Magic, regardless of how it is defined, has always held the human mind under deep sway. It is one of the few things that fall in the grey area between trickery and the unexplained. Without having understood the exact implications of the term 'magic,' people have proceeded to define its types. The thing is people have opinions about magic, not tangible knowledge and so they end up calling good magic 'white' and evil magic as 'black.' Although, modern sensibilities have a different understanding of the term from their medieval counterparts, the obsession with evil aspects of magic has remained. It is far more alluring to ascribe the power of Satan himself to the practioners of magic than to accept them as harmless nature worshipers. Thereby arises the concept of black magic and its capacity to send plagues on nations and destroy the sanity of populations. In reality, there is no such thing as black magic or white magic for that matter. Magic is magic, no further classifications! The nature and application of the concepts of magic are unanimous and have no connection with good or evil. What directs the outcome towards catastrophe or benediction is the intent of the person doing the magic. Since human hearts hardly ever free of prejudice, the result of spell or ritual is affected by the practioner's bias. However, this explanation does not imply that the practioners can be segregated as 'black' and 'white.' The belief system of those who perform magic does not hold true the concept of 'absolute evil' or 'absolute good' i.e. to say they believe that a person's being is made up of good as well as bad intentions. What matters is which intention is being projected while doing magic. Topmost among the magical practices that are most often described as 'black' are Santeria and Obeah, both of which have roots in Voodoo. Their culture of changing people in to zombie and torturing individuals by poking needles in to dolls is more an urban legend propagated by the media than reality. Voodoo, although considered very potent magic is used more in the spiritual sense than being physically harmful. |
