Three times three, times three. A rule of karma which states – if you intentionally hurt someone’s feelings, it is going to come back at you twenty-seven times harder. However, it can go both ways – good and bad. This isn’t a rule that everyone follows, but for some Wiccans, it is how they believe karma works.

For more modern Wiccans, like Patricia Villani, she believes in the “Do no harm, but take no (expletive)” rule. In other words, loving and caring for people is great, but it is okay to defend yourself if someone offends you.

There is more than just loving people and defending yourself if one is a Wiccan. Most people don’t understand what a Wiccan or a witch is, and Halloween isn’t a bad time to learn. Witches are often associated with Halloween, and one main reason that many don’t know about is that Halloween is their new year. Traditionally, according to some folklore, All Hallows Eve, also known as Halloween, was known as a night where the veil between the living and dead was at its thinnest. Thinking about spirits, good or bad, roaming the earth scared people, so they dressed up as something that they weren’t in order to scare the evil spirits away and protect themselves.

But what is the difference between a witch and a Wiccan?

“The way I explain it, it has two parts. First, every witch is a Wiccan, but not every Wiccan is a witch,” says Villani. “The way to separate the two is that a witch does spell work and rituals, and some Wiccans do not.”

Wiccans are polytheistic, meaning they believe in many gods. Ultimately creating balance, they believe in a god and goddess representing the male and female energy; however they live by the elements and weather. The sun represents the god and the moon represents the goddess. The sun is said to energize and the moon is said to calm. The two need each other and they never fight for the spotlight, as fighting causes an unbalance.

Dark, long dresses with pointy hats, riding around on a broomstick with a black cat at her side while turning people into something horrid is the image that Hollywood and folklore has created of witches. What Hollywood has created versus what is real is completely different, Villani explains.

“We can’t levitate, ride brooms, or turn people into frogs. People ask me that, you get it once in a while,” she smirks. “We do wear ceremonial items like cloaks and black clothing, but not all the time.

“That would be weird.”

While often Wiccans and witches are portrayed as fictional characters, they are very much real. The general belief is that what Wiccans practice is very feminine. While there are more female Wiccans than males,  (which most belief because females can create life), female Wiccans do not deny that they need a man.

Warlocks was a term coined because this was a very feminine craft and a warlock was more masculine, but Villani explained that there are no such things as a warlocks. Every witch is a witch, regardless of his or her gender. Not only did fiction create other “magical” characters, but it changed the way Wiccans practiced.

Magic is something that is associated with Wiccans and their practices, but that’s not how they spell it. Most Wiccans spell it “magick,” “magik,” or “majick” depending on his or her origin, but Hollywood saw the letter ‘k’ as too feminine and unappealing to the eye, so they dropped it, she says.

Even though being a Wiccan was more of a feminine craft, they don’t discriminate.

“We don’t believe in ignorance or discrimination. We don’t exclude anyone based on their age, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnicity. The list goes on,” Villani expressed. “We don’t hate Christians or think we are better than anyone else. There are probably a lot more Wiccans out there, but we don’t vocalize our beliefs because it’s not necessary. I’m more open about it because I don’t care. People ask because of my necklace, and I have no problem telling them.”

The necklace that Villani refers to is called a pentacle. Wiccans wear pentacles, not pentagrams. Pentacles are an upright star with a circle around it. Each point of the star represents one of the elements: earth, air, fire and water, and the last point at the top represents the wearer’s spirit. The circle represents who the Wiccan is.

“The thing about witch craft is that you can make it your own,” Villani said.

There is no “Bible” or written document saying what one can and can’t do as a Wiccan. There is a set of rules called the Wiccan Rede, and there are guidelines for spell work. For instance, one can never do spell work for someone without their permission. This is going against free will, and that is something that Wiccans should never do.

“The great aspect about it is that you can worship the deities that call to you and you can do your spells and rituals the way you want to. It could be all out, or as simple as you can make it, as long as your intentions are there, it’ll work.”

From spells to new people, this way of life is always changing, and learning new information is the fun part for Villani. Even though she was involved with this path at a young age, she is still willing to learn the new discoveries.

“I randomly picked out one of those scholastic book orders you had in elementary school, and it was the only one that appealed to me. There is always more to learn, and I love learning new things. It keeps me on my feet.”

Despite how Hollywood portrays Wiccans and witches, don’t let that affect what you think about them. They are a group of people who don’t discriminate against anyone and believe in balance. Three times three times three. Remember that something could potentially come back at you twenty-seven times worse or better, at least that’s what some believe.