Witches Come Out Of Broom Closet
Dressing up like a witch has long been a Halloween tradition, but the fact is, there are real witches among us who don't have green skin or a pointy black hat, reports CBS News Correspondent Jon Frankel.
In the movies, witches and dogs don't seem to sit too well together -- remember the Wizard of Oz -- but the president of the Witches League For Public Awareness has a day job as a veterinarian's assistant.
In her free time, Cheryl Shulyma-Masson is the high priestess of the Church of Salgion.
She is on a mission to bring America's witches out of the broom closet.
"What we hope is that the more people know the truth about the religion it'll just be a situation .... you're a witch, big deal, I'm a Christian or I'm a Jew."
The Wiccan religion is based on a 20,000-year-old pagan principle that places its doctrine in a god and goddess, not Satan.
Cheryl and her coven are going mainstream and out to raise awareness and money in order to build their own house of worship.
If not for the pentacles and magic wands on sale, one of their events could easily be mistaken for any typical church fair.
Of the half million witches estimated to be in the United States, only 25 percent are men. They call themselves witches, too.
Joe White, who is in Cheryl's coven, says, "Warlock is an incorrect term for a male witch. Warlock is and old Scottish term that stood for oath breaker. It was started by the church and applied to all men who were witches."
White, a full-time fireman, was raised a Roman Catholic, but when he lost his faith in the church's beliefs he turned to witchcraft.
White says he takes some good-natured ribbing: "Yeah, they'll wonder if I put a spell on somebody. No, I'll say it wasn't me, not this time."
While Joe and Cheryl enjoy the support of their community, other witches still struggle to fit in.
In West Haven, Conn., a group of witches meet in a shop called Curious Goods, opened by a woman who goes by the magical name of Samantha Sambina.
While Samantha doesn't mask her beliefs, she and her friends are not quite ready to fly above the religious radar the same way the witches of Massachusetts are.
She says, "Any person can be a witch... It's if you have an interest in it, and you pursue it, and you decide that you want to make this a way of life, then yeah. I mean they say that witches are born."
As most Americans prepare for an evening of Halloween celebrations, the witches among us will be celebrating too, full of optimism and pride for their new year.
While some witches do cast spells, the majority are positive, because they believe in something called the three-ful law -- meaning all you do comes back in threes.
That means it is not in a witch's best interest to do something negative.