Take it from a real-life witch: Those Harry Potter books are nothing short of magical.

"I love Harry Potter," says 'Aiea resident and Wicca practitioner Sandra LaFerriere.

"I think J.K. Rowling is an amazing author because each of her books comes with an important lesson. There's a message in her magic."

Indeed, the occasion of a new Harry Potter book provides not just an opportunity to marvel at the otherworldly reach of Rowling's literary franchise, but also a chance for practitioners of Wicca and other faiths to reflect on the latest representations of magic and mysticism in popular culture.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth novel in the series, hits stores Saturday (or at the stroke of midnight Friday evening).

For people like LaFerriere, long accustomed to seeing the images and themes of their beliefs distorted by the lens of popular entertainment media, the Harry Potter books and films have been a pleasant departure.

While the faux-Latin incantations, wand-waving and battles with mythical beasts may draw more from playful stereotypes of magical practices, LaFerriere says the warmth and nobility of the Harry Potter character is consistent with the spirit of Wiccans and other "crafters."

LaFerriere, 42, comes from a long line of Wiccans, and said she has familial ties to Gerald Gardner, the Freemason who is credited with founding the modern practice and bringing it from Europe to the United States in the middle of the last century.

Wicca is a religion based on a belief in supreme beings typically referred to as "The Goddess" and "The God" (or "The Horned God"). It combines pagan beliefs that emphasize maternalistic values with elements of late Victorian-era occultism.

LaFerriere practices traditional Gardnerian Wicca, but there are literally dozens of other forms, including Green Wicca, Faerie Wicca and Alexandria Wicca.

Female practitioners like LaFerriere are called witches, but Wicca is distinct from the set of practices and beliefs collectively called witchcraft.

Both beliefs, however, are prone to misconception.

"People think that because I'm a witch, I should have green skin and a pointy hat and a wart on my nose," LaFerriere says.

"People think that witches are evil creatures that do bad things to animals and worship the devil, but that's not it at all," she says. "Wicca is an earth-based religion that emphasizes the balance in everything and being in tune with your surroundings. It's a euphoria for earth and nature."

Still, the stigma attached to being a witch or practicing witchcraft leads many believers to remain in the proverbial broom closet.

While the Harry Potter books are not based on the Wiccan faith, LaFerriere says, the series does well by reassuring craft believers and other misunderstood practitioners that they have a place in the world.

"Harry is raised by a 'Muggle' family that doesn't understand him and doesn't treat him very well, but he stands up to them and eventually finds a place (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) where people help him and love him," she says.

NOT CHARMED

LaFerriere says she's less taken with the recent spate of teen-oriented TV programs and films that directly misrepresent Wicca and other mystical/spiritual faiths.

"I don't think I'd let my daughter watch 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' or 'Charmed,' " she says. "I think the teen programs took it too far."

LaFerriere was particularly bothered to see a book of spells, patterned after the "Book of Shadows," used as a prop for the eternally naval-baring hottie-witches of "Charmed."

"They used something sacred for something ridiculous," she says.

WICKEDLY INSIGHTFUL

While she agrees that Hollywood has done a disservice by not representing crafting in a more accurate way, Wicca "solitaire" Teresa Catalano, 32, says she enjoys the new pop-culture portrayal of witches.

"I thought the Willow character from 'Buffy' was just terrific," she says. "She was a beautiful, compassionate soul who wanted to do right by her magic, but who also had to struggle with its dark potential. I think that's relevant, even if they went over the top in dramatizing it."

Likewise, she sees the "Charmed" sisters as strong, feminist role models representing a variation of earth-based, magic-oriented faith that is inherently feminine.

"The consistent theme throughout the show is that these sisters have to constantly make personal sacrifices to be faithful to their gift," Catalano says.

Still, Catalano says, the best treatment of witches in pop culture has to be Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, "Wicked," which was recently adapted for the Broadway stage as a musical.

The novel offers a decidedly different perspective on Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West character from "The Wizard of Oz." In "Wicked," Elphaba is presented as an intelligent, kind witch who is shunned for her physical ugliness.

"A big part of that book is the realization that perception is not reality," Catalano says. "That is something that everyone who is involved in magic can relate to. There will always be people who distrust magic because of subjective issues that cloud their perspective.

"The distrust people have for Wicca is all based on misperception," she says. "They think the impulse to magic comes from a desire to manipulate supernatural forces for one's own purposes. In actuality, we try to achieve oneness with our environment so that our purposes and desires are the same as the earth's."

Catalano points to the kahuna 'ana'ana of old Hawai'i as an example of "magic" practitioners whose beliefs and practices have been similarly misrepresented.

"The popular conception is that these people were malevolent priests who could will people to die," Catalano says. "In fact, much of what they did was to take other people's suffering unto themselves to save lives. In most respects, it was very benevolent magic."

UH-OH, IT'S MAGIC

Many witches prefer the term "crafting" to "magic" — and for good reason. As Karen Jolly, an associate professor of history at the University of Hawai'i notes, the term "magic" is devilishly difficult to define.

"One person's magic is another person's religion," says Jolly, an expert in early medieval Europe and one of the authors of the book "The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Modern Europe, Volume 3: The Middle Ages."

"It depends where you're coming from," Jolly says. "It's an easy accusation to throw around to vilify or demonize. But there's also the allure of the occult, a fascination with something of mysterious origin."

Part of the success of the Harry Potter books, Jolly says, lies in Rowling's ability to create an alternate world with different rules yet similar values.

Jolly says many of the themes and imagery now associated with magic — including those contained in the Harry Potter books and films — have roots in medieval European texts like "The Travels of Sir John Mandeville," a fictional travelogue of the Middle East and North Africa that included descriptions of fantastical races and species.

"What we usually see is Medievalesque, not historically medieval," Jolly says. "A lot of the settings in the Harry Potter books have an almost 18th- or 19th-century feel, which is probably drawn from the 19th-century romanticism of what the Middle Ages were like.

"It's an imagined Middle Ages," she continues. "The Middle Ages have become a site of all that is not modern, representing something that is lost and won't come back. It provides themes and ideas that can be elaborated on."

Likewise, Jolly says, Wicca and many other similar faiths are essentially modern inventions that seek to get at something perceived to be older and more pure.

"There is a tendency toward conspiracy theory, a belief that the truth has been suppressed and must be recovered," she says.

MAGIC MAN

Local magician Mike Ching, who once wrote a term paper linking the rise of Doug Henning and the magic renaissance of the 1970s with public disaffection with the Watergate scandal, says it's no surprise that magical themes are again prevalent in American popular culture.

"Magic is entertainment based on possibilities," Ching says. "It's nice to believe there are possibilities beyond the everyday life."

The Harry Potter books, Ching says, offer just those sorts of possibilities, while also incorporating a human element that engages readers emotionally.

"There are limitations to (the characters') magical abilities," Ching says. "They're not omnipotent. They have specialties, just like real life, and the way (Rowling) puts it all together is intelligent and nicely done.

"It's a fun diversion."

But does the magician believe in real magic?

"When I first started, I hoped there was something there — that if I did this or that, something would happen, something would disappear," he says.

Performance magic also draws on ancient or medieval themes and images. Ching says stage magic principles are likely derived from shamans and others who sought to "instill awe at their skills," as well as early Christian passion plays, in which stagecraft was made more obvious so as not to make light of the subject. Stage magic has in turn provided the foundations for many cinematic special effects.

"Ultimately, (magic) is psychology, mechanics and misdirection," he says. "But I don't discount miracles. It's at the core of people like me to believe because if we don't, we're that much less effective as performers."