, presenting a feminist
revisionist
account of the Early Modern European witchcraft trials.
It was directed by Donna Read and written by Erna Buffie, and features interviews with feminist
and Neopagan notables, such as Starhawk
, Margot Adler
, and Matthew Fox
. The Burning Times is the second film in the National Film Board of Canada
's Women and Spirituality series, following Goddess Remembered
.
The opening and closing theme music, composed by Loreena McKennitt
, was released as the track titled "Tango to Evora" on her album "The Visit
".
In the film, Thea Jensen calls this period in history the "Women's Holocaust" and gives an estimate of a total of 9 million witches burned, admitting that this is a "high" estimate but quoting no alternative numbers.
The witches, the wise women, and the healers were also always the counselors. It's a whole other tradition of knowledge and learning that has been suppressed because it had political implications.
What strikes me is the vehemence of the letters I receive, the hate mail, regarding having a witch on our faculty. I thought that the burning of witches was settled several centuries ago. But people write me and sign it "a good Christian", "an ecumenical Christian". They say "you and your witch friend can burn in Hell forever". It's just amazing what this brings up — that there's a lot of buried material in a lot of Christians' lives.
There's no question that in the Middle Ages, Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary was understood as a goddess figure.
The mere fact that women are singled out particularly I think says something about our society, about our culture which to a large extent is misogynist. We get it even in the New Testament, in the writings of Paul of Tarsus|Saint Paul, that it is woman who introduces sin, it is the woman who is the temptress. In a sense, it is the woman who is the cause of the The_Fall_of_Man|Fall.
Why do you search so diligently for sorcerers? Take the Jesuits, all the Religious Orders and torture them. They will confess. If some deny, repeat it a few times. They will confess. Should a few still be obstinate, exorcize them, shave them, only keep on torturing. They will give in. Take the Doctors, the Bishops of the Church. They will all confess.
Few people realize that the Christianization of Europe resulted in the loss of millions of lives.
The Church of Rome set up the Inquisition|Inquisition to enforce its will. People who criticized the Church, or held different beliefs, were charged with heresy and executed as criminals.
The most famous visionary of her age was Joan of Arc. In 1429, she led the French to victory over the English after a hundred years of war. Two years later she was condemned as a heretic and a witch by the same Church that would elevate her to sainthood.
The Inquisition announced that no one did more harm to the Catholic Faith than midwives. They eased the pain of labor — God's punishment for Eve_%28Bible%29|Eve's sin.
New laws proclaimed that any woman who dared cure without having studied was a witch and must die. Since most women were barred from University, the rise of the male medical profession was guaranteed. It was the testimony of male doctors that sent many to their death.