In Alma 1:32 we find that "those who did not belong to [the] church did indulge themselves in sorceries." According to Hunter and Ferguson, the Mesoamerican native historian, Ixtlilxochitl, wrote that to a certain extent, "they [the ancient recordkeepers called Tultecas] were necromancers, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers." Usually those who sought or practiced the black arts were endeavoring to obtain some unfair advantage over their fellows.
There is a law given in Deuteronomy as follows: "There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of time, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Virtually the same law existed in Middle America, even as late as the Conquest period. Sorcery and witchcraft were illegal if employed to injure the community or the individual. [Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Ancient America and The Book of Mormon, pp. 289-291] [See also Mormon 1:19; 3 Nephi 21:16,19]