Sorcery historically refers to "maleficium", potent malevolent, and the dangerous use of magic to achieve harm. In the ancient Roman religion, sorcery was illegal in Rome and was considered the domain of evil magicians of rural Italy, Egypt, and the "Asiatic" Eastern Roman provinces and lands, such as Syria and Roman Asiana Province (today eastern Turkey).
Today, some believe the term may be more closely related to ceremonial magick of the Western Esoteric Tradition much more so than the Traditional Craft and folk magic because of the conjuring of demons and assorted other dangerous entities used in ceremonial magick.