 In the present day, "among some countercultural subgroups the label is considered 'cool'"

Sorcery is a legal concept in Papua New Guinea law, which differentiates between legal good magic, such as healing and fertility, and illegal black magic, held responsible for unexplained deaths.According to anthropologist Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, magic formed a rational framework of beliefs and knowledge in some cultures, like the Azande people of Africa.The historian Owen Davies stated that the word "magic" was "beyond simple definition", and had "a range of meanings".