The Burning Times
Piscean Age - Decan Three - Liberation


The Roman bishops frequented Britain throughout the Fifth and Sixth Centuries with allegations of the Pelagian Heresy being present within the Celtic Orthodox Church, but no substantial proof could be established. A renewed frenzy of Roman power was formed in the Twelfth Century when the Inquisition brought a reign of torture and terror across Europe and Britain. The Crusades had left some Christian warriors frustrated with defeat by the Moslems and seeking other religious sects to vent their hostilities. Two sects of Druidic thought had reemerged in southern France, called the Albigenses and Waldenses. The local bishops were unable to stop the spread of the teachings of the Old Wisdom Religion which they deemed as Heresy. These practices were condemned as Witchcraft, which actually means "the Craft of Wisdom".

The pope then set up a commission called the Inquisition and appointed judges to assist the bishops in prosecution of heretics. Anyone accused of heresy was arrested and imprisoned while awaiting trial. The accused were then questioned in privacy, and not allowed to know who was testifying against them. At first the convicted heretics were only made to pay penance and their lands were confiscated.

By the Fifteenth Century torture had become commonplace for this questioning and those convicted were sentenced to death by burning. In 1486 a book entitled the Malleus Maleficarum was written to define the heresy of Witchcraft, and described the methods of questioning for extracting their confessions. These sadistic priests of the Dominican Order devised many tools for extracting confessions such as thumbscrews, the Rack and the Iron Maiden. Thousands of people were arrested and tortured, most of them women. In Wurzburg, Germany nearly the entire town of over 600 people were found guilty and burned to death, including 19 priests and 41 children.

Although the Old Wisdom Religion received the greatest attention in this Era of Darkness, Celtic Christianity was dealt a near fatal blow as well. The Inquisitors found many of the clergy of the Celtic Church guilty of heresy for their differing philosophical beliefs. Even the ancient temple at Glastonbury was destroyed in this time of madness.

Some managed to preserve the teachings of Druidic wisdom within the rites of secret societies such as the "Freemasons" and "The Knights of the Star and Garter." Oaths of secrecy and various levels of initiation protected the ancient teachings from being exposed to the evil madness that had swept through the continent in the Burning Times.