No, they don’t worship Satan. No, they don’t fly around on brooms. Some of them are actually Jewish, Muslim or Hindu.

“They” are the Society of Metaphysical Advancement, better known as SOMA. An interfaith Recognized Student Organization with a primarily pagan membership, SOMA meets regularly to provide a forum for spiritual discussion and exploration.

Meetings often yield spiritual products, like protection ornaments, astrological charts, or this week’s project, meditation pillows. Beyond that, SOMA provides a welcoming environment for those who have to deal with others’ disapproval of and misconceptions about their spirituality.

“Thank god I found SOMA,” member Jen Price, a junior 3-D arts major, said. “It totally saved me.”

Most of the Eastern community unfamiliar with pagans – which is most of the Eastern community – wouldn’t use the word “saved” to describe them, but words they might use aren’t any more accurate.

What’s the most common misconception SOMA members deal with? That they’re Satanists.

“We don’t even believe in Satan,” SOMA president Ashley Keifer, a junior art history major, said. She, Price and fellow pagan members of SOMA Eileen Boucher, sophomore English education major and Rachel Galbreath, freshman undecided major, also do not wear pointy hats or use broomsticks to get around, although Kiefer admits she owns a black cat.

They are at ease with the “witch” title around one another, but admit witchcraft has gotten an undeserved bad rap over the past few thousand years.

“My sister once told me because I wear all black, I’m a witch,” Galbreath said. “And I said, ‘OK.'”

Pagans don’t curse people either, they said, because of the “Rule of Three,” which states that everything one does, good or bad, comes back three-fold.

“This is not The Craft,” Galbreath explained.

Paganism is about earth-based spirituality, Kiefer said.

In fact, some Christian religions, like Catholicism, have roots in paganism. A lot of Catholic saints were adapted from Celtic gods and goddesses, Boucher said, in order to make converting the Celts easier.

“That’s why the holidays fall around the same time,” Boucher said.

One of the benefits of being pagan within a Christian majority is celebrating twice as many holidays, the group says. Samhain and Halloween, Yule and Christmas and the two New Years celebrations are all close together or on the same day. However, it can be tricky to get the day off work for Halloween, Price and Galbreath said.

SOMA members celebrate those and other pagan rituals together, usually without interference. One recent chanting ritual did attract some spectators and their dogs, members said, but most of the chanters were too engrossed to notice.

The group admits that walking in on a ritual might be a little odd for newcomers, but every religious ceremony has its mood.

“If I didn’t have any idea about pagans and I walked in on a ritual I think I’d be scared,” Price says, but rethinks her response, saying it wouldn’t be much different than one’s first Catholic mass.

SOMA meets at 7 p.m. every Sunday in the Casey Room of the Martin Luther King, Jr. University Union. Persons of any faith are welcome to attend meetings, and participate in rituals or observe respectfully, Kiefer said.