A woman named Walpurga Hausmännin was burned at the stake in Dillingen, Germany, in 1587. She had been a respected midwife and had served her community for decades. The executioner strangled her before the flames reached her body, a mercy not always granted. This is the kind of event the term “Burning Times” is meant to evoke.
The Burning Times is a modern term for the European witch hunts, roughly 1450–1750, that has been mythologized into a narrative of nine million women burned as Pagan priestesses. The historical reality is far smaller, more complex, and less romantic. The phrase itself is a twentieth-century invention, and its power lies more in what it symbolizes than in what it describes.
At its core, the Burning Times refers to the period when European authorities prosecuted thousands of people for witchcraft. Estimates for the total number of executions range from 40,000 to 60,000, with about 80 percent of the accused being women. The myth of nine million, repeated in many feminist and Pagan texts, has no basis in any surviving record.
Where Did the Idea of the Burning Times Come From?
The term entered popular imagination through two key sources. Robert Graves’s The White Goddess (1948) popularized the idea of an ancient matriarchal religion suppressed by the Church. Margaret Murray’s The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) argued that accused witches were actually members of a surviving pre-Christian fertility cult. Both were speculative, and both were largely rejected by academic historians, but they lodged in the minds of the emerging Neopagan movement.
Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, drew on Murray’s work. He spoke of the “Burning Times” as a period when the old religion was crushed. By the 1970s, feminist witches like Starhawk (author of The Spiral Dance, 1979) had woven the Burning Times into a narrative of patriarchal violence against women healers and wise women. The image of the witch as a midwife-healer persecuted by the Church became central to the myth.
Historians such as Ronald Hutton (The Triumph of the Moon, 1999) and Jenny Gibbons (The Burning Times: A Witch’s Perspective, 1998) have since dismantled much of this narrative. The accused were not Pagans. They were ordinary Christians, often poor, elderly, or socially marginal. The hunts were driven by local feuds, economic pressures, and the legal machinery of both Catholic and Protestant states, not by a unified Church conspiracy.
What the Historical Record Actually Shows
The witch hunts were not a single continuous event. They peaked between 1560 and 1660, and they varied enormously by region. The German states saw the most intense persecution, with large-scale panics like the Trier witch trials (1581–1593) and the Würzburg trials (1626–1631). In England, witch executions were far fewer, and burning was rare; the standard method was hanging. In Scotland, the accused were often strangled and then burned. In Spain, the Inquisition executed relatively few accused witches, as they were skeptical of the reality of witchcraft.
The Malleus Maleficarum (1487), written by Heinrich Kramer, is often cited as the manual for the hunts. In reality, its influence was limited. Catholic and Protestant authorities alike often condemned it, and it was not the official guide to witch-hunting that popular myth suggests. The hunts were decentralized, driven by local officials and local panic.
The numbers are sobering but not the millions claimed. The most reliable estimate, by historian Brian Levack, puts the total at about 45,000 executions. The myth of nine million originated in a 1960s book by Hans Peter Duerr, who misread a source. It was picked up by feminist writers in the 1970s and has since been repeated as fact.
What the Burning Times Symbolizes for Modern Practitioners
For many modern witches, the Burning Times is a symbol of religious persecution and the suppression of folk knowledge. It is used in ritual to honor the memory of those who died, and as a reminder of the dangers of dogmatic intolerance. Some groups hold vigils on the anniversary of the last legal execution of a witch in Europe (Anna Göldi in Switzerland, 1782). Others include the phrase “Remember the Burning Times” in the closing of a circle.
We do not dismiss the emotional weight of this symbol. The reality of the witch hunts was brutal. Women like Walpurga Hausmännin died. But we also recognize that the narrative of nine million Pagan priestesses is a myth, and that myths have consequences. When we repeat the nine million figure without evidence, we risk distorting the past and undermining our own credibility.
How Some Groups Practice the Memory
In some Wiccan traditions, the Burning Times is commemorated during Samhain, when the veil between worlds is thin. A common practice is to light a candle for each of the accused in a particular region, or to read a list of known names. Some groups use the season to study the actual history, comparing the romanticized view with the archival records.
We do not prescribe a single practice. The memory of the Burning Times is personal, and each group negotiates its own relationship with the past. What matters is that the practice is informed by real history, not by a fictionalized version of it.
How the Burning Times Compares to the Historical Witch-Cult Hypothesis
The idea that the accused were members of a pre-Christian fertility cult was proposed by Margaret Murray and later expanded by Gerald Gardner. It has been all but abandoned by historians. The confessions of witches, extracted under torture, describe a Devil-worshipping cult, not a nature religion. The only surviving description of a “witch’s sabbath” comes from inquisitors’ manuals, not from practitioners.
Modern historical scholarship, such as the work of Carlo Ginzburg (The Night Battles, 1966) and Robin Briggs (Witches and Neighbours, 1996), has shown that the accused were often caught in local conflicts, accused by neighbors of causing harm through maleficium (cursing). The idea of organized witchcraft was a fantasy of the authorities, not a reality.
Common Misconceptions
Nine million witches were killed. The true number is between 40,000 and 60,000. The nine million figure is a myth.
All witches were burned at the stake. In England, the standard method was hanging. In Scotland and Germany, burning was more common, but often after strangulation or beheading.
The victims were Pagans. The accused were Christians, and they did not identify as witches. The label was imposed on them.
The Church orchestrated the hunts. Secular authorities drove most hunts. The Church was involved, but it was not a single plot.
The Burning Times was a continuous event. The hunts waxed and waned, with peaks in the 1590s, 1620s, and 1660s, and with significant regional variation.
FAQ
How many people were actually executed during the witch hunts?
Most historians estimate between 40,000 and 60,000, with about 80 percent being women.
Were all the accused burned at the stake?
No. Burning was common in continental Europe, but in England most were hanged, and in Scotland they were strangled and then burned.
Why do modern Pagans use the term “Burning Times”?
The term was popularized by Robert Graves, Margaret Murray, and later feminist witches to describe a period of religious persecution. It is used as a symbol of oppression and as a call to remember the dead.
What is the origin of the nine million figure?
It first appeared in a 1960s book by Hans Peter Duerr, who misread a source. It was repeated by feminist writers in the 1970s and has since been circulated as fact.
The Burning Times is a term that carries more weight than evidence. Its history is a mix of real tragedy and invented narrative. We keep the memory of the dead, but we also keep the records straight. The names of the accused deserve accuracy, not inflation.
For more context, see our guide to historical witchcraft and the glossary entry on witch hunts. The full occult history hub offers further reading on the social and legal forces that shaped these events.