Jadoo jadu (Hindi) Sorcery, black magic, or the power of casting enchantments as practiced by the jadugars, wizards, or sorcerers in India.

(See also: Jadoo, jadu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dan (Hebrew) Son of Jacob; Virgo-Scorpio in the zodiacal correspondences; will teach black magic. {SD 2:218; BCW 11:495-6}

(See also: Dan, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Goetia (Greek) (from goes enchanter, sorcerer)

Also goety. One who uses incantations by song or speech, one who holds others under the spell of sound, chants, or incantations. Porphyry condemns it as black magic, distinguishing it from theurgy or divine magic; and it has in general been so contrasted.

(See also: Goetia, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Goetia (Greek) (from goes enchanter, sorcerer)

Also goety. One who uses incantations by song or speech, one who holds others under the spell of sound, chants, or incantations. Porphyry condemns it as black magic, distinguishing it from theurgy or divine magic; and it has in general been so contrasted.

(See also: God-wisdom, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Kuku-ma The black magic of Bhutan (BCW 14:105) also Kukarmadesa (Caves & Jungles 618)

(See also: Kuku-ma, Kukarmadesa, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Grimoires:

So-called “Black Books” of (usually Goetic) magic, consisting of recipe collections, scrapbooks of magical customs, Who’s Who’s of the spirit worlds and phone directories for contacting various entities. Fairly useless unless you know enough Hebrew, Greek and Latin to correct all the mistakes.

(See also: Grimoires, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

ATHAME

Consecrated, black-handled knife, used for drawing circles to invoke spiritual entities. Implements for performing M/magic(k)al acts must themselves be M/magic(k)al. Ordinary tools do but ordinary work.

(See also: ATHAME, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

BAAL SHEM TOV

Lord of the Good Name. This phrase is involved in the Hebrew banishing and exorcism of the demons of black magic.

(See also: BAAL SHEM TOV, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Sooniam (Eastern Indian) Used by certain tribes or racelets of the Indian peninsula to describe a specific form of black magical practice; "a magical ceremony for the purpose of removing a sickness from one person to another" (TG 305).

(See also: Sooniam, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

SCHOOLS OF MAGIC

There are, traditionally, three schools of magic in the world: Black, White and Yellow. These colors, however, have nothing to do with the usual understanding of them as "good" or "evil," they are simply three avenues. The black school warns that life is pain and sorrow. The white school teaches that it can be transformed into joy. The yellow school practices passivity and non-interference (occasionally it interferes to keep the black and white schools from destroying one another, lest the winner turn on the yellow school).

(See also: SCHOOLS OF MAGIC, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

witchcraft (the Old Religion): Generally, the use of amulets (or talismans), magical potions, magical rituals, and/or spells. For example, The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft (1980) describes a cure for jaundice: 12 large earthworms, baked on a shovel and ground to powder, drunk in potion. The author, Kathryn Paulsen, added parenthetically: Somewhat poisonous effects have been noticed from this recipe. For madness, she recommended consuming a drink containing mild honey and salt - before sunrise and from a seashell; and for strength, a black spider between two slices of buttered bread.

(See also: Witchcraft, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Witchcraf Immigrant, “Imm-Trad Witchcraf"

Refers to the customs and beliefs of Mesopagan peasants and supposed Fam-Trad members who immigrated to the Americas and mingled their magical and religious customs with each other, the Native Americans, enslaved Blacks, and the previous immigrants, helping to produce the dozens of kinds of Voodoo and Hoodoo,along with Pennsylvania “hex” magic and Appalachian magical lore.

(See also: Witchcraf Immigrant, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Sorcerers [from Latin sors lot]

Those using occult powers and arcane knowledge for evil purposes. It covers various degrees of black magic, from ignorant practitioners -- such as the followers of Voodoo -- to others who, with greater knowledge and a larger intellectual development, are often called black magicians instead of sorcerers, though these terms are virtually synonymous.

(See also: Sorcerers, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

13 MAJOR TYPES OF MAGIC:

         Divination     The Occult      Thaumaturgy

         ESP            Theurgy         Yoga

         Religion       Voodoo          Ceremonial or Ritual

         Black Magic    White Magic     Tantra

         Legerdemain

(See also: 13 MAJOR TYPES OF MAGIC, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Vetala Siddhi (Sanskrit). A practice of sorcery; means of obtaining power over the living by black magic, incantations, and ceremonies performed over a dead human body, during which process the corpse is desecrated. (See "Vetala ".)

(See also: Vetala Siddhi, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Brothers of the Shadow. A name given by the Occultists to Sorcerers, and especially to the Tibetan Dugpas, of whom there are many in the Bhon sect of the Red Caps (Dugpa). The word is applied to all practitioners of black or left hand magic.

(See also: Brothers of the Shadow, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Bacon, Roger (1214?-1294) English philosopher and natural scientists, Franciscan monk who experimented with alchemy and optics and was accused of practicing black magic. Confined in Paris by his order for ten years over heretical writings, and later again from 1278-92. {IU; SD; BCW}

(See also: Bacon, Roger, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Magic, Magician (from Persian magus a wise man, great; cf magi)

The great art; a knowledge of the mysteries of nature and the power to apply them. In its true sense it is gupta-vidya (divine knowledge), the aim of those who tread the path of wisdom; but in ages of decline its chief secrets are withdrawn from public access, and what remains passes through transformations and gradually degenerates.

"The ancients believed in the power of man by magic practices to command the services of the gods: which gods, are in truth, but the occult powers or potencies of Nature, personified by the learned priests themselves, in which they reverenced only the attributes of the one unknown and nameless Principle. As Proclus the Platonist ably puts it: 'Ancient priests, when they considered that there is a certain alliance and sympathy in natural things to each other, and of things manifest to occult powers, and discovered that all things subsist in all, fabricated a sacred science from this mutual sympathy and similarity. . . . and applied for occult purposes, both celestial and terrene natures, by means of which, through a certain similitude, they deduced divine virtues into this inferior abode.' Magic is the science of communicating with and directing supernal, supramundane Potencies, as well as of commanding those of the lower spheres; a practical knowledge of the hidden mysteries of nature known to only the few, because they are so difficult to acquire, without falling into sins against nature" (TG 197).

White magic or theurgy is knowledge used for impersonal and beneficent purposes, the bringing into human life of the pattern and powers of nature as these exist on the spiritual planes. Black magic or goetia is knowledge used for selfishly personal or evil purposes. Natural magic is the knowledge and employment of the natural powers, forces, and substances of nature -- practically what today is called science. If the knowledge gained through the study of natural science is distorted in its use to selfish or ignoble ends, it becomes de facto black magic. While a hard and fast distinction may not be applicable to all cults of magic, where the student or practitioner has not yet made a conscious choice between the two paths, yet in the end he must choose the one or the other. For nature's forces must be controlled, either by a pure or an impure will, if the practicer is not to fall victim to them. The motive and use that a person makes of his faculties and will are the deciding factors as to whether the magic is beneficent or maleficent. Any selfish, self-seeking, or selfishly restricted use of nature's laws or powers is against the impersonality and universality of nature:

"The smallest attempt to use one's abnormal powers for the gratification of self makes of these powers sorcery or Black Magic" (Key 346).

In theosophical writings, advanced students of occultism who have acquired some knowledge and use of spiritual powers but misuse them for selfish purposes are called black magicians, Brothers of the Shadow, followers of the left-hand path, or sometimes dugpas. In their highest class they are adepts in spiritual evil.

Whenever the forces of nature are used for selfish purposes, such misuse by anyone marks such person as a black magician, whether conscious or unconscious. Those who follow the pathway of self-renunciation, self-sacrifice, self-conquest, and an expansion of the heart, mind, and consciousness in love and service for all that lives are called white magicians or Sons of Light.

(See also: Magic, Magician, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Vodun or Voudoun:

(1) A West African word meaning “deity” or “power.”

(2) General term for a variety of eclectic religions and associated magical systems practiced throughout the Americas, consisting of mixtures of various African tribal beliefs with various Native American tribal beliefs, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, Spiritualism, Theosophy and other systems (including Hinduism, Islam, Neopagan Witchcraft and anything else that seems useful). Different names include Candomble, Macumba, Santeria, Hoodoo, Voodoo and many others.

(3) In the United States and Canada, systems of thaumaturgic magic and religion practiced by people who are usually poor, uneducated and nonwhite. Therefore, see Black Magic.

(See also: Vodun, Voudoun, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Vetala-siddhi (Sanskrit) One of the practices of sorcery; a "means of obtaining power over the living by black magic, incantations, and ceremonies performed over a dead human body, during which process the corpse is desecrated" (TG 364).

(See also: Vetala-siddhi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

13 MAJOR TYPES OF MAGIC:

         Divination     The Occult      Thaumaturgy

         ESP            Theurgy         Yoga

         Religion       Voodoo          Ceremonial or Ritual

         Black Magic    White Magic     Tantra

         Legerdemain

(See also: 13 MAJOR TYPES OF MAGIC, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )