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Black Magic
The conscious use of
supernatural powers for the exercise of
evil,
the perversion of white magic.
Magic that draws on
evil and
malevolent powers.
In
occult lore white magic is concerned with expanding consciousness and
improving the common good. Black magic is the selfish and squalid perversion
of magical arts to destroy others, or for personal gain.
The black magician is, quite simply, a
person who wants power for him/herself, or self-aggrandizement. They want to be able to
vent their spite on enemies and to satisfy all of their desires. A magician may summon the Devil
or one of his demons and
remain a white magician, so long as the purpose for the summoning is
benevolent. Black magicians are usually defined as those who made a pact
with the Devil. They invoke diabolic and infernal powers for their personal
use and gain; in short, a perversion of legitimate mystic science.
Lewis Spence wrote, in his
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism:
"In Black Magic human perversity
found the means of ministering to its most terrible demands and the possible attainment of
its darkest imaginings. To gain limitless power over god, demon and man; for personal
aggrandizement and glorification; to cheat, trick and mock; to gratify base appetites; to
aid religious bigotry and jealousies; to satisfy public and private enmities; to further
political intrigue; to encompass disease, calamity and death—these were the ends and
aims of Black Magic and its followers."
Black magic would be invoked to kill, injure, or
cause destruction, or for personal gain without consideration to harmful
consequences to others. As a term, black magic could be used to describe a
form of ritual that some group or person does not approve of. Not everything
that is called black magic truly has evil or malevolent intentions behind
it. . .
See Brothers
of the Shadow,
Witchcraft,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2)
Pickering,
David,
Cassell Dictionary of Witchcraft,
Cassell Academic; (3)
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Eleventh Edition Handy Volume Edition, Oxford
University Press.
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