Kepler's Witch (5 page)
Authors: James A. Connor
K
EPLER'S
H
OROSCOPE FOR
H
IMSELF
N
OVEMBER
1597
This person was born with the destiny to spend most of his time working on the difficult things others shirk from. As a boy, before his time, he already studied prosody and poetic meter. He attempted to write comedies and chose the lengthiest psalms to commit to memory. He tried to learn by heart all the examples in Crusius's grammar book. In his poems, he initially troubled himself with acrostics, griphens, and anagrams.
Later, however, when his growing judgment let him disdainfully see the true meaning of such things, he tried even more difficult forms of lyric. He once wrote a Pindaric
melos,
a Greek chorus. Another time, he became interested in unusual subjects, like the immobility of the sun, the creation of rivers, and watching the fog from Mt. Atlas. He enjoyed riddles and searched for the most acrid jokes. He played with allegory by following the strands through to the smallest detail and then pulling them out by the hairs. When imitating, he sought to stick with the exact text and then to apply it to his own material.
When writing down his work, he liked paradoxical statements; for example, that one should learn French rather than Greek. As an opponent [in a debate], he never said anything he did not mean. When he wrote down his ideas, the final version always contained something other than the draft. But more than all other studies, he loved mathematics.
In every type of learning he immersed himself by challenging each idea, and he critically interpreted everything he read.
So he held on to insignificant notes that he wrote himself and stubbornly kept borrowed books, as if they could be of use to him at a later time.
It was unbearable for him to let even a short period of time pass unproductively; despite his strong desire for human company, he stayed away from it. In monetary matters stubborn, when budgeting tough, critically pursuing petty details, all things with which he wasted time. At the same time he is not opposed to work, so much so, that solely the desire for knowledge keeps him at it. And still there are all the beautiful things he aspired to, and in most cases he grasped the truth.
Mercury in the seventh house means haste and an aversion to work, because he is also swift; the sun in Saturn's sixth means conscientiousness and perseverance. These two things are in conflict: to continuously feel regret about lost time while still willingly losing it again and again. Because Mercury affects a tendency for play and fun, this person enjoys the spirit of lighter things. As a child, he was devoted to play; as he grew older he found enjoyment in other things, and he therefore turned to other things; to find out what brings a person joy, therefore, remains subject to opinion. Since being stingy with money deters one from play, he often plays by himself. One has to note the following here: holding on to money does not have the goal of wealth, but rather the alleviation of the fear of poverty. Of course, most greediness grows out of unfounded worry. Or perhaps not; rather, the love of money possesses many. His eyes are fixed upon gain and reputation. Perhaps it is the fear of poverty that can be blamed for much. Because he is presumptuous and contemptuous of mass opinion, he tends to be hard.
By nature he is very well suited for pretense of all kinds. There is also a tendency toward disguise, deceit, and lies. It has its root in common with the jokes and jest. Mercury does this, instigated by Mars. But one thing prevented these dis
guises: The fear for his reputation. Because foremost he yearns for true recognition, and every type of defamation is unbearable to him. He would pay very good money to buy himself free of even harmless, but wicked gossip, and poverty frightens him only because of the shame.
I
N
K
EPLER'S OWN WORDS
:
From the beginning of his life, this person [the subject of this horoscope, Kepler himself] had enemies.
1
The first I can remember was Holp. The rest, indeed, were all my fellow pupils, especially Molitor and Wieland. In Maulbronn and in Tübingen it was Köllin; in Bebenhausen it was Braunbaum; and in Maulbronn it was Ziegel-heuser. I am listing only the long-term enemies, of course. In Tübingen, it was Huldenreich, Seiffer, and Ortolph, while in Adelberg it was Lendlin; in Maulbronn it was Spannenberg, while in Tübingen it was Kleber; in Maulbronn it was Rebstock and Husel, while in Tübingen it was Dauber, Lorhard, Jaeger, a relative of mine, Joh, Regius, Murr, Speidel, Zeiler, another Joh, and Molitor, the brother, and An. Krell, the father-in-law [presumably of Molitor]. Mostly,
these were people his own age. Some of the others not his own age were merely casual acquaintances.
This person harbors dark thoughts about his enemies. And why would he do this? Could it be because his enemies compete with him for industry, success, distinction, and fortune? Or could it be because the Sun and Mercury are in the seventh house?
2
The fact that Kepler listed his enemies but not his friends is telling. In his self-study, which is often brutal, he confesses to a difficult personality. Like a monk cruciform on the chapel floor, he lists his faults. He says that he is deceitful, overanxious to please, yet quick-tempered. “This person has the nature of a dog. He is just like a spoiled little petâ¦. He likes to gnaw on bones and chew on hard crusts of bread. He is voracious, without discipline. When something is put before him, he snatches it up.”
Kepler was an odd boy, intense yet withdrawn. He perceived with the clarity of a child that he was not wanted in his familyâhis grandparents, saddled with a sickly grandchild by their own irresponsible son, had treated him roughly; his mother had been cold all his life; his father was distant and brutal. He defended himself when he could and tried to appease the great adult powers when he could not. His only comfort was in his own mind and in his thoughts of the Lutheran religion, which he had picked up from his grandmother. He was an intensely pious boy, and at times his piety twisted him about.
Perhaps it was the discomfort he felt in his own life or the sense of responsibility he felt for his intelligence, but he spent much of his youth searching his soul for forgotten sins. When he found oneâa vengeful thought, a moment of uncharity, an error in his thinkingâhe assigned himself a penance. Once while at school he fell asleep and missed the evening prayer, and the next morning he assigned himself the task of repeating a number of sermons he had heard over and over, as if that would somehow placate God. Nevertheless, as hard as he tried, he was certain that he would have otherwise received the gift of prophecy, had it not been for his wicked life, his worldliness, and his unremembered sins. If only he could be a better person. If only he could be a saint.
By the age of ten, Johannes had learned to read Bible stories. One of his favorites was the story of Jacob and Rebecca, for he saw in them an example of perfect love, and with the fervor that only a child could maintain for long he resolved that one day, should he ever find his own Rebecca, the two of them would practice the perfect life together by strictly following the Mosaic law. Never mind that he wasn't Jewish, and never mind that the only girls he was likely to meet weren't Jewish either.
He was, from his earliest days, at war both with the world and with himself. Sometimes, in order to fit in, he allowed himself to be seduced to evil. He once joined in the general hatred of a boy named Seiffer because everyone else hated him too. At the urging of his teachers, he turned informer. In return, the boys insulted him because of his father's reputation. He had a wicked sense of humor, one that was often misunderstood and often kindled smoldering hatred among his acquaintances, hatred that lasted for years. Worst of all, many of his classmates envied his industry and his success.
He was a small boyâsallow-faced with a dark glance. On top of that, he was often sick, sometimes with real illnesses, sometimes with imagined ones. Nevertheless, he threw himself into playing games. He would fight when called upon, though he was often beaten for it, and if he believed that he was in the right, which was most of the time, he would never give in. This last trait followed him throughout his life, and although it helped him to survive the troubles of the Thirty Years' War, it brought him endless grief with his own Lutheran church.
What Kepler endured, however, was not only a product of his personality. His time on earth boiled with struggle, not only for him, but also for the Holy Roman Empire. Dark change was in the air. When Kepler was born in 1571, his parents had him baptized in the local Catholic church, Sts. Peter and Paul. Yet, his family were Lutherans, and Johannes was therefore raised a Lutheran. So, on the ground at least, where ordinary people lived out their lives, the membrane between Lutherans and Catholics was still permeable. For example, in 1535, when the local Catholic priest married, the town council didn't object, but by 1572, the year after Kepler's birth, when a second priest married, the town council
dismissed him. The gulf between Lutherans and Catholics was widening every day. Eventually, a Lutheran child could not have been baptized in a Catholic church and would have had to travel to Leonberg for the sacrament. By the time Johannes was a young man, the easy relationship between believers in the new faith and believers in the old had become nearly impossible.
Soon after the Keplers moved to Leonberg, they enrolled Johannes at the German school, but throughout the year there were always interruptions because Heinrich kept leaving to fight in a war and the family had to make do without him. In 1578, because of Johannes's obvious intelligence, the teachers at the German school convinced Katharina to send him on to the Latin school, where he could learn to be a scholar or, better yet, a Lutheran pastor. By the end of that year, however, when Kepler was only six years old, his father bought an inn at Ellmendingen, near Pforzheim, and moved the whole family out there. The inn wasn't very successful, because Heinrich didn't really want to be there. Instead, an unhappy man, he drank, beat his wife, trumpeted around the house, and threatened his children. Eventually, running short of money, Heinrich sent Johannes out to work on a farm, something he wasn't suited for, so that his education in the Latin school took him five years rather than three. In the meantime, the boy was always coming down with something.
At the Latin school, Kepler used Philipp Melanchthon's grammar book as his guide. Melanchthon had been Luther's chief collaborator in the Reformation, the man responsible for the humanistic voice of Lutheranism and the founder of Lutheran education. Part of studying Latin meant studying the classics: Cato, parts of Cicero's letters, and the comedies of Terence.
3
Every day there were times for prayer and studying the Lutheran catechism. On Sundays Johannes went to church with his classmates and sang in the choir. During either the third or the fourth year, those students singled out by their teachers as likely candidates studied for the
Landesexamen,
a sort of standardized test, in Stuttgart. They went not only with good grades, but also with letters of recommendation from both their pastor and their schoolmaster, speaking of their good qualities in writing and erudition, their high level of intelligence, and their bright Christian char
acter. The master of the
Pädagodium
, along with one of the teachers from the school and several church leaders, gave the examination. Each step was therefore carefully watched over by representatives of the church.
4
After they accepted Kepler into the scholarship system, he swore an oath before God that he would follow the rules of the monastery schools to which he would be going, that he would continue his education in theology at the
Stift
in Tübingen and would complete his studies there, and that he would serve the duke for the rest of his life or as long as the duke desired his services.
On May 17, 1583, Johannes traveled to Stuttgart to take the
Landesexamen.
He was eleven years old at the time, and his score on the examination was so high it gave him a place in the duke's scholarship system even though he came from an undistinguished family. As soon as his parents gave permission, the Duke of Württemberg assumed complete financial responsibility for young Johannes. The duchy would until the end of his school days supply his tuition, food, and clothing, and although he could never leave the system without repaying the duchy for his study, he could be expelled for misconduct or theologically suspicious beliefs.
Thirteen months later, after the failure of his inn, Heinrich dragged the family back to Leonberg, where Johannes could complete his Latin school education, and where Katharina gave birth to Kepler's sister, Margaretha, on June 26. Margaretha would become the only one of his siblings that Johannes truly cared for.
It was in Leonberg that Kepler's intellectual personality took shape. If any such emergence could be pinpointed to one day, it would have to be that Sunday when Kepler, aged twelve, heard a fresh young deacon in his church preach a long, violent sermon against the Calvinists. The growing dissension between the Christian denominations had been preying on Kepler's mind for some time, though it hadn't come to full consciousness until that day. It troubled him terribly that Christians could be so vicious to one another. From that point on, he questioned what the preachers said and resolved to test them. Whenever one glossed a biblical text in a way that he found troubling, he pulled himself off to a corner with the Luther Bible and, in good Lutheran fashion, consulted the text himself. With
time, he realized that the very people that the preachers were attacking so vehemently had their good points too.
To understand Kepler the man, the philosopher, the scientist, however, one must first understand Kepler the Lutheran. The new faith was in his marrow, and all his science was at heart a prayer. In his childhood and through his school days, Lutheranism surrounded him, even in Catholic Weil der Stadt, largely because of old Sebald and his grandmother Katharina. Although his parents might possibly have baptized him in the old faith in the baptistery of the Catholic parish of Sts. Peter and Paul, he spent his life utterly fixed in the new one. It is important to remember, however, that by the time that Kepler was in school, Württemberg Lutheranism had become profoundly conservative, as conservative in its own way as Roman Catholicism, and in spite of its position as the new way of Christianity, it was closer to what we would call fundamentalism than it was to liberalism. This would cause Kepler no end of trouble in the years to come. But in spite of everything, Lutheran he was, and Lutheran he would remain, even when his livelihood and his career would have been greatly enhanced by conversion to Catholicism.
Once in Leonberg, he bathed in Lutheranismâin church, in his home, even on the street. Street vendors, innkeepers, soldiers, old widows, and laughing children all daily peppered their speech with blessings and curses, calling on God to support, to witness, to punish. It is impossible for us to understand a world so permeated with religion, for the daily life of ordinary people was forever filled with Godâand the devil. Good and evil in a harvest dance, with human souls caught between.
Grounding this was the Bible, newly available to all. For Luther, God's divine law was revealed only in Scripture and not through observation of either nature or society. Although creation was for Luther the most beautiful work of all, where the Creator had left vestiges of the divine like broken twigs along a forest path, the study of nature could never reveal the wholeness of truth. Only the Word of God could do this, for human reason alone did not have the power. Astronomy must therefore be separate from theology, for human reason could never come to understand God's
will for the world.
Sola scriptura
âthe Scriptures alone reveal the mind of God and should alone guide the affairs of human beings.
On the other hand, Philipp Melanchthon, one of Luther's counterparts in the Reformation in Wittenberg, saw a strong connection between natural law and moral law and maintained that an understanding of nature could indeed inform our understanding of God and creation. As the reformer of education in the new faith, Melanchthon saw philosophy as essential to a trained Christian mind and mathematics as essential to philosophy. Like Plato, he set forth mathematics as the preeminent subject in the philosophy curriculum, for not only did mathematics have practical importance in people's lives, but it also refined the mind in logic. Arithmetic and geometry, Melanchthon said, reveal the order of things and teach the mind to recognize and separate things, for the “soul is a reasoning being which understands things and observes order.”
For Melanchthon, as for Kepler, the order of the world was a shadow of the mind of God. The human mind vibrated with this order, felt it, and reacted to it. In Scholastic language, the mind was co-natural with the order of the worldâthey were made for each other and could be tuned to each other like radios. Philosophy was essential, because it trained the mind to this divine order, and astronomy was central to philosophy, because the most perfect order, the only true harmony, hummed in the celestial spheres. These heavens, this order, had been established by God to bring human beings to perfection. Just as the heavens move in perfect circles, gliding through the night sky, stately, unhurried, noble, like kings in procession, so the trained mind moves in rational patterns, argument to argument, from truth to greater truth, even to the greatest truth of all, the truth of God. Of all the mathematical sciences, astronomy was the most important. The whole of mathematics, arithmetic as well as geometry, was important for Melanchthon only because it revealed the order of the heavens.
