Conjured up by the inimitable author, Rivka Galchen, Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch is an enchanting saga about a most affecting character—an old woman implicated in a pernicious hoax.
Set in 1618, post reformation Germany, the protagonist of Galchen’s historical-fiction is Katherine Kepler. An Illiterate, uneducated, seventy-year-old widow, Katherine’s most salient character trait was her love of cows. Her beloved companion, Chamomile was often seen peacefully grazing outside Katherine’s home in the village of Loenberg. A mother of two grown sons, one a pewterer, another an astronomer and a married daughter, Greta, Katherine was reputed to be obstinate, at times, even sharp- tongued. Nevertheless, she was esteemed for her intense knowledge of herbs. And how to use their healing power.
Katherine generously and tenderly applied her herbal salves or liquid mixtures to heal many villagers suffering from a variety of ailments. Yet Katherine had many detractors. It may have been jealousy over her son Johannes’ elevated place in the world that brought out the “devils of envy” within them. Johannes Kepler was, after all, the renowned Imperial Mathematician, whose three laws of planetary motion contravened the conventions of science and religion of the time. But Katherine knew nothing nor cared a whit about her famous son’s research, though she was proud to hear many nobles asked Johannes for an astrological calendar or a personal horoscope that her son provided. Katherine was a simple, religious woman with devotion for the Luther Bible, innocent of either fomenting mischief or detecting evil in others.
Katherine’s ordeal began with a “small lie,” exacerbated by superstition that escalated into a multi-headed hydra aimed to annihilate her. Katherine’s nemesis was Ursula Reinbold, the “glazier’s wife” a vindictive “half crazed rumormonger” whom Katherine nicknamed The Werewolf. Ursula alleged Katherine was consorting with the devil and associating with dark powers. Furthermore, Ursula claimed Katherine attempted to poison her with a “bitter wine, a witch’s brew “made of herbs. Ursula brought her case to the court of the venerable Ducal Governor, Lukas Einhorn, reputed to have convicted eight other women for crimes of sorcery. Katherine filed a suit for slander. It failed.
Instead of supporting Katherine’s innocence, the entire village became an “incubator of gossip”. Katherine was caught in a dragnet of lies with hysterical accusations that claimed she caused the death of sheep and infants, that she had the power to “pass through locked doors” and at will “ride a goat backwards. “Katherine was charged and brought to trial for practicing witchcraft.
Everyone Knows Your Mother is A Witch inspired by a true story is a trophy to women everywhere and especially women who employ a special brand of “witchcraft” to make the world better for us all.
