ìMagic is love. All magic should be performed out of love. The moment    anger or hatred tinges your magic you have crossed the border into a  dangerous world, one that will ultimately consume you.î  - Scott Cunningham

Magick itself is neutral, a tool: like a hammer, it can be used to smash or to build. Intent is what colors it. White magick is a term to describe that which is positive, constructive or helpful; black magick that which is negative, destructive or harmful. If you have a business and you work spells to make it prosper, that's white magick. Doing spells to destroy your competition would be black magick. These are not racial terms: good and evil, dark and light, are other words which can be used to express this same concept.

Why black and white, not some other colors? To answer this you have to go back into prehistory and imagine how terrifying the night was for humans before we learned to use fire. The black of night was full of unseen threats, a dangerous time you might not survive. The white light of day brought illumination and safety, welcome relief.

White magick is the right-hand path, black magick the left-hand one. The symbolism of right and left is also very ancient: the right hand was used for eating, the left hand for bathroom functions. Imagine life without toilet paper and you'll understand why it's customary to shake right hands. This has nothing to do with being right- or left-handed, but it does explain why left handed people were often forced in the past to learn to write with their right hands.

There are several theories of ëgray magickí, but I think gray magick is what Hindus call maya  - illusion.

•  One theory holds that since good and evil both exist, some people need to do black magick in order to balance the white magick. I don't buy that for a minute. Do murderers balance nice people, or child abusers balance loving parents? If they create balance, does this excuse their crimes? Try telling that one to a judge! "Well your honor, I only stole that car to create balance in the universe."
• There is another polarity theory, where if you do two hexes and two healings they balance one another or cancel each other out. There is some logic to this one but its still just a self-serving excuse, a way to delude yourself you are a white witch when you practice black magick.
• Some traditions hold that which you cast on yourself as white magick, that which you cast on others gray magick. The wordsmith in me quibbles with this one on semantic grounds. I think a spell that harms yourself or anyone else is black magick; one that helps or heals anyone, including yourself, is white magick. Being of service to people in need or distress is one of the things witches do best, so I see nothing ëwrongí in casting spells that help others - with their permission, of course.

The term green witchcraft is sometimes used to describe Celtic magick, fairy magick, earth magick or any combination of those.

Seekers and novices sometimes ask me how they can avoid being seduced by the dark side of magick, avoid the temptation to hex or harm others. The answer is to have an ethical framework in which you practice magick. Seduction by the dark side is not a concern for Wiccans. We have our Goddess and our Law to guide us: ìan it harm none,
do as ye will.î  Every Wiccan is a witch, and every one of us voluntarily agrees to do no harm. We walk in the Light and serve the Goddess. Magick is just one part of our religion.

There are excellent moral and ethical arguments against practicing black magick, but if you don't buy those here is a practical one:

                           what goes around comes around