Francis Mercury van Helmont's first encounter with Anne Conway was as a physician, but he soon discovered that his patient was just as much interested in the arcane and exotic wisdom he purveyed as in his remedies. Having originally visited More in order to consult with him on behalf of his friend and collaborator, the Christian kabbalist Christian Knorr von Rosenroth (1636–89), Van Helmont found a receptive audience not only in More, but in his friend Lady Conway. This contact was to have a far-reaching impact on both of them.

FROM CONJECTURA CABBALISTICA TO KABBALA DENUDATA

Anne Conway's study of the kabbalah was unusual for her time. Prior to Knorr von Rosenroth's translation of kabbalistic texts, published in his Kabbala denudata in 1677, direct knowledge of Jewish mystical traditions among gentiles was extremely rare, particularly in England. However, there had been a strong interest in the Christian variant on kabbalism, originating from the Christian kabbalism of Johannes Reuchlin in the sixteenth century, and continued in the seventeenth century by, among others, Henry More. Anne Conway's acquaintance with Christian kabbalism undoubtedly enhanced her receptivity towards genuine Jewish kabbalism which she first encountered when she met Francis Mercury van Helmont in 1670.

Anne Conway's interest in the kabbalah may have been stimulated by reports reaching Europe just prior to this that a Jewish Messiah had declared himself: the messianic movement surrounding the putative Messiah, Sabbatai Sevi, was greatly inspired by the teachings of the kabbalist Isaac Luria (1534–72).