The term has a wide range of reference, from major ritual performances to conjuring tricks. Nineteenth-century anthropologists were particularly concerned with distinguishing between magical and religious activity, seeking in their evolutionary approaches to present magic and religion as belonging to different stages of cultural development, with magic as the earlier form. It has been suggested that whereas religious acts generally involve a personal approach to spiritual powers, magical activity is largely impersonal, a ritual technology that constrains and controls rather than supplicates the powers it wields. Nevertheless, the true complexity of the interrelationship of religious and magical beliefs and practices is now widely recognized. Both public and private magic can and do exist within single societies.
Witchcraft relies on an internal quality or disposition of the witch.
An example of a true sorcerer is the tohunga makutu of the New Zealand Maori, who has to learn his special magical practices, which are said to make it possible for him to destroy humans. Much of white magic is directly concerned with the productive activities of a particular society. The fishing and agricultural magic of the people of the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea is an example. Love charms are also considered white magic. In casting spells, the appropriate use of words is sufficient to release or activate a power.