I was just reading this Penthouse
interview with L. Ron Hubbard Jr. in which he states his father practiced black magick and believed he was the Beast, as did Aliester Crowley. LRH Jr. akinned Scientology to the Third Reich.
I was thinking about how the ego is the conditioned self, the being we are taught to believe we are, and the soul is who we really are. The black magician or darkworker appeals to the ego. He'll say, "You are not good enough, but I can give you what you need." The white magician or lightworker appeals to the soul. He says, "You already have everything you need, I can only point you towards the source." What's tricky is that both teach releasing the ego.
The first preaches, "Do as thou will and let it be the whole of the Law" and the second preaches "Love is the whole of the Law." I agree with what you are saying, but I think to extract the true benefit of either path it is best not to be lukewarm. Either you can or cannot be bought.