Hi :) I'm writing a superhero book about a wiccan who's 'superpower' is magic. I've been looking everywhere for information about black magic but I haven't found anything solid. My questions are: 1. Is black magic bad or simply unethical? 2. Does the use of black magic drain your energy? 3. Is there a spell that could be cast into someone that would harm them if they used black magic?
Strap in, this may take a while.
1) It is a very hotly debated topic currently to even call any form of magic “black.” This is due to the idea that referring to it as “black” to illustrate its evil/bad nature stems out of the white-purity vs black-dirty racial history. So for the purposes of this answer I will refer to it as witchcraft since you’ll know what that means to you.
Witchcraft is not inherently bad or unethical. Any witchcraft can be. If you do a spell or take a metaphysical action that affects someone other than you, and you do not ask them first (even if the spell is meant to help them), if you do not gain their explicit consent, you have done something unethical, especially if it is spiteful or violent in nature. Imagine it less like an ephemeral hand wave that knocks someone back and more if someone just walked up to you and beat you until you backed up as far as they wanted you to. That is what your character is doing on a metaphysical/physical level if they are using their witchcraft to affect people.
In this case obviously it’s a touch more complicated as they will likely be acting in their own, or others, defense as a superhero, but I wanted to make that point clear. At its base witchcraft that affects others without their consent is unethical. The motivation, circumstances, and context will obviously change the ethical nature of the action.
2) Any use of witchcraft can, and most likely will, drain some energy from the caster, unless it is specifically meant to draw energy toward/to the caster. They will still expend some energy, but the amount they regain should cover the cost of what they spent.
In some cases whatever witchcraft they use won’t take any energy, or they may feel more energized even if that wasn’t the point of the casting. This happens, though less so.
If you have two witches and Witch A wants to stop Witch B from casting a particular type of magic and/or magic with a specific intent then that’s possible. In your world, if you’ve built into it the idea that certain forms of magic are their own specific kind then the first option is entirely possible, but if not then you’re looking at the second option which is a bit more tricky.
Witch A would have to make a spell or ritual with the specific intent to bind Witch B’s power if Witch B tried to cast something that Witch A had denied Witch B. For example…
Witch A: Binds Witch B from casting spells with the intent to set things on fire.
Witch B: Tries to set something on fire. Witch B can’t. Tries to drench something in water. Witch B can.
If you specifically want the effect of Witch B still being able to use power, but be punished for doing so then it would look more like this.
Witch A: Casts a specified curse so that every time Witch B sets something on fire Witch B suffers a consequence.
Witch B: Sets something on fire. Has splitting headache for the next day. Sets another thing on fire. Loses sight in right eye. Sets something, wash-rinse-repeat.
It would be a lot simpler for Witch A to simply bind Witch B’s power in total. This wouldn’t be an easier route as to successfully bind someone fully calls for more power than any one person normally has unless they are incredibly powerful, but it would be less complex.
The more specific Witch A gets the less power the binding/cursing will take, but Witch A sacrifices stopping Witch B in total for stopping some of Witch B. If that’s all Witch A wants to do, then success!
