Have you wondered where your power and strength comes from? Or why at times you are overcome with a fear that seems unjustified given the life you are living? Who were the witches? What happened? What can we learn? How does our history inform us, as women and men, today? This Halloween is a good time to remember those women whose lives were lost hundreds of years ago. * * * I recently saw the Canadian documentary The Burning Times for the first time. Produced in 1990 by Donna Read, the film examines the witch hunts that took place and the legacy they left. Since today is Halloween, a day set aside to remember the dead, it seems an especially appropriate time to remember the witches and the hundreds of thousands of women and others who were persecuted and burned at the stake between 1560 and 1650. These women were sought after for their intuition, healing and commitment to community. The Burning Times is part of a fascinating 3-part documentary on Women and Spirituality. Thanks to the National Film Board of Canada, and today’s technology, you can view it on the web, for free. You can watch the first 10 minutes on the YouTube video embedded in this post, but please watch the full film by clicking here. The Burning Times is a 56-minute documentary film. Snuggle up with some popcorn or a cup of tea and invest an hour of your time. I have watched it twice and shared it with friends. It has been haunting me and so I decided it was worth writing about, today, on Halloween. * * * First, a note about history. What is history? It’s a collection of stories written by survivors. It’s important to question the history we are handed. Ask questions. Find out whose perspectives are represented. The information and perspectives shared in this film were not part of the history I learned in school. It’s also important to remember that, as humans, our reality is socially constructed. That means that the stories we tell create our reality. As an evidence-based ICF-certified coach and applied behavioral scientist, I know this well. We create stories individually and collectively. And these stories animate our world. The witch burnings, as told through this film, tell a story which fills in some blanks in my own life experience. It also demonstrates the importance of culture. Culture consists of the people and artifacts we surround ourselves with, and the stories we tell and live collectively. * * * I emerged from this film with so many emotions … sadness for the misunderstandings and lives lost, fear that experiences like this continue to happen on a mass scale, and anger that some of the collective fear seeded in those times continues to reside in me. I also emerged with appreciation for the courage it took to produce this film, the technology that makes it’s wide distribution possible, and the frequency with which curiosity and openness to to [...]
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