The myths underlying any body of religious thought are important, because they specify and dramatize what the thinkers choose to regard as true about the past, present or future. They are stories that are understood by people’s cognitive, analytical thought, along with an element of drama that triggers the affective or emotional processes. Myths give people an identifiable past, present and future that they regard as true in some sense, ranging from the literal to the metaphorical. They also attach an emotional valance to particular versions of the past, present or future. It does not matter whether myths are considered true in the scholarly or scientific sense, though some believers may assert that they are. If people believe them to be true and if they act upon that belief then the myth becomes true in the sense that it affects what happens in the real world (Nimmo and Combs, 1980). Correspondingly, if people have a strong emotional investment in myths, they are more apt to act on their messages than they might otherwise, and when they do, it is more likely that they will act on them with passion.

Furthermore, there is a sense in which any version of the past or future can never be regarded as absolutely true. Certainly, our ideas of the future are only more or less accurate probability statements (the accuracy to be determined subsequently). More subtly, our ideas of the past are also probability statements. They are always filtered through the intervening time, as well as by the methods and minds of the people instrumental in passing any ideas or “facts” down to the present.  Thus, our ideas of the past are unavoidably anchored in present reality. We can only talk about the past in the present, and any version of the past is colored by that reality (Mead, 1959).

The mythical foundation of much of contemporary Paganism depends on a definite interpretation of history. This interpretation uses the myths and artifacts we have inherited from the past to generate a version of history that legitimizes a Pagan claim to have returned to past spiritual and political values that were good and were tragically destroyed. Whether this interpretation of history is scientifically valid or not is controversial. But it fills its function as a mythical foundation for reconstructions or new interpretations of ancient religious ideas and practices. Thus, they are myths according to the definition of that term by Nimmo and Combs: “A credible, dramatic, socially constructed representation of perceived realities that people accept as permanent, fixed knowledge of reality while forgetting (if they were ever aware of it) its tentative, imaginative, created and perhaps fictional qualities” (1980, 16: see also Tudor, 1972, 17).

There is great diversity in the myths espoused by contemporary Pagans. There are however, three overarching, historically oriented myths that seem pervasive in the Pagan community and that form much of the basis for Pagan reactions to instances of persecution, as well as their fear of future persecution. The first is the myth of the world as it is thought to have been before the advent of patriarchy and patriarchal religions. Starhawk calls these “the mother times” (1987, 32). The second is the myth about how Christianity spread, particularly in Europe, and the way in which the pre-Christian native religions were suppressed and their symbols an the deities destroyed or incorporated into Christianity. Finally, there is the myth about the burning times. This deals with the purposes, actions, and the effects of the Inquisition in Europe. Briefly, it holds that the major purpose of the Inquisition was to eliminate those who held power and status on local communities (primarily women: the midwives, herbalists and wise women) by accusing them of witchcraft and burning them. Thus, the Christian church fathers were able to consolidate their patriarchal power over society. 15

Each of these needs to be considered in more detail with reference to the role it plays in the mythology of contemporary Paganism and in the propensity of contemporary Pagans to fear persecution.

From The Burning Times

Pagans often express the fear of a return to “the burning times.” In the view of many, some sort of return to the widespread, socially sanctioned persecution of Witches and other Pagans is possible (Stead, 1991). Thus, they view with apprehension the influence of the radical religious right in the Republican Party and on certain political leaders of both parties at the local, state and national levels. During a court battle in which the leaders of the Church of Iron Oak in Florida went to court to try to protect their right to worship at a private residence, money was needed for legal expenses. One of the ways in which this money was raised was by the sale of T-shirts bearing the slogan: “Never Again the Burning.”

There is a tendency for educated people to dismiss the power of myth. This does not mean that do not have their own mythologies; it simply means that are not conscious of their myths, mistaking them for other types of information, commonly either pure fabrication or absolute historical truth. Historically, the various interpretations of the Christian Bible have ranged along this continuum. And, it is important to remember that all lasting myths contain more than a small element of truth. This is what gives them their verisimilitude. Myths are the stories we carry in our minds that help us to know who we are and how we fit into the world. They speak of our past, present and future. They are usually based on the most fundamental truths of human existence, but express those truths as stories that can be regarded as anything from metaphor to literal fact. It is because myths speak deep truths that they have their power.

There is much discussion both inside and outside the Pagan community regarding the historical accuracy of the three stories presented [in Contemporary Paganism]. This [article] is not about whether or not they are true. It is sufficient to note that they are stories that – to a greater or lesser extent – inform views of the historical past that pervade the Pagan community. And as Joseph Campbell stated, “When the story is in your mind, then you see its relevance to something happening in your own life. It gives you perspective on what’s happening to you” (1988, 4). Thus when Pagans are threatened or harassed because of their religious beliefs, they are acutely aware that people like them have been punished, tortured and even killed for their beliefs in the past. This is reinforced when the person doing the harassing and making the threats claims to do it on behalf of Christianity. Most Christians would never be involved in this sort of activity, even if they had some reservations about Paganism. But, because of the power of Pagan mythology, the few who are involved have the power to instill fear in both the object of their attention and many others who feel similarly vulnerable.