Yes. It is a reference to egypt which was the black land of alchemy..it had nothing to do with anything negative. This is where we got the term "black magic"..

Now when I say that Crowleys work influenced much of what was to later become wicca and some other new age magical traditions I mean that crowley often did not know what he was talking about..and that ignorance was spread to others through his work. Wicca is one of a main traditions that, in part is an offshot of Crowleys teaching. Now Wicca is not an old craft by any means..it is a religion as old as the 1950's and that is it. Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca was already a practicing witch with a coven of his own..but it was not until the man met Crowley and was basically innitiated by the man that he later went on to creat wicca basically claiming it's teachings/beliefs etc were those of the old world europe.

In reality Wicca is a new age religion that differs greatly in some ways from traditional witchcraft...Wiccans believe in and follow the wiccan rede..which is sort of like a wiccan set of comandments..they also believe in the 3 fold law(sort of like karma) that whatever you do comes back times 3.

Now, in traditional craft there was none of this. There was never anything like a wiccan rede..cursing is against the rede. In traditional craft many will tell you an old saying passed down through the families that "you cant learn to heal if you never learn to curse"..there is not really any evidence to suggest that within the traditional craft there was ever any such thing as a 3 fold law or even "black magic"(or white magic for that matter).

In traditional craft there is only magic. It is neigher good nor bad, and the 3 fold law of karma does not apply. In traditional craft there is only wyrd(this is where we get them term "weird"). This whole concept is too complicated to get into here..but basically it is an anglo-saxon term that translates to "to become"..which has roots in an indoeuropean term that means "to turn"..often in pagan communities you will hear people refer to "the web of wyrd", and it is associated with weaving our fate or destiny..basically in germanic pagan traditions there was no karma, there was only wyrd..and within the web of wyrd there is only really personal responsibility. So whatever you seed within that web has ramifications down the line, as every action becomes a weave in that web and influences the future. People were not concerned with a dicotemy like black vs white magic..there was only magic and it was practical. If someone is stealing all your chickens or murdering all your neighbours and it is practical to hex them, then it was done. It it not so different from the world today..if someone was stealing from you would you not take action? The idea that within magical traditions people had the luxury of some idealistic peace on earth paradigm is naive when you really think about it. Folk magic is usually practical magic whereever it is encountered..hoodoo is a perfect example of this. Hoodoo magic is not necessarily concerned with some quest for enlightenment or personal growth, it is as simple as making your way through life day to day. You need your corn to grow faster..there is magic for that..you want to attract love..there is magic for that.

The closest I can think of to karma in germanic withccraft traditions would be jera. Jera is a rune often associated with the harvest, yerly cycles, fruitition etc..I think in the elder furthark set it is a symbol that resembles a ying yang in many ways..basically what you reap is what you sew..

Anyway I am rambling on and on I know..but my point here was to expand on my first post about why I think that Crowleys teaching had an influence that in some ways led to much confusion surrounding the old craft. I dont think Wicca is bad at all or that ecclectic magical traditions are not practical..they are definatly practical and that is why traditions like hoodoo exist. Wicca and much of Crowleys teachings though differ in some important ways from traditonal craft and I personally resonate more with traditional witchcraft. Witchcraft is something I have been facinated with for a very long time, longer than I have been working with entheogens for. For me, Crowley and Wicca and other new age pagan traditions played a role at some point but I find some of it does not agree with me. I like the mindset of the old craft, but I try to picture how that paradgim would flourish in todays world..and that means that some eclectic practices make sense.

For anyone interested in magic in general I would suggest looking into Liber Null and Psychonaut by Peter J Carroll.