I don't believe in voodoo, but I don't mess with those who do

Black magic used to make predictions (wikimedia commons)

Carol Forsloff--“I'm not much into the occult,” she said, as a group of people were discussing everything from tarot cards to a Malaysian Airlines missing plane's whereabouts as someone speculated it might have been taken by aliens. “Actually,” and she laughed as she said this, “I don't believe in voodoo, but I don't mess with those who do.”



Black magic, like other areas of the occult, remains a common practice in some cultures. But whereas most people don't practice this themselves, they are reluctant to tangle with someone who does. Beverly had said what her beliefs are with regard to occult practices, and a review of the literature and research, as well as surveys of opinions, has found most people are like Beverly. They may not be practitioners or believers in occult practices or the paranormal but remain curious at the same time, while considering the potential of the negative as harmful enough not to antagonize anyone who might be that so-called witch or someone with the proverbial evil eye. Beverly expressed it more succinctly, when she remarked, “Who needs pins being pushed, then feeling the hurt and not knowing where it's coming from. I would rather just steer away from anyone like that or say nothing at all."



Some might say Beverly has the right idea. After all, even in some of the more progressive societies, there remains those segments of the culture who continue to practice black magic. India is an example of this. The country is considered to have mostly progressive ideas, however black magic remains part of the culture of many people, with others tacitly believing in parts of the practice, although not necessarily all of the essential elements.



In India, as an example, in 2012 incidents of killings showed the practice of black magic continues in the country. In West Bengal the body of a local Ayurveda doctor was found near a temple with his head near a crematorium with flowers, blood and incense. Police declared this to be the result of local black magic. In another city to the South, police detained 14 members of a black magic cult who had been accused of cheating people. A year before, in a remote village in India, a childless couple was arrested for killing five young boys on the advice of a black magic practitioner who had told them that by killing the boys “it would help the woman conceive.”



One might think that the practice and involvement in black magic might just appeal to the poor and ill-educated, but among the recipients of black magic help are well-educated people as well as entertainers and people of great wealth. Many either participate or among those who “don't mess with those who do.”



People of the Solomon Islands are for the most part Christian. They retain, however, some practices that are borderline or outside mainstream Christian beliefs. Ancestors are considered to have special powers, as an example. They will use ancestors as mediators when they pray to God. Although modern medicine is used and respected, so are traditional healers, many of whom still practice black magic in order to help the sick or the dying. 



Island cultures, consisting of those people who have had relatively less exposure to the modern world, or exposure only within less than 200 years, often retain many traditional practices. Like religious people in mainstream churches may be eclectic in their beliefs and practices, this is particularly true of people who have been raised in island cultures. In Hawaii, the island state of the United States, most people are Christian or belong to one of the mainstream Asian religions such as Buddhism, belief in ancestors and animism retains a position alongside mainstream churches and temples. People consider stones, certain amulets, particular phrases, behaviors or positions to have certain powers. Even large environmental features are given respect for having the power to reward and punish. Pele, the volcano goddess of the Big Island, Hawaii, is of special significance to virtually everyone on the island, as well as those people who travel there from the other islands or outside Hawaii. Pele is said to live in the craters of the Big Island's volcano Kilauea. The goddess, according to legend, descended from the supreme beings of Earth Mother and Wakea, Sky Father. Local people admonish visitors not to antagonize Pele, which often means not taking that piece of lava rock home. Otherwise, people say, Pele will wreak vengeance on those who dare to take what belongs to her.



What happens to those unfortunate folks who carry something home with them, that local folks would say belongs to Pele, like that ordinary piece of sandstone or lava? The lava stones are said to be so filled with power that they can be dangerous. So there remains the current belief that taking them from the islands will bring misfortune on those visitors who test Pele's wrath by taking some of those rocks home as souvenirs. Hawaii retains some of that old black magic belief, despite its modernization; and not just those born in the islands will echo that belief. Many mainlanders who settle in Hawaii will also admonish visitors not to take home those objects that belong to the land—anywhere, for the ancestors may be angry if you do.



Within mainstream religions there are those who practice a form of black magic based on mainstream religious practices. One of the practices is the Black Mass, the purpose of which is to profane the sacraments. The candles are black, and the crucifix turned upside down. The ceremony itself parodies the sacraments and the mass. Alastair Crowley, who has written about occult practices including the Black Mass, tells the best known of these ceremonies is the “Mass of Saint Secaire.” It's purpose, Crowley tells us, is to “cause an enemy to wither away.”



Even in Islam there are black magic practices. Islamic exorcism provides for a way to rid a person from demons and the spirits of possession. Like Christian groups, there are Islamic ones that also practices in some ways various occult beliefs or will offer credence to some of them.