The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

by Lynda Cohen Loigman

“My job isn’t always to keep you safe,” said her mother. “My job is to teach you to keep yourself safe.

If I had been born a man, they would have called me an apothecary. Perhaps even a doctor, if I’d had the training. But because I was born a woman, they called me a witch instead. To ignorant men, every gifted woman is a witch.”

“Words can do anything,” she said. “A kind word can fix a person’s spirit. A cruel one can break a person’s heart. Wicked words have caused wars, and honest words have made peace. Why shouldn’t they be able to heal?”

She believed in medicine and in miracles. She believed in family and in love. She believed in the power of moonlight in kitchens, in the power of women, in the power of words. She believed that even on life’s darkest days, a bowl of chicken soup could offer comfort.

She believed that the world still held a bit of magic for those who were patient and wise enough to wait.