OR s/he may ask a genuine and serious question, such as: "Do you believe there any 'black witches'? You know, malevolent witches?"
OR s/he may phrase the question in a somewhat more in-depth manner, such as: "I was wondering about references to the concept of 'white witches' vs. 'black witches.' For example, Carlos Ginzburg goes into this idea a bit in his 'The Night Battles.' Are there 'white witches' and 'black witches'?"
The question about the "white witches" and the "black witches" is the old chestnut of Are there the "good witches" vs. the "evil witches"? It sometime leads into whether Wiccans consider themselves to be the "good witches"/"white witches" or the "bad witches"/"black witches."
Most Wiccans do not use the terms "white witches" or "black witches," unless someone else brings up these terms in a question. Then, some Wiccans often spend the next 20 mintues explaining why the color "white" does not necessarily equate with "good" and why the color "black" does not necessarily equate with "bad" or "evil." After which they may launch into 40 to 60 minuets of explaination about Wiccan ethics, the Wiccan Rede, karma, Wiccan/Pagan community mores, as well as some concepts of honor and personal responsiblity to others.
None of the above may actually be what the person is wanting to know--although maybe some of it is.
The first Frequently Asked Question is usually just an attempt at a "witty" question, borrowed from Glinda in the 1939 "Wizard of Oz" movie. The only answer to the first FAQ is to chuckle and say:
Ah, yes, Wizard of Oz. Fun movie.
The second Frequently Asked Question about "black witches," "malevolent witches," or "evil witches" probably requires:
What do you mean?
The person may be referring to fiction or folklore and is actually asking about whether the bad things that happen to good people might be ascribed to practices by malign magicians. S/he may be asking if Wiccans make and sell cures for curses. S/he may be asking if all Wiccans believe they are magically fighting against evil practices by malign magicians. The person may indeed refer to a specific book, such as Carlos Ginzburg's The Night Battles.
Below is my long answer referring to Carlos Ginzburg's book, The Night Battles. Interestingly, this book does get brought up by by a number of people who have read about historical aspects of the occult.
Carlos Ginzburg in his The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1966, English translation 1983) did not use the terms "'white' witches" and "'black' witches."
The Italian folk belief that Ginzburg referred to was the benandanti ("Good Walkers") vs. the malandanti ("Evil Walkers").
The benandanti were an part of an agrarian fertility cult in the 16th and 17th century in Northern Italy. The people who admitted to the Inquisition to being benandanti insisted they only flew out at night to fight to protect the crops on the "Ember days."
Ember days were the days during four times a year, ordered by the Catholic Church, as days of fast and abstinence. The Ember days were held on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 1) after December 13, 2) after Ash Wednesday, 3) after Whitsunday, and 4) after September 14. These religious days were clearly linked to the concept of the four seasons and the bounty of nature. "The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy." Kevin Knight, Ember Days, 2009, accessed 4/11/12.
The benandanti explained they used fennel stalks to defend the crops, while the malandanti used sorghum stalks. Apparently, these night battles to protect the crops took place during sleep or while the benandanti were in trance.
If the region's food source was destroyed everyone would starve. What were the benandanti trying to prevent? Rot, blight, pest infestation, drought, storm, hail, frost. In other words, the benandanti magically "fought" against natural disasters to the crops.
One could claim that if the night battles of the benandanti were not just fantasy, then the malandanti were simply either spirits or personifications of natural disasters. Thus, the malandanti were not "black witches" or evil witches. Neither were these malandanti malevolent magicians using their magic and sorghum stalks to destroy crops so everyone in the region would starve.
copyright 2012 Myth Woodling