics, and two Master’s degrees in Social History. From an early age he was concerned with justice and fairness, and cultivated a deep interest in the nature of truth and reality. He was an admirer of Malcolm X, and wrote his M.A. thesis on ‘American Black Nationalism in the 20th Century’.

In June 1965, Whitney married Karen Westberg.

In 1970, Whitney first met homeopath Thomas Maughan, then Chief of the Druid Order. In Whitney’s own words, ‘I was so impressed with him and with the way he expressed the Druidic teaching and the role of Druids in society that I wanted more!’.

Whitney found he could merge scientific enquiry with philosophical aspiration in a life-long focus on meditation, self-development, group work, ceremony and healing including, of course, homeopathy. As Jerome put it, ‘The Druids teach how to both be practical and real in the world – as well as being spiritual’.

Whitney became an homeopathic student of Maughan, and a member of his South London Group. Through Maughan, Whitney studied homeopathy and druidic spiritual philosophy together. Many of the leading figures of the late 20th century British homeopathic renaissance, including a number of members of the Society of Homeopaths, and much of today’s professional homeopathy, “all sprang from this double helix.”

From 1983, Whitney held many positions, including Module Leader and lecturer in homeopathy at many colleges: Southern College, South Downs College, The Shamanic School, University of Westminster (BSc (Hons) Homeopathy); Thames Valley University (The Theory and Principles of Complementary Therapies); The Royal Marsden; University of Southampton; University of Central Lancashire; Finnish Institute of Homeopathic Medicine; Homeopathy College of Iceland.

He worked on curriculum development at both the London College of Classical Homeopathy (LCCH) where he was a member of the Academic Board, and the London College of Homeopathy where he also served as external examiner. At the University of Westminster he was a member of the writing team for the first BSc programme for Health Sciences and Homeopathy in England, and Research Project Mentor for the same course. Also at UoW, he was Module Leader for the Comparative Medicine BSc (Hons). He was on the Accreditation Working Group for Homeopathy Colleges and, since 2009, was a member of the Editorial Board of the ARH Journal Homeopathy
in Practice. He was one of the provers of new remedies in the meditative provings circle run by Janice Micallef FSHom.

From 2001 – 2007, Jerome was one of the leading lights in developing the Accreditation handbook for Council of Organisations Registering Homeopaths (CORH), and he was a hugely important member of that working group. He also participated in CORH council meetings, where, as Karin Mont described it, ‘I first became aware of his thoroughly enlightened approach – a breath of fresh air’. He was an active member of the Course Providers Forum, believing in a plurality and a creative breadth of homeopathic courses to keep homeopathy vital and progressive.

From 1997, for a year, he was on a Cable 17 TV phone-in – a series called Complementary Therapies, and he became an Associate Member of the Guild of Health Writers. Over the years he has thrilled campers with his presentations at the Travelling Homeopaths’ Summer Camp as well as joining in enthusiastically with everything from tarot to the wood-fired sauna. Add to this his extensive writings and articles, and you might begin to have an idea as to the extraordinary way in which Jerome served our profession for so many years.

Jerome Whitney suffered from liver and kidney failure in the final few months of his life, and he died on 5th August 2018.

A short interview with Whitney, in which he provides his thoughts on Druidism and living spiritually, was uploaded to Vimeo on the day of his death.

 

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