Mellie Uyldert

By 2008, Uyldert registered about 30 books with a total circulation around one million, with translations in German, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Danish.

From around 1947 she began writing in the "De Kaarsvlam" ("The Candle’s Flame"), a bimonthly magazine produced in both English and German for some years by herself, years later published by Mellie Uyldert Foundation. Also for several years she was a journalist for the "Onkruid", a widely read Dutch New Age magazine, and wrote for the magazine Surviving the right Ecological Movement ("Overleven van de rechtse Ekologische Beweging"). Meanwhile, she was a teacher at naturopathic institutes such as the Academy of Natural Treatment (Academie voor Natuurgeneeswijzen), and "De Kosmos" in Amsterdam. However, in 1984 she was discredited by a booklet which accused her of alleged racist theories. Following these events Onkruid magazine ended its relation with her.

Uyldert was the daughter of Marie Calisch, a teacher, and Emil Uyldert, both vegetarians who were followers of the back-to-nature Chaste Life movement. In 1912 her father Emil deserted the family, going to the United States and leaving Mellie's mother the task of raising their daughter. At eighteen years old she became interested in astrology, taking her first lessons with a Freemason called Mr. Ram in Hilversum. In 1928 she joined the Dutch Philosophical Society ("Nederlandse Vereniging voor Filosofie") but at age twenty-first she left it for lessons in esoteric philosophy including Theosophy and Indian-style astrology. In the same year 1928 she began teaching astrology, and in 1934 she published her first book, the vegetarian cookbook Manual for the Modern Kitchen (Handleiding voor de moderne keuken), and in 1942 she started giving courses on herbs and lectures.

Mellie Uyldert (31 May 1908 in Blaricum – 10 May 2009 in Bilthoven) was a Dutch New Age writer, alternative healer, occultist, and astrologer who published about 30 esoteric books, selling over a million copies, making her a recognized person in the Netherlands. Of a conservative, peculiar, poetic, eccentric character, she was also controversial because of several unsettling claims that caused antagonism. In the 1970s she became a celebrity on Dutch television. Her publications cover fairy tales, herbal medicine, stones, metals, health, and gnomes. She also wrote poems.