As the season of Halloween fastly approaches, I can’t help but notice all of the related trinkets and fall themed merchandise while parousing grocery store aisles. There’s something about pumpkin-shaped lanterns, plush black cats and brightly colored fall leaves that just begs for my attention.

But amidst all of this, there is something even more peculiar at play, here; figurines and photos of characters wearing conical hats, dressed in all black, with broomsticks in hand. These figures are usually quite ugly, if not disfigured; warts tend to adorn their faces.

The truth is that this stereotype of witches, (or Wiccans, as we are more commonly referred to today) is still deeply embedded within our culture. The mass media continues to depict Witches in a way that makes them look like evil, creepy old hags that will turn you into a frog if you cross them. I asked several SF State students this past week what the first image they saw was when the word ‘witch’ was uttered. Most said ‘goths’ who tend to wear lots of black. Some referred me to movies like the ‘Craft’. Again, gothic types.

While Wicca is a very young religion formed by Gerald Gardner not more than 50 years ago, its roots are much older than Christianity, or the notion of Satan, for that matter. Pagan beliefs of old have begun to make their way into the neo-pagan community in many ways, making our spiritual path a very deep one, rooted and grounded in the very earth that surrounds us.

In resurrecting old Pagan rituals such as those practiced in the ancient Celtic lands, Greece and Egypt, the subject of Halloween is a hot one for us. Halloween, the ‘Witches Holiday’, (or Samhain, as once practiced in Wales), was originally celebrated as a means to remember those who had gone before us; some claim that they were able to speak with the dead on October 31st, one of two days in the year when it has been said that the veil between the physical and spiritual realms was at its thinnest. (May 1st, or Beltane being the other day).

I will admit that Wicca has its disadvantages, being a younger religion. As a spiritual group that is still forming a rudimentary system of beliefs, many get confused as to what we believe; this would explain some of the stereotypes that Wicca is still shrouded in. Still, many (and I would hope most or all) Wiccans would agree that they come together to believe that the natural world around them is sacred. This would include plants, trees, animals- and most importantly, each other.

By recognizing the sacred in the sublime, the adage,‘An it harm none, do you what you will’ is a “rule” if you will, in which our spiritual path is based. This throws out stereotypes such as ‘turning your ex into a frog’, or ‘sacrificing infants to Satan’ (a ridiculous notion created by the Christian church, which they commonly accused Witches of. Alas, this practice has never been scientifically, historically, or otherwise, proven).

The funny thing is that you might sit next to someone in one of your classes who is a Witch, but you’d never even know it, unless you knew them personally. You might see students feeding the birds on campus, going out of their way to find a recycling bin for their empty bottles, and never know that they were Witches. We look just like everyone else, act like everyone else; are a vital part of our community just as much as anyone else. The stereotypes of Witches often displayed in movies have got to go!

This Halloween, whether you’re at a masquerade party, trick or treating with your kids, or making your award-winning spiced pumpkin pie, take a moment to look at the world around you. Stop to think about all of the beauty and wonder that is the earth, as well as the beauty in each of us as humans, part of the divine world. And then stop for one minute to realize that maybe, just maybe, there’s a little Witch in all of us!