I am both a Wiccan and a writer, and I have been continually annoyed by the ongoing confusion between Witchcraft and Satanism that occurs so commonly in genre fiction. I know very well that you cannot write an accurate piece on any religious group without doing research. That includes books and articles written by individuals actually belonging to the religious group you're writing about. If you don't follow these simple rules, you're likely to come up with something like this all-too-commonly-written scenario:
             It is the night of the full moon. In a "house that looked like any other house" the witches have gathered to offer homage to their master, Satan. The evil witches cavort wildly around the central altar, yelling blasphemies against the Christian faith. They are barely able to stand because of all the illegal drugs they have ingested. At the height of the ceremony, the High Priest reaches into a bag to pull out the sacrifice. It is a tiny, helpless kitten. It mews piteously. The High Priest, surrounded by his slavish followers, holds the terrified kitten on high and brandishes his evil ritual knife...
             Wait a minute. We are discussing fiction, but the scenario we have just read is particularly lurid fiction that has no basis in fact. Apparently, the person who wrote the heart-stopping scene above did not do her homework. She read a lot of other sloppily- researched stories and watched some really scary movies on late night TV, but she didn't bother to go to her library and look in the Religious Studies and Metaphysical sections. If she had, the scene would have looked more like this:
             It is the night of the full moon. In a house that does in fact look like any other house, the Witches have gathered to honor the Goddess and her consort. Singing and holding hands, the Witches dance in a circle to raise energy for a friend who is in the hospital. No drugs are taken. The Christian faith and Satan are...