Dark Magic, also referred to as the Dark Arts or Black Magic, is a powerful form of witchcraft that draws on malevolent powers that asks the practitioner to tap into dark places of temptation. Such magic has typically been used for dark purposes that deliberately cause harm in some way, e.g. to injure or kill, to cause destruction or misfortune, or for personal gain without regard to consequences. In popular usage, the term "dark magic" is often used to describe any form of magic that goes against the Balance of Nature.
A "dark witch" refers to any witch who has tapped into dark magic, either to perform something they were not strong enough to do individually with traditional or other forms of magic or as a means to empower themselves with far greater strength. Despite its power, dark magic is known to corrupt the practitioner by distorting the human perception between right and wrong and most practitioners of dark magic become malefic over the course of time. Alaric explains that it gets inside the heart and it poisons the mind.