Sheri Metcalf's house is pretty ordinary, for the most part.

There's an entertainment center with a television tuned to HGTV and several DVDs on the shelf. Cozy chairs sit around the room along with a bookshelf and computer desk. Family photos adorn the walls.

A small pine tree on the corner of this altar also represents Metcalf's god Pan, Greek god of the hunt. The goddess she worships is Diana, goddess of the hunt.

Metcalf is a witch. You also could call her pagan or Wiccan. She, along with dozens of others in Great Falls, practices the often-misunderstood religion, Wicca.

"We are not pointed-hatted, warty people," said Katie, the 27-year-old director of the Great Falls Pagans Meeting Group, who requested her last name not be used.

Wicca is a nature-based religion that focuses on respect for all living things. Wiccans believe people have access to natural powers, they observe the earth's seasons and cycles through rituals, and many of them cast spells.

"Spells are basically like prayers," said Katie, who works in customer service. "It's the same as folding your hands and talking to God. I'm doing the same thing, just with more instruments."

The only telling sign of Katie's religion is the pentacle that dangles from her neck. The five points of the star represent earth, fire, wind, water and spirit.

"The circle is an encompassment of all of them together," she said. "It's a sign of my faith, and I prefer to wear it."

However, for the same reason Katie withheld her last name, many local Wiccans choose to keep their pentacles under their shirts and their religion "in the broom closet."

"There are some people in this community who are not that accepting," said Katie, who says she's been harassed for her beliefs.

Horror movies and television shows have painted a less-than-pretty picture of those who practice witchcraft by portraying them as practitioners of magic spells intended for evil purposes. In reality, the one rule most Wiccans follow, called the Wiccan Rede, is: An it harm none, do what thou wilt.

"It means to harm no one, and that includes physical, emotional, spiritual and mental harm," said Lady Nytewind, a high priestess in Billings. "It includes ourselves as well as other people and other living creatures. We're really very peaceful."

Many Wiccans also believe whatever you do, good or bad, will come back to you three times as strong.

Lady Nytewind, the 65-year-old's witch name, said people who share her beliefs often are accused of worshipping the devil, sacrificing animals and even eating their children.

"The devil is a Christian concept and we are not Christian," said Lady Nytewind, leader of the Mountain Moon Circle pagan group. "We don't even believe in the devil."

Merry meet, merry part

"I'm a solitary practitioner, an eclectic witch," said Anderson, a Great Falls woman who works in sales.

Wiccans who practice outside of a coven, a group of witches generally headed by a high priestess and priest, are considered solitary. Eclectic means someone who does not align his or herself with any particular line of Wicca.

Anderson honors mostly the earth goddess Gaia, who she's drawn to because of the energy she gets from the water or the land, though she worships a god as well.

The 53-year-old has an altar, where she honors her goddess at least once a day, set up in her beading room. She might wear a cowl or colored scarf, depending on the holiday or season, during festivals or while practicing at home.

"I have to watch my use of incense because my husband can't stand it," she said.

Anderson was in her late teens when she started reading about and eventually practicing Wicca. But she's been "sensitive" since she was about 7 years old.

"I can see things and I can hear things," she said. "Sometimes they don't show themselves but there's an energy field."

Wiccans believe in what non-pagans call supernatural powers. To Wiccans, though, they are perfectly natural and everyone has the ability to access them.

Anderson said she's become more focused and seen more spirits over the past 10 years and her life has grown noisier over the past two.

Metcalf also is in tune with her natural abilities and calls herself a psychic sponge.

"People come tell me about things and they bring their things with them," said Metcalf, a local caregiver. "Normally I can hear them and I can feel them. Sometimes I can hear them talk."

Then "they" latch on to her instead and follow her home. That's part of the reason she has so many crystals and stones and plants in her house — for protection.

"We have to clean her up periodically," Anderson said.

Both Anderson and Metcalf say they don't profit from their witchcraft aside from gaining new friendships. The spells they cast are for healing, for being more open and receptive to things and for helping others. They also do cleansings to drive away negative spirits.

"You go around the home, normally from top to bottom — in closets, drawers, any spaces — and drive out whatever is in there," Metcalf said.

The items commonly used for spells include sea salt, holy water, sage and sweet grass. The spells also call for items found in the backyard, like grass and parts of trees. But that means you give something back.

"It's not a take-take situation," Anderson said. "If you use something you always give something back."

Anderson said she also uses culinary herbs, available at grocery stores or in bulk at the Root and the Leaf or 2J's Produce. Eclipse Beads has various crystals and stones. The Coach Stop Trading Post sells sage and sweet grass.

The Rain Storm Forest was a local store that carried pagan items, but since it closed Anderson said she looks online to find supplies that aren't available locally.

But those who practice magic spells must exercise caution.

"There are right ways and wrong ways to do things; make sure it's the right way," said Metcalf. "Sometimes when you practice and don't do things correctly it can let anything good or bad in."

Metcalf said when a witch performs a ritual on the altar he or she draws a circle around themselves, creating a protective space.

"When you do a ritual you become a lighthouse for everything around you," she said. "But you also have to un-open it (the circle) when you're done."

Great Falls Pagans

"I had heard about it through the media and thought, 'That can't possibly be true,'" she said.

So rather than jumping on the bandwagon she started reading about Wicca. She also researched religions like Buddhism and Hinduism but Wicca stuck.

Her eclectic practice involves living her life with respect for the earth and the balance of nature.

Katie didn't know any other Wiccans until she found a pagan meeting group online. She eventually took over the group to provide a networking opportunity for area pagans.

The Great Falls Pagans Meeting Group gathers to drink coffee and socialize the second Wednesday of each month at the Hastings Hard Back Cafe. They also organize gatherings to celebrate eight annual festivals called Sabbats that correlate with the annual cycle of the earth's seasons.

The four greater festivals are Samhain (early November), Imbolc (early February), Beltane (early May) and Lammas (early August). The other holidays are the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes. They also celebrate full and new moons.

Katie said the most recent holiday was the spring equinox, which they celebrated at a local residence on March 22, the Saturday after the first day of spring.

"It was a celebration of the awakening of the earth and the coming of spring," she said.

They had a potluck dinner and an egg hunt for the kids. And they danced, about 15 of them, in a circle while drumming and shaking rattles to the chanting that was streaming from the CD player.

"Everyone had a good time," Katie said.

Pagan living

"We work on inner growth," said Berry, a local nursing student. "We don't try to change outside influences. We try to better ourselves and feel that reflects outwardly and makes the world a better place."

Berry grew up in a Christian Science family but when she was a teenager she realized she didn't agree with the beliefs. She made a list of what she did believe and a friend told her she should look into Wicca.

Berry said at first hers was an eclectic path. Then she joined the Air Force and went to England and there she was introduced to druidry, which fit like a glove.

"We don't believe in practicing magic to get something," the 27-year-old said. "We believe it is a journey, and through the struggle and actual trying to better yourself you are going to get what you need."

However, like the others she keeps her faith to herself around here.

"I came from California, where no one really cares," Berry said. "In the UK they were really open and didn't care. In the military no one really cares. In Great Falls, Montana, people care."

But there is a growing pagan population locally and around the state. At least five to 10 people regularly attend the monthly Great Falls Pagans meetings at Hastings. Some area gatherings have drawn upward of 40 people, Katie said.

Since 2004, Lady Nytewind's Billings group has organized annual summer festivals that have grown every year, drawing around 50 people in 2007.

"We do the sacred alchemical fire circles," she said. "It's spiritual transformational work; it's life-changing."

The four-day festivals include daytime workshops and nighttime drumming, dancing, singing and chanting around the fire until the sun rises in the morning. The past four Mountain Moon Summerfests have educated people on the elements — air, fire, water and earth — so this year's festival is about the spirit, said Lady Nytewind.

"Akasha, the 5th Element," is Aug. 14-17 at Lions Camp, about 10 miles south of Red Lodge. The festival is open to all pagans as well as other faiths and children 10 and older. Costumes and ritual garb are welcomed and encouraged.

"The work is to make ourselves better and our lives better," Nytewind said. "Sometimes it's a change of jobs or finding a career or getting well or changing your mental attitudes. It can work out many different ways, depending on what you need."

Opening minds

"I can't remember what brought me to it," said Oakes, who works for Easter Seals Goodwill. "I think it's the fact that Wicca believes no religion is wrong. So no matter what you believe, as long as you believe in a higher deity you're correct."

Oakes, a former Roman Catholic who's married and has three kids and two grandchildren, started practicing Wicca under the guiding instruction of www.witchschool.com. He also read books and got involved with the Great Falls Pagans Meeting Group.

The 54-year-old said he's a priest, as in a level-one witch. He's been working on his initiation for about six months, meaning he has at least six months and a day to go before reaching the second degree; at that level he'd be able to teach, write and lead rituals for a coven or the public.

The Wiccan way is to prove your commitment by working toward a goal for a year and a day.

Lady Nytewind has attained the level of high priestess, the third degree of witch initiation. A high priest or high priestess comes at least a year and a day after attaining the second level, and only a third-degree witch can initiate another to a third degree.

Lady Nytewind said she's belonged to covens in the past but realized she wanted to reach more people than practicing within a coven would allow.

"I'm all about building community amongst pagans; it's the only way we can educate people that we don't do the horrible things we are accused of," she said.

Lady Nytewind said there are "wannabe witches out there who don't have a clue what they are doing and think this is all about power." They are not true Wiccans, she said. They have seen too many movies.

"They don't understand this is a spiritual path, and the greatest power in the universe is love," she said. "That is what we focus on."