black arts

He was learned in the black arts; he could heal ulcers by repeating a prayer, he could bring on fever.'

Among the books which formed part of Thackeray's library are one or two treating on the subject of the 'Black Arts.'

She mingled prayers with spells, Olympian gods with demons, Christian rites with the black arts.

Paracelsus is made expressly by Browning to abjure “black arts” in his struggles for knowledge.

Only the black arts could establish a domination over that tiny-brained, mighty-thewed monster.