Re: Atticus/Jack
Why not? Anything can be selfish. Even being selfless can be selfish.
Late Medieval period. Church stopped sanctioning the use of what they called 'natural magic.' Before that, was believed that all magic coming from the earth was given by God, therefore OK. Changed at that time. Good place to start.
If you're not interested in going that far back, Enlightenment period shows another decline thanks to disdain for the supernatural with sciences on the rise. Lastly, go about a decade out from WWII. Increasing in the occult during the war years, died out about a decade after.
Would personally start with Unlocked Books: Manuscripts of Learned Magic in the Medieval Libraries of Central Europe . Good read. Interesting.