When considering some of the more fantastic books of magic that are thrown around as the books of the most darkest secrets, the “grimoires”, there is in essence a singular underlying goal- the control of spirits by living proponents of magic.

A word most often associated with the rituals and process of such divinations is the word “necromancy”- evoking images of freshly dug up graves, of snatching of parts of the bodies of the condemned, of all manner of wickedness.

But for all the ritual, for all the hocus pocus, there is a very real and potent magic.  It is the real magic:

The incredible power of belief

As stated in earlier wisdoms, belief is a most powerful weapon both for good and for evil. In the case of Black Magic, much of the theatrics associated with elaborate rituals has nothing to do with evoking any real power other than the most important magical power of all- the power that what you are witnessing is real.

In a sense, the grimoire rituals are self fulfilling. Because they are elaborate, because they evoke all kinds of strange and esoteric invocations, it must be ancient and powerful magic. Because both the practitioners and unfortunate victims believe it to be, it is.

The art of necromancy in essence is to play a trick on the dead, or the recently dead in the case of human sacrifice. It is the art of convincing a human mind that because of the rituals, they are somehow beholden to certain individuals who are living and in turn are required to follow their commands.

Thankfully, few black priests are skilled enough to pull off true enough evil and precision to evoke a lasting binding. However, those that have the additional power of great betrayal, such a shock in itself can aid an otherwise poor application of magic ritual.

It means the most effective black magicians remain priests and bishops of the Catholic church, not because they have exclusive rights to powerful magic rituals, nor even to some hidden means of spiritual control. Simply, so few people believe the Catholic Church to be evil, so when faced in their final moments with such true evil as betrayal by priests, bishops and cardinals dressed as black magicians the effect can be overwhelming.

Of course, if a human mind rejects the notion that it is bound, or indeed if a spiritual force intercedes on behalf of those who are unfairly trapped, then no power of a magician can stop the eroding of belief.