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Actually, Wiccans say they profess no satanism at all. Their paganism is drawn from pre-Christian European tribal religions that invoke spirits in nature and celebrate the seasons. They do not sacrifice animals or cast evil spells. Ron and Marie Smith, recently retired Army colonels, became Wiccans after having tried the Episcopal Church and Seventh-Day Adventism. "I was raised in the country, and in church I always felt enclosed," says Ron, 53, who is now a registered nurse, as is his wife. "I feel close to God in nature." Ron and Marie say they have paid a price for their beliefs. "We have had persistent threats against me and my wife," says Ron. "People have told us they will beat us up." Says Fort Hood high priestess Marcy Palmer: "I get threats on e-mail and calls threatening me at least twice a week."
While their beliefs and practices may be gentle at heart, their symbolism makes it fairly easy to demonize them. Besides calling themselves witches, they often prefer to conduct their rituals naked (Fort Hood has forbidden them to do so), use 9-in. daggers called athames in their ceremonies, cast magic spells, and worship, among others, "the horned god" found in pagan traditions. Wiccans are also pacifists, but believe that your actions come back to you threefold and are prepared to accept the consequences of what they do as soldiers. That the Army would be so progressive in its acceptance makes perfect sense to the Wiccans. "The Army has always been ahead of the civilian world on things like racial and sexual equality," says high priestess Palmer, a former military policewoman. "They're just a lot more tolerant. When you're in a foxhole, you don't care what religion the guy next to you belongs to." Army witches even have a sense of humor. At Halloween, Palmer turns her home, where she keeps a pet wolf named Spirit, into a haunted house for trick-or-treaters. "What could be better," she says, "than a haunted house with real witches and a wolf that howls on command?"