On Friday, good witches all around the world will be summoned to cast spells for peace, love, hope and prosperity. The Rev. Edward Hubbard, CEO and director of the Witch School (witchschool.com), is organizing a global experimental spell-casting marathon. Hubbard, based in Hoopeston, Ill., talked to us recently about changing the world and how television and movies portray witches.

Q: Why do you spell "magick" with a k? A: A long time ago, people confused magick with illusion and sleight of hand. To differentiate the two arts, in the 1900s (mystic and occultist) Aleister Crowley added a k to it. So when you see "magic," most likely it’s stage magic. But when you see it with a k, they’re talking about the other kind: spell casting.

What’s the point of this global spell-fest?

On the more mundane level, it’s just getting people to think about what love is, what hope is. On a higher level, we actually believe anything that’s thought about gets manifested into the universe one way or the other. One of the things we do believe is that the brain sends out all sorts of signals. We also think people’s minds pick up thoughts of other people as well. ... No politics. This is not pro-Bush, this is not anti-Bush, this is not pro-Iraq; we’re leaving that in the hands of group unconsciousness.

What kinds of signs and wonders might we expect?

One of the things I’m looking for is car accidents, deaths and crime statistics on that day. If we have any sort of success, you’ll start seeing some dips in those. People report everything from hysterical visions, similar to the Virgin Mary sightings ... to people saying "I’ve gotten extra money" or "I was able to do something nice." People see things because they change their focus or change their mind-set. What do I mean by changing people’s mind-sets? If somebody smiles at you in the morning, you go out and smile at somebody else, and that person smiles at somebody else.

Like "Pay It Forward"?

"Pay It Forward" is a perfect example of this. It’s one of my favorite movies. Basically, Wiccan philosophy is pay it forward. We have a law called the threefold law, and that is the idea that what you do is repeated in the universe three times. If we can just change the emotional environment for just a few people, it should have an effect.

Do you like the WB’s "Charmed"?

I love those guys, and I love them the same way a lot of Christians loved "Touched by an Angel." Those guys are just our dream, our ideal — it would be so great to do that, but it’s Hollywood. They’ve got a lot of great ideas, but demons aren’t popping up everywhere; we’re not fighting big battles all the time; but the underlying morality to it I really appreciate. There’s a sensitivity to Wicca that’s coming that "Charmed" has brought out, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" sort of brought out — I could go on.

Please do.

What really started the change was a 1958 movie called "Bell, Book and Candle." It was one of the first times they showed witches (as) pretty, and she couldn’t fall in love and she basically gave up her magic for love, then that led into "Bewitched," which is what Wicca’s really all about. Forget the fancy spells; this was a woman living in a time when things are changing, and she basically put aside her own powers to help her husband and help everybody. But she was really a lot more powerful. And toward the end of the series, she stopped worrying about everybody else and started taking care of herself. "Bewitched" has become almost symbolic of what the community is doing.