Īnother distinguishing characteristic separating the two is based upon the aim of the practitioner. Carroll, have stressed that both paths can be followed by a magical practitioner, as essentially they have the same goals. Some contemporary occultists, such as Peter J. In more recent definitions, which base themselves on the terms' origins in Indian Tantra, the Right-Hand Path (RHP, or Dakshinachara), is seen as a definition for those magical groups that follow specific ethical codes and adopt social convention, while the Left-Hand Path (LHP, or Vamamarga) adopts the opposite attitude, espousing the breaking of taboo and the abandoning of set morality. : 152 Other occultists have criticised this definition, believing that the Left–Right dichotomy refers merely to different kinds of working and does not necessarily connote good or bad magical actions. In some definitions, the Left-Hand Path is equated with malicious black magic or black shamanism, while the Right-Hand Path with benevolent white magic.
This terminology is used in various groups involved in the occult and ceremonial magic. In Western esotericism the Left-Hand Path and Right-Hand Path are the dichotomy between two opposing approaches to magic. The Baphomet, from Éliphas Lévi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, 1854, adopted symbol of some western esoteric "Left-Hand Path" belief systems.