Black magic

For other uses, see Black magic (disambiguation).

"Dark magic" redirects here. For other uses, see Dark magic (disambiguation).

Black magic or dark magic is a form of sorcery that draws on assumed malevolent powers. This type of magic would be invoked to kill, to steal, to injure, to cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences to others. As a term, "black magic" is normally 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 malevolent intentions behind it, and some also consider it to have beneficial and benevolent uses, such as killing off diseases or pests (or rather, the effect itself is malevolent by causing death to insects, but as an indirect consequence of black magic, good sometimes results, in the form of less pests around, etc).

In fiction it refers to evil magic. In many video games, such as Final Fantasy, black magic is simply used to distinguish between healing/defensive spells (such as cure) and offensive/elemental spells (such as fire), and does not carry an inherent good or evil connotation.

Introduction to the system of Black Magic

We the children of cosmic divine destroy the incarnation of sin ‘Niriti’ (the god of death) and thus destroy the evilness and diseases that eat us up every day, every moment, by following the consciousness. Thus we destroy the evilness in us and remove the darkness that covers over understanding. Oh! God give us the power to do so!

- Atharva Veda

Let it be the malicious path or the good path, to study mantravada (A deviant path of Tatra, which aims at fulfillment of intentions) a guru (teacher) is necessary. Why? Atharvada says that- ‘Death, Water and Moon are my teachers. Rice, wheat and all other food materials I am getting due to the compassion of the teacher. Everything and every event in the world are my teachers’ Ashtanga hridaya (A book on Ayurveda, which speaks about medicine and healing techniques, written by saint Charaka) also speaks in the same line- ‘For an intelligent individual, in his every act, the world itself is the teacher. Because of this in worldly matters after understanding the ways methods and nature of nature and living beings one should follow the same’. These messages may give us the feeling that a separate guru is not necessary to learn even subjects like Mantravada. Ultimately, ‘Siva, the god which is present in and with which the whole universe is made up of, is the first guru and he himself lightens himself in everybody as consciousness – thus says the knowledgeable ones’ (Quote from Suta samhita) The ultimate or the only real possible guru is within ourselves – which is nothing but consciousness. The teachers can only show the way, actual teaching and learning happens from within – we ourselves are the real gurus for ourselves. This being the real situation, we may feel that the stress on having another individual as guru to teach Mantravada (or any other similar subject) is something over stated. But it is not so. Kularnava Tantra tells us that- ‘Siva (or the enlightened consciousness), the ultimate guru is divine. It may not be possible for common people to see or decipher it – they always live in confusion, and darkness encompasses their consciousness always. Due to this the students of subjects like Tantric worships should take someone who is truly spiritual (who wish and act for the well being of the universe and himself, by following his own nature) as guru, and follow his teachings (till he himself lightens up, and becomes a guru who could see his own path or true nature – i.e. ‘Dharma’). [By the way ‘Dharma’, ‘Tao’ all mean almost the same and could be translated as ‘the path’; But even this definition does not clarify full depth of the word ‘Dharma’. An example may clarify further. ‘Burning is the true dharma of Fire’. Or in other words ‘Dharma’ could also be translated as ‘true nature’ (of something)] Thus it becomes clear that to study ‘Mantravada’ in the right way, a teacher is a must. This stays true for both Dur-Mantravada (Malicious Mantravada or ‘Black Magic’ and ‘Good Mantravada’ or ‘White Magic’). If not we will end up having an erroneous understanding of this subject – as truly visible from the words ‘Black Magic’, which itself can cause confusion regarding the depth and nature of this subject itself. The Fundamental constituents of the system of ‘Black Magic’

           Having said that, I think now we have the minimum ground necessary to embark on this subject. But before going into this study, we should have at least a minimum understanding of the constants and of this subject – i.e. Dur Mantravada. It should be clearly noted that I am speaking about Dur-Mantravada (Black Magic) which is a deviation happened in the path of Tantra and not about Tantra itself. The fundamental constituents differ a lot in both. [If you want to know more about ‘Tantra’ read the book ‘Bhirava Tantra’ by Osho] Here I am speaking about the constituents of the system of Black Magic and not about Tantra. ‘Tanta’ means ‘Technique’ and it is more about attaining enlightenment by the union of opposites – Man and Women, Siva and Sakti. Dur-Mantravada (Black Magic) is more concerned with various beliefs, and techniques to fulfill intentions, anchoring on those beliefs. Black Magic is more or less based on the following beliefs-

1) The belief in the power of secret hymns.

2) The belief in the principles of similarity and transition

3) The belief in Ayurveda system of medicine

4) The belief in astrology

5) The belief in para-normal and para-psychic powers (of ours and non-human)

6) The belief in the words of our ancestors (the belief in traditional beliefs)

7) The belief in ceremonial act or worship techniques used

8) The belief in the theory of Karma (Karma sidhanta): Eg. What you do, the result of that you are sure to get, in this life or the other.

9) The belief in re-birth.

10) The belief in multiple gods

11) The belief in the ability of dreams to foretell future

12) The belief in time

a. The knowledge of Time and its nature (Time is the ultimate counter part of the universe, providing the extra dimension)

b. Knowledge of the effects of time (Calendar and Muturta systems)

c. The belief that we can defy time and thus death (through meditation and breath control)

d. The worship of the destroyer of time (Kalakala – ‘Siva’ who can cause the death of time itself)

13) The ultimate state (enlightenment)

a. Duality (Siva - Sakti) = Dvaita

b. Single God (There are several systems which consider Tripura sundari or Akhora as this single god) = Eka Daiva

c. Unity (The realization that the creator, creation and the rules are one and the same) = Advaita

    Except the last one, all the others are beliefs – but the last one is rather a realization than a belief. If somebody gross from the preliminaries of ‘Black Magic’ (ceremonial worships for intension fulfillment) to considering this as a path for enlightenment, then he is in the path of ‘Tantra’ rather than ‘Black Magic’.

ð From the next mail onwards I will try to elaborate on some of these beliefs. The aim of that effort would be to make us understand a method to differentiate the pearls and waste material and literature that is present in the system of ‘Black Magic’.

ð Once the above steps is covered, we will look into the classification (Shad Karma = Marana, Mohana, Uchadana etc) and functional constituents (Mantramsaka = Mantra deeksha, Snana, Dyana, Pranayama etc), and technical constituents (Mantra recitation, Homa, Use of flowers, gems and garlands, prasada dana, use of medicines and chemicals etc)

Only such an elaboration can give us the ground to have a minimum understanding of point one, I mentioned in my previous mail. I hope this mail, succeeded in providing the outline of the point under discussion, and the area it covers.

Note: The elaboration and continuation of this mail depends on your response. If you all are interested in this subject me too is. If you are not interested then me too not.. ;) This should be a group discussion for the group interest. If the subject does not serve this purpose, we can drop it and move on to something else. But if it does, we will continue with the same.

Black and white magic

The opposite of black magic is white magic. The differences between black magic and white magic are debatable, but theories generally fall within the following broad categories:

• All as One: All forms of magic are evil, or black magic. This view generally associates black magic with Satanism. The persons that maintain this opinion include those belonging to most branches of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Some people on the left-hand path would agree that all magic, whether called "white" or "black", is the same. These people would not contend that all magic is evil so much as that morality is in the eyes of the beholder -- that any magic can have both good and bad consequences depending on who judges those consequences. In this school of thought, there is no separation between benevolent and malevolent magic because there is no universal morality against which magic can be measured.

• Gnostic Luciferian: Dark Magic and Dark Arts refer to work involving the estranged, twisted and forgotten aspects of nature and self. An evil intent is not necessarily present in the Dark Magician. The Dark Arts are also a set of methods for pursuing genuine self-knowledge and mental emancipation.

• Dark Doctrine: Black magic refers to the powers of darkness, usually seen from a Left-Hand Path point of view. This may or may not contrast with white magic, depending on the sorcerer's acceptance of dualism.

• Formal Differences: The forms and components of black magic are not the same due to the different aims or interests of those casting harmful spells than those of white. Harmful spellcasting tends to include symbolism which seems hazardous or harmful to human beings, such as sharp, pointed, prickly, caustic, and hot element(s) combined with very personal objects from the spell's target (their hair, blood, mementos, etc.). This distinction is primarily observable in folk magic, but pertains to other types of magic also.

• No Connection: Both black and white magic are forms of sorcery, but are completely different from the base up and are accomplished uniquely, even if they achieve similar effects. This stance is often presented in fiction. In such books, the two classes of magic-users are portrayed as being both ideologically and diametrically opposed. In The Lord of the Rings the elves find it strange that Humans and Hobbits can even use a single word, "magic", which refers to both - since the Elvish tongues regard them also linguisitically as completely separate and unrelated.

• Separate but Equal: Black and white magic are exactly the same thing, differentiated only by their end goals and intent. According to this theory, the same spell could be either white or black; its nature is determined by the end result of the spell. The majority of religions follow this belief, as does the remainder of fiction that does not follow the No Connection theory. By this interpretation, even such spells commonly seen as good can be misused, so healing could be used to regenerate the body to the point of cancer, for instance.

See also

• Necromancy
• Nigromancy
• Maleficium (sorcery)
• Magician (fantasy)
• Chaos magic
• Demonology
• Warlock
• Gray magic
• Witchcraft
• Neopaganism
• Magick
• Fire Magick
• Ascalapha odorata
• Gray witch
• White witch
• Ya Sang