The So-Called "Burning Times"

If you've read The Old Religion page, then you know Wicca isn't thousands of years old, but started in the 20th century. When faced with this, many Wiccans are faced with giving up one of their most cherished myths: millions of Wiccans being killed during the witch hunt era (called the "Burning Times). Since Wicca didn't exist until around 1954, and the witch trials were over by the 18th century, one has to realize no Wiccans were killed unless they hopped in a time machine.

The Burning Times Myth has been a part of Wiccan lore for 60 years or more, and this is due to misinformation presented by Wiccan authors. Gardner forged the Book of Shadows to make it sound as though it was written by someone during the witch hunt era, and the lie has stuck. It's still being repeated now...to even younger believers.

“Burning Times: You will hear this often. It is in reference to a historical time from about 1000 [A.D.] through the 17th century when it is said that over nine million people were tortured and burned by church and public officials on the assumption that they were the Christian version of Witches [sic]...” (Silver Ravenwolf,page 19 Teen Witch. The implication here is that Wiccans were the ones executed during the witch hunt era, when in fact none were, and almost all of the people killed were actually Christians. Also, the figure is closer to 40,000 over a 500 year period. This book was published in 2001, showing many prominent Wiccans still don’t accept the fact their religion is a modern invention. )

    Today all "xtian" churches get the blame for the witch burnings, even though the vast majority tried and executed by civil courts, not by any church. Switzerland, Germany and France were the countries where the bulk of these trials were held. Ireland , supposedly some kind of a hotbed of Wicca and Druidism, had only 4 witch executions. Even in these 4 trials the word "Wicca" is never mentioned in the records.

    Even Russia, known for it's many pogroms and serfdom, had just 10 witch executions in it’s history. The witch trials largely escaped the Orthodox Church countries. Confession, repentance, and exorcism were the usual remedies for witchcraft in these countries. The countries where witch trials took place where countries where Roman Catholic and Protestant conflicts were taking place, with much social upheaval to fuel the fire of witch hysteria. Wiccans have promoted many fraudulent claims, such as the execution of 400 women in one day in France (or Germany, Switzerland, or Italy depending on the version you read) that simply never happened!

    The falsehood was first written in a French book titled Langon's Histoire de l'Inquisition en France, written in 1829 by Etienne Leon de Lamothe. Scholars doing research on the subject noticed no other French historian had noted these supposed witch trials that executed so many hundreds of people at a time, such as the 400 in one day mentioned. It turns out it never happened. Hansen included large sections of Lamothe-Langon's work in his book on medieval witchcraft. Later historians cited Hansen's book, and Lamothe-Langon's fictional French trials became a part of the Wiccan "Burning Times" baloney. Hansen had previously been an author of horror stories, and apparently turned his talents for scary fiction into fraudulent history.

    The period between 1400-1800 A.D. in which people were executed for witchcraft (not Wicca, but sorcery) has been called "The Burning Times". The term was coined by Gerald Gardner, Wicca's founder.

   The actual number of people killed was probably some 40,000 to 65,000 according to the most recent estimates. Some figures put out by the Roman Catholic church even put it as low as 3,000. This is a lot of people, but one must remember this took place over a 500 year period. The 9,000,000 figure cited by most Wiccans is derived from faulty data from the 19th century. In The Power of the Witch, Laurie Cabot claims the figure might have even been 13,000,000, but of course does not cite the source. Gerald Gardner himself coined the phrase "The Burning Times" to describe this period, and it has stuck every since. Wiccans despise Christians for these "burning times"...yes, including the Christians alive today who have never killed anybody. The reason is Wiccans feel that it was their fellow Wiccans who were killed during this era. Of course, when the history of this period is examined, this idea is ridiculous!

    Forty percent of the people excuted during the witch hunt era were men. This shows it wasn't something directed against women (supposedly midwives in particular) since there was a large number of male victims involved.

    Some of the people killed were probably sorcerers of some sort like the case of Thomas Weir or Madame LaViosin. These type of people were Satanists, they were not Neopagans or the members of some surviving goddess cult. Then there were probably some sorcerers who did some sort of spell or practiced fortune telling, but were not true Satanists. There probably were a few people executed who were healers ( perhaps a person who's homemade remedy for gout might have accidentally caused death for instance), but most seem to have been unattractive and unpopular or anti-social types. By and large, the majority of people executed were probably innocent of any occult activity, and just happened to get on the wrong side of the authorities. So in other words, the majority of people killed during this time were not sorcerers of any kind...they were Christians. It is a sad chapter in Christian history, but it is not a valid reason for Neopagans to hate "xtians". If they want to hate someone, why don't they hate Nazis? Or why not hate Communists, who have slaughtered even more people than the Nazis? Why don't we see catchy little bumperstickers like "Never Again The Great Leap Forward", "Never again Dachau" or "Never Again The Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge"? Well the reason is, they need a scapegoat to vent their frustration on, and Christians fit the bill.

    Before 1975, researchers used the anti-witch sermons and manuals of the era mostly from Roman Catholic sources. These manuals were deliberately attempting to create witch hysteria, and aren't reliable. It wasn't until after 1975 that researchers began to use the court documents of the trials and the surviving letters of the accused. Court records gave data collected by the people that were actually present at the trials, such as the verdicts, the testimony of the accused, and property confiscated. But most Wiccans still love to recite the faulty pre-1975 data.

    Again, I am not trying to downplay the executions of these people so long ago, even if the figures have been grossly exaggerated. . It is a black mark on Western history. The point I am making is that these people were NOT Wiccans! Nor is it likely these people were part of any kind of a Pagan religion at all! As already mentioned, even by liberal estimates, it is believed Paganism was abandoned in even the most remote parts of Europe by 1200 A.D. Yes, a spell or superstition survived here and there, but there was no organized underground Pagan religion. If the Internet is any indication however, most followers of Wicca believe they are the victims of a Medieval holocaust, which would imply they believe by and large in the "caveman Wicca" theory, as opposed to the "reconstructionist movement" theory. But even most of the so-called "reconstructionists" still get riled up about these so called "Burning Times".

The Witch Trials Were About Money

    Unscrupulous, evil men conducted the witch trials not to stamp out some underground Pagan religion, but for monetary gain. When witch trials were conducted, someone had to foot the bill. The judges, witchfinders, jailers, executioners, etc., all had to be paid. The property of the condemned witches were siezed to make payment. If the condemned witch had no property or money but worked for a noblemen, then the noblemen had to foot the bill.    

   In 1630 the Holy Roman Emperor forbade the appropriation of property of accused witches by the courts. This action caused accusations of witchcraft to sharply decline and cease altogether by the following year.  In Bamberg for instance here there had been an average of 100 executions for witchcraft (again, not Wicca or Neopaganism, but Christians wrongfully accused) a year between 1626 to 1629. There were 24 executions in 1630 ( still, even one was too many) and in 1631 there were none. In other regions where similar laws were passed, the witch hunts also stopped. Obviously the motive in the hearts of these later witch hunters had not been religious fanaticism and superstition as it had been with Sprenger and Kramer and their ilk, nor had it been to stop the Wicca or a goddess religion (since Paganism had been abandoned centuries before).

The real motivation behind this horrible practice was money and financial gain, not the persecution of a rival religion! Is it any wonder the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil?

BOTH HISTORIAN PROFESSOR RONALD HUTTON AND PROFESSOR R.H. ROBBINS (AMONG NUMEROUS OTHERS) HAVE CONCLUDED THERE WERE NO PAGANS KILLED DURING THE SO-CALLED "BURNING TIMES"! PAGANISM HAD BEEN ABBANDONED CENTURIES PRIOR AND WAS GONE FROM EUROPE BY THE 12TH CENTURIES EVEN IN THE MOST REMOTE PARTS OF EUROPE! True, there was a superstition here or there, but one superstition does not make an underground religion.

VIDEOS ON THE SPANISH INQUISTION

So Who Were Really Burned In The "Burning Times"?

    "Never again the Burning Times!" is a favorite warning to Christians by Wiccans. Perhaps even more disturbing is the phrase "Never Forget, Never again!", ironically a slogan originally used by Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. You'll see this phrase on bumperstickers and on Internet webpages . Despite what some Wiccans think, we don't have these mass burnings of Wiccan all throughout history up until the present. Since Wicca didn't even exist until 1950 or so at the very earliest (which we will examine later), none of the people burned during the middle ages were Wiccan anyway! Unless of course Wiccans manufactured a time machine so they could travel back to be martyred. We do know that sorcerers existed during the middle ages, and sometimes they ran afoul of the church. The people executed for sorcery in the middle ages were Satanists, not Wiccans. Yet Wiccans still insist on identifying with the people executed for witchcraft during this period. They honestly believe 9,000,000 Wiccans were burned, and at any second the "xtians" will rise up again, ready to do some more burning! As long as Wiccans believe this propaganda, they will continue to harbor hate for Christians. Hollywood is not helping the matter either. A few years ago on the biggest infomercial for Wicca, "Charmed" an episode was shown in which the youngest witch was executed for witchcraft in the future, complete with a stainless steel "stake" and propane flames. I’m sure that episode made a lot of Wiccans even more paranoid and angry at Christians. I feel it is inevitable, considering the younger and angrier people getting into Wicca nowadays that there will be violence toward Christians and vandalism of churches. I feel it is inevitable, considering the younger and angrier people getting into Wicca nowadays that there will be violence toward Christians and vandalism of churches.

Wiccans love to point out this verse is in the Bible. Laurie Cabot gives an eyebrow raising account of how she learned this as a child in Bible class, and then asked her parents if she should go around her neighborhood killing anyone who didn’t fit in. Right, I'm sure that actually happened. She claims later as a professional witch she appeared with a Christian minister who cited the Bible verse not allowing a witch to live. Of course she doesn’t mention the name of the T.V. show, the date or even the year it aired, or the name of the minister, which makes one question if it really happened. I don’t think many ministers today would hold we have to keep Old Testament laws concerning sorcerers. Not even the Orthodox Jews follow this verse anymore (it wasn't Christians who wrote it, by the way, but Moses). The Wiccans are in more danger from a violent attack from a rival coven (and these cases have happened) than from a church attacking them. I also find it very hard to believe this verse would be part of a childrens Bible school class, as Miss cabot iniuates. But nevertheless, Wiccans have to keep up the idea that they are persecuted for their faith, just as the witches of the past were.

The Roman Catholic Inquisition was primarily created to deal with heretics at first, not witches, and certainly not Pagans. Pagans had long vanished from the scene by the 14^th century. Since Wicca is a recent religion pretending to be an "Old Religion", and since most religions have centuries of persecution in their histories, it's not hard to see why they may have wanted to invent a phony "Wiccan holocaust" (yes, some Wiccans really refer to it as this!) so they too could wear the mantle of martyr without all the work. The Middle Ages were a cruel time indeed. The 40,0000 to 65,0000 people executed covers a period of hundreds of years, and thus it's not as many as it may sound. True, that is still a lot of people, but far from the fictitious 9,000,000 to 13,000,000 figure. The fact that people were executed for sorcery or black magic during this time is indeed unfortunate, but far more people were killed for say, stealing a sheep or pick pocketing for instance, than were for sorcery. This ludicrous figure comes from a 19^th century novel by Jules Michelet called La Sorcerie. The figure was simply pulled out of thin air. Many people do not take into account that La Sorcerie is a work of fiction, not based on historic fact. Michelet was the Dan Brown of his time.

The length I’ve seen some Wiccans go to advance this ridiculous notion stretches the limits of their credibility, even for them. For instance, some Wiccans date the Burning Times at 200 B.C. This is interesting, since no Christians existed in 200 B.C. (And of course, no Wiccans)! The Wiccans count executions of Roman Pagans...apparently against other Roman Pagans, 200 years before Christ as part of the burning times. So, Christians are somehow responsible for deaths of Pagans by other pagans, it seems. Then, there is the Nazi Judeo-Christian holocaust. Apparently this is also part of the "Burning Times" too, according at least to some Wiccans. Ten million Christians as well as Six Million Jews died at the hands of Adolph Hitler, who was not even a Christian, but in fact, a Neopagan! Yes, Hitler was a follower of a Pagan religion called Odinism, (which we will look at in another chapter). There are no Wiccans known to have been killed during this time, except for the human sacrifices made by Gerald Gardner's coven in Great Britain. OK, you can skip to the chapter about the "Bloody Fruits of Wicca", to read about it, but why not read on until then?

In a period of about 400 years, 65,000 people were executed for Witchcraft. The majority of these executions happened in France, Germany, and Switzerland. Some of them probably were guilty of some form of sorcery or another. The majority of them were probably innocent of being sorcerers, but just happened to get on the wrong side of the authorities for whatever reason. New examination of records from the period show that the women executed were usually poor, unattractive and anti-social. According to some authorities such as Rossel Robbins, the Roman Catholic Church began to take an interest in executing witches beginning in the 14th century A.D. because it had gotten rid of those it deemed "heretics". In essence, they needed a new source of heretics. Witches fit the bill. The executions of these people were carried out by the state, not the Church as is usually supposed. There were even cases where Churches protected women accused of witchcraft by angry mobs! In any case, these accused people were NOT Wiccans. The execution of people accused of sorcery is a dark period in Western civilization indeed, but we should get the facts straight about it. Anyone who tries to make these poeple into survivors of an underground religion when they were not, or inflate the figures of those executed is doing nothing but exploiting the deaths of these people for their own gain. They are not better than the people who used the executions of these people to take their land and possesions.

The Case of Madame LaViosin

When one examines the "Chamber Ardente Affair", one wonders if the atrocities of heretic Roman Catholic Priests slashing newborn babies over altars of naked girls were inspired from the wild stories of witch's Sabats from centuries past, or if indeed there was not some truth to all those wild stories after all. France's (and perhaps Europe's) most famous witch trial started out as an investigation of widespread poisonings happening to the nobility of France. Presided over by a "star chamber" set up by King Louis the XIV, the trial lasted from January, 1679 to July 1682. And you thought the O.J. Simpson trial took forever! This trial is considered even by skeptics to be the Witch trial with the most factual evidence of witchcraft (again, non-Wiccan). Unlike the wild fantasies and history revisions of Wiccans, this trial has eyewitnesses and documented facts. Rather than wild stories of witches flying on broomsticks, there was testimony to abortions and murders with poisons. To save the names of French nobility Louis XIV ordered the trial transcripts and police records to be burned. But someone apparently made sure the copies the police had escaped destruction, and we know the details of these events because of this. Otherwise this incident would be yet another Neopagan example of Wiccans killed by Christians in the "Burning Times"!

The investigations began when two priests at Notre Dame de Paris reported to the police that during confession several people ( who went unnamed) had confessed to trying to kill their spouses by poison, or actually in succeeding. The Paris Police Commissioner, Reynie, discovered an international poison ring headed by several noblemen, a lawyer and a banker. It distributed poison all over France and had ties that stretched from France, Italy, Portugal and to England

The leader of this ring was an aristocrat and corrupt Roman Catholic priest named Francois Galaup de Chaseuil who kept a mistress in his cell while a Carmelite prior. When the police discovered a large supply of poison on his property, he fainted. But despite this big break, the Paris police were slow to gain leads in the case. The suspects were questioned for over a year with no real success, other than one suspect named Vanens. Vanens information led the police to small time poison dealers, abortionists, fortunetellers and prostitutes. The big break came in the case when a certain fortuneteller named Marie Bosse, took great leave of her senses and let slip out what she did for a living:

"What a lovely occupation is mine! What classy clients! Nothing lower than duchesses, marquises, princes, and lords! Three more poisonings and I retire, my fortune made!"

The Paris Police sent an woman undercover agent posing as a someone wanting kill her husband. She was able to buy a bottle of poison from Bosse. Based on this evidence, the police raided the residence and found a large stash of poisons. Bosse, her daughter, her two sons, and another fortune teller were all questioned by questioned by Commissioner Reynie on January 4, 1679. Paris police realized immediately something was really strange about these folks, because they all slept in the same bed. Of course, nowadays such folks would get their own reality TV show. To put an end to these poisoning, the police obtained the names of customers.

The pattern of these poisonings seemed almost always identical. In almost every case, a noble woman got a new boyfriend, and wished to eliminate her husband. First the wife would soak the husbands shirt in poison, causing him to break out, resembling syphilis. The wife would then bring salves to rub on the inflamation, which in reality was more poison that would bring about death in a few months. But many times the husband would figure out something wasn't quite right and flee to a monastery.

With this evidence, King Louis XIV ordered a special investigation. The whole thing sounds like something out of a Vincent Price movie....and yes, it even had a hunchback! The special "commision de arsenal" permitted no appeal and met in secret It was known as "la Chamber Ardente" because it met in a room draped in black and lit by candles. The police recieved more information that led to the arrest of fortuneteller and abortionist named Catherine DeShayes-Montvoisin known as La Voisin. She denied she was a poisoner at first, insisting she was a fortuneteller who told fortunes by fire (chiromancy) and reaing peoples faces (physiognomy). She instead tried to pin all the blame on her pal La Bosse.

It is true some of the witnesses were tortured, but the evidence the police discovered proved the confessions to be true. Along with a poison manufacturing business, LaViosin also ran an "abortion clinic" of sorts, where women could get rid of their unwanted babies. The fetuses from these abortions were used in "Black Masses" presided over by perverted heretic priests. Sometimes even live babies were used as sacrifices in these rituals, having their tiny throats slit. Some of the highlights of the rituals involved are:

The rituals said during these black masses usually contained these words:

"Astaroth and Asmodeus, princes of fellowship, I invoke you to accept the oblation of this child for that which I ask on behalf of [name of person spell was being done for]: that the King and the Dauphin will continue their friendship toward her, that she will be honored by the princes and princesses of the royal family, that the King will deny nothing she asks of him for her relations or her household"

LaViosin's daughter described the black masses to the police. They involved a woman stretched out on a mattress, with her head hanging off supported by a pillow on a chair turned upside-down. A napkin with a cross covered her breasts and the chalice was placed on her belly. Their accomplice Lesage (an escaped convict) added that she held to black candles in her hands throughout the service. Father Guiborg described another mass at which he said he murdered a child, and Laviosin's daughter confirmed it happened. The people involved in these crimes were executed by the French civil authorities.

So, we can see from this trial that the sorcery, or witchcraft, practiced by this group was not Wicca, not Pagan at all, but Satanism. It was black magic, not nature worship. There were no healing rituals, instead there were spells to control people. When these spells failed (as most do) poison was used. These people did the things witches are classically thought to have done. They killed babies, they had orgies, and they made poisons. There was no Book of Shadows found. Never. There was no goddesses or horned gods mentioned. As I have already mentioned, the bizarre stories of witch's Sabbat may have had there origin the Gnostics. Witchcraft authority Rossel H. Robbins also seems to think Gnosticism may have played a part in the Chamber Ardente Affair:

"It was much easier to accept the continuing heresy of Manicheism...if God could not help, perhaps the Devil could. In this dualism, blasphemous rites mingle with orthodoxy." (Ibid, Pg 83)

Manicheism was a Gnostic sect. The witches in ancient Europe were Devil worshipers, not Pagans. As we can see from this account, the roots of European Satanism (and therefore ancient witchcraft) seem to actually lie more in Gnosticism than Paganism. After this incident new laws were passed in France against fortune telling, that declared witchcraft a superstition, and made poisons a controlled substance. Obviously, these things were NOT done as part of the persecution of some kind of underground Pagan religion! Period! They were done to prevent murders.

Major Thomas Weir , who was executed in 1670, is remembered as Scotland's most notorious warlock. Throughout his life up until age 70 however, Weir's had an exemplary reputation. He w as a parliamentary officer, at one time in charge of the guards of Edinburgh, and as a church leader (he was a Deacon at his local church).People knew him to have the appearance of a pious man throughout his life. He was born in Lanark, about 1600, and served as lieutenant in the Scottish Puritan army in 1641 opposing the Royalists. In 1649-1650 he was a major commanding the guards defending Edinburgh. After his military service, he earned a living in a civil service post. Throughout his life, he seemed like a good Christian fellow, the kind of person that makes Wiccans sick. In the final year of his life at age seventy however, he suddenly confessed, of his own volition and in the face of much doubt, to a list of horrible and unbelievable acts ranging from witchcraft, incest, sodomy, fornication and even bestiality. He confession also involved his sixty-year-old sister, Jane Weir, who was burned as a witch on her own confession later.Weir was very prominent in prayer meetings of evangelical Protestants, but never actually became ordained. According to one a contemporary account: "He became so notoriously regarded among the Presbyterian strict sect, that if four met together, be sure Major Weir was one. .." It was quite shocking to the people of Edinburgh when Wier suddenly admited to practicing sins that would have made even Anton LaVey blush. People present who heard Weir's confession disbelieved him at first, and sent for physicians to see if perhaps he was not suffering from some kind of insanity. But the doctors summoned determined , after much examination, that Major Wier suffered only from a guilty conscience. The civil authorities were compelled to arrest him on his own testimony. Major Weir was brought to trial on April 9, 1670, indicted on four counts: 1. Attempted rape of his sister, Jane Weir, when she was ten; and continued incest with her from the time she was sixteen years old to fifty, when he "loathed her for her age."

2. Incest with his stepdaughter, Margaret Bourdon, daughter of his deceased wife, who corroborated this. No doubt she had carried this burden wanting to tell someone for years.

3. Adultery with "several and diverse persons"; and fornication with Bessie Weems, "his servant maid, whom he kept in his house. . . for the space of twenty years, during which time he lay with her as familiarly as if she had been his wife." No doubt poor Bessie had felt coerced into the relationship being afraid of her boss, a very well connected and powerful man in the community.

4. Bestiality with mares and cows, "particularly in polluting himself with a mare, upon which he rode into the West Country, near New Mills." Consult The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell H. Robbins for details.

Witchcraft was also part of the crimes against the Weirs, although it was not formally charged, but it figured into the evidence. Major Weir's sister, Jane, was charged with him, for incest and sorcery, including " consulting witches, necromancers, and devils. " The evidence against the Weirs was their own confessions and testimony of witnesses that the Weirs had made confessions in their presence. These confessions were NOT obtained under torture. Major Weir's sister-in-law, Margaret, testified that when she was about twenty-seven, she had caught Weir and his sister having sex. Major Weir confessed to bestiality with a mare around 1652, and said a woman saw him in the act and complained. No one believed her however, and she was "whipped through the town [of Lanark] by the hands of the common hangman, as a slanderer of such an eminent holy man." No doubt Weir's reputation as a pious Christian helped shield his illicit activities.

Jane Weir claimed during her trial years earlier she had given her soul to the Devil. Jane Weir elaborated with tales of supernatural things that sound doubtful But there were many other things she admitted that corroborated the testimony of the Major and others. Jane Weir claimed the Major's staff, made of thornwood and decorated with carved heads, was his "magic wand" used in sorcery. A majority of the jurors found Major Weir Guilty; Jane Weir was found Guilty unanimously. Major Weir was executed on April 11, 1670, and his sister Jane the following day. Many pamphlets and personal journals recorded this event, and it continued to be discussed for at least the next hundred years and beyond. The Weir house in Edinburgh remained unoccupied for over a century, until one impoverished couple accepted the low rent and moved in. But the next morning they fled after they apparently saw "something" that frightened them. The house was the focal point of ghost stories and mysterious happenings. The Weir house remained empty for another fifty years. until its demolition in 1830.

The Weirs were not Wiccans. There is no mention of Diana, Cernunos, or a Book of Shadows in any of the records. Major Weir had to actually insist people believe him when he first made his shocking confession. No one tortured him for this confession, nor his sister Jane. As mentioned, Weir's sister in law and step daughter confirmed many of the things they admitted to. This example shows 1) Wiccans weren't killed during the witchunts 2) Not all of them were innocent 3) Some of them were sorcerers. 4) Some of them were Satanists 5) Some of them did disgusting things that we are traditionally told witches do

It is true, the majority of victims were probably mentally deficient or got on the wrong side of the law. But he idea of all these innocent Pagans, frolicking through the woods petting bunny rabbits as victims for the witch trials is ludicrous!

 

The Lion Times Most Neopagans and Wiccans seem ignorant of a time in history when Christians were killed by Pagans. For the first 300 years of the Christian Era, Pagans threw Christians to the lions, used them as lighting for dinner parties, and tortured and killed in numerous ways. I think Christians should start calling this period "The Lion Times". Of course, it hasn't ended with the lions, Christians are still being persecuted and killed even today in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Columbia, Cuba, Nigeria, and others.   Who were the Gnostics?

The manicheans were a sect of Gnostics (heretical christians that originated 400 years after Christ) that believed in God and The Devil having equal power. The Manicheans Gnostics originated in Persia, which explains why the Theology resembles Zoroastrianism. Gnostics often inverted the symbols and Theology of Christians. God became the bad guy, Lucifer became the good guy, in other words. Tales of Masses being said backwards and homage being paid to Lucifer could be accounts of Gnostic sects. 

Are the Burning Times going on today? A popular internet rumor perpetuated ironically by the so-called "Ontario Consultants For Religious Tolearnce" (run by athiests and Neopagans)mentions on their website a quote from a Wiccan who said a friend told him a story about a Wiccan who was "lynched by Christians" in the 1980's. But not the name of the person who told the story, the name of this mythical Wiccan who was lynched, the year, town, state, nor even the country are  mentioned. The only source for this urban legend is none other than the OCRT website when Googled. Even when it is pointed out to the OCRT, they still want to hold on to the myth. The total number of Wiccans killed by Christians to date is zero.

SO WHEN YOU THINK OF THE BURNING TIMES, REMEMBER 1. IT WAS HUNDREDS OF YEARS AGO. 2. THEY WEREN'T WICCANS 3. IT WAS 40,000 OVER A 500 YEAR PERIOD. 5 THE ROMAN EMPIRE KILLED 3 MILLION CHRISTIANS 6. ODINIST ADOLPH HITLER KILLED 6 MILLION JEWS AND 10 MILLION CHRISTIANS 7. THE LARGER PART OF THE PEOPLE KILLED IN THE WITCH HUNT ERA WERE CHRISTIANS, KILLED BY MISGUIDED PEOPLE. 8. ALL THE PEOPLE THAT EXECUTED ANYONE DURING THE BURNING TIMES HAVE BEEN DEAD FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

 

YES, IT WAS WRONG, BUT THEY WEREN'T WICCANS OR EVEN PAGANS AND YOU NEED TO GET OVER IT.

 

Sources

Crafting The Art of Magic by Adian Kelly

The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by R.H. Robbins

Triumph of The Moon by Professor Ronald Hutton