Black magic: Encyclopedia - Black magic

Black magic

Black magic is seen as the branch of magic used to perform evil acts or draw on malevolent powers. Black magic is believed to be invoked to kill, injure, cause destruction, or for personal gain. Black magic is normally a term used to describe a form of ritual that is not approved of by a group or person, however not everything named black magic is truly being done by the practitioner with malevolent intentions. In the Inquisition, Christians were afraid of witches and warlocks practicing evil black magic. In modern times, witches and warlocks will use the term to describe the bad magic they do not do in contrast with the good white magic they do practice.

The differences between black magic and white magic are debated, and several theories that compare and contrast the two branches include the All as One theory, the No Connection theory, and the Separate but Equal theory.

• All as One: All forms of magic are evil, or black, magic. The religions that maintain this opinion include most branches of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. This view generally associates black magic with Satanism. Ironically, some people on the left-hand path would agree that all magic is the same. The belief would not be that all magic is evil, but rather that morality is in the eyes of the beholder. Unlike more orthodox religions, it is thought that all magic can have both good and bad consequences depending on who is looking at the results. In this school of thought, a seperation of benevolent and malevolant magic is not believed to exist, since there is a lack of belief in a universal morality to measure it against.

• No Connection: Black and white magic are both forms of magic, but are completely different from the base up, and are accomplished differently, even if achieving similar effects. This stance is the one most often presented in fiction, including the Harry Potter series, at least in part.

• Separate but Equal: Black and white magic are exactly the same thing, differentiated only by their end goals. Under this belief, the same spell could be either white or black; it is determined by the end result. The majority of religions follow this belief, as does the remainder of fiction that does not follow the No Connection theory.

See also

• Necromancy
• Left-hand path

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Black magic", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki