The Burning Times

With Liberty and Justice For All

The Burning Times: ask any Witch about it and you'll find out what it is. That name is to us what the Holocaust is to the Jews. Anywhere from 200,000 people to 9,000,000 people died. Pointlessly. For the "crime" of being pretty or ugly or old or having land or money the accuser wanted. The whole Burning Times period comes down to the two things every war comes down to: xenophobia and money. The people were terrifed and paranoid about Witches, and as such, any woman accused of being a Witch was as good as dead from the moment of accusation. Many men died, as well, but women were the main target. The Christian/Catholic Church tried women and men and found them guilty, sentencing them to death. Contrary to popular report, the favored way of killing in America seems to be not burning but hanging, though in Europe it was burning. But other methods of painful death were fairly common as well. For instance, there was a tradition of dunking the accused under water and holding them down long enough for a person to drown; if the person did not drown, then they were a Witch, but if they did, oh well. Too bad. God would surely take them to Heaven.

Torture was a favorite way to obtain "confessions" from unwilling lips. There were hunts with needles for the mark that Satan supposedly put on his people, a mark insensitive to touch. The torurers looked for the insensitive place by pricking the accused all over with needles. And being pressed to death with weights should not be forgotten. The things people did then were truely horrifying.

Can you blame Pagans today for being secretive and scared? Scared not of God, but of Man? The Burning Times are not over. If they were, cases like Kerry Patavino would not exist, and Witches would be able to be open and honest about their beliefs. There would be no scared Pagan teens setting up their altar in their closet for fear that their parents would turn them out into the streets if the truth were to be found. I would not be an angry girl with bitter memories of how her friends had treated her, how the whole school was out for her blood. I would be safe.

And safety is why I break my cover and expose myself, helpless, to the dagger-like words of the many. I want others in generations to come to be able to wear their Pentacles, Star of Davids, and crosses with equality. If I make this world one person safer, that's one person that my Pagan friends will not be hurt by.

Please, hear my words.

"Any that hath ears to hear, let him hear." The words of the Saviour. Jesus Christ, Son of God.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Maiden, Mother, Crone.

Are we so different that we are a threat? We are humans, like you. We will not hurt you. We cry out against injustice and our voices merge with yours. We will fight for our rights--and for yours.

"Judge not, lest ye be judged;" "For as ye judge, ye shall be judged, and what ye mete out, ye shall be measured again."

Matt 7:1 and 7:2, the Holy Bible

Peace v.s. Hate

Religious Tolerance v.s. Discrimination

Whose side are you on?

Not what religion, but whose side. For to be a Christian is not to be good, as to be Pagan is not to be bad. Please, remember always:

Love is the Law, No Matter What the Religion!

Links on the Burning Times

A Heretics' Last Journey

An account of the tortures used to save the heretics' souls. Not for the fainthearted.

"Blood-red roses--
Whose blood? Mine?
Or some forgotten ancestor's?"

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