Born in Liegnitz in modern Poland, Walther was a significant influence on the thought of the German theosopher Jakob Böhme.
As an itinerant Paracelsian enthusiast, Walther was active throughout the Holy Roman Empire, in Poland, Transylvania and elsewhere.
A gifted student and an evident enthusiast of Paracelsian medicine, he thereafter received a series of appointments to Ducal courts throughout the Holy Roman Empire as a physician, alchemist and laboratory technician.
[2] Despite his influence, as well as his enthusiasm for kabbalistic and magical tracts, Walther himself only composed two major works, neither of which reflected these interests to any great extent: A third work, although actually written by Jakob Böhme, was inspired by 40 questions proposed to the philosopher by Walther himself concerning the nature of the human soul.
The first edition of these Forty Questions on the Soul (to use its English title) was provided by Johann Angelius Werdenhagen, a friend of Walther, shortly after the physician's death in Paris: Despite his significance to and influence upon the theosophy of Jakob Böhme, Walther has attracted little scholarly attention and remained something of a historical cipher.