Moshe warns against falling under the influence of the very people the Israelites will dispossess:
When you have come to the land which Hashem, your G-d, gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you one who passes his son or his daughter through the fire, one that uses divination (KOSEM KESAMIM), a soothsayer (M’ONEN), or an enchanter (U’MENACHESH), or a sorcerer (U’MECHASHEF); or a charmer (V’CHOVER CHAVER), or one that consults a ghost (V’SHOEL OV) or a familiar spirit (V’YID’ONI), or a necromancer (V’DORESH EL HA’METIM). For it is an abomination to Hashem anyone who does these; and because of these abominations Hashem, your G-d, is driving them out before you. You shall be wholehearted with Hashem, your G-d. For these nations, which you are inheriting, listen to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, not so has Hashem, your G-d, given you. A prophet from your midst, from your brethren, like me, shall Hashem, your G-d, raise for you; to him shall you listen (Devarim 18:9-15).

Our Sages define each of the terms utilized by others to know the future (see Sifri 171, 172; Sanhedrin 65b; Rashi; Rambam “Laws of Idolatry”, chapter 11):
One that uses divination (KOSEM KESAMIM) “tells the future” using a wand, sand, stones or an iron mirror.

A soothsayer (M’ONEN) makes plans depending on astrology or other “fortuitous” times.

An enchanter (U’MENACHESH) decides how to behave based on random events, such as one’s bread falling from his mouth, a deer [or a black cat!] crossing his path, or his staff falling from his hand.

A sorcerer (U’MECHASHEF) effects changes by means of supernatural powers.

A charmer (V’CHOVER CHAVER) gathers snakes or scorpions or other creatures to one place.

One that consults a ghost (V’SHOEL OV) causes the dead to speak from his bosom, while
A familiar spirit (V’YID’ONI) places a bone of the creature yaddoa in his mouth which then speaks magically.

A necromancer (V’DORESH EL HA’METIM) starves himself, sleeps in a graveyard or consults a skull in order for the spirit of the dead to communicate with him.

The Torah cautions us against dabbling in the occult, because
not so has Hashem, your G-d, given you.

Rashi says:
“[Hashem does not permit you] to listen to soothsayers and diviners, for behold, He has caused the Divine Presence to rest on the prophets and the Urim v’Tumim.”

Hashem has a better way for us to be guided, as Sforno (R. Ovadia ben Yaakov Sforno, c. 1470-c.1550) says:
“The words of the soothsayers and diviners regarding you will not come true, as the [Sages] said ‘There is no fortune (mazel) for Israel’” (Shabbat 156a) [This means that Jews do not subscribe to astrology, as they are ruled only by Hashem].

The practices of enchantment were prohibited previously (Vayikra 18:3, 19:26, 31). The punishment for one that consults a ghost or a familiar spirit is death by stoning (Vayikra 20:27). The Torah also prescribes the death penalty for a sorcerer (Shemot 22:17), and the Talmud (Sanhedrin 67a-b) derives that the form of execution is also stoning. Other forms of witchcraft are punished by lashes (Rambam, “Laws of Idolatry” 11:4, 7, 9, 10, 13). Ramban adds that not only is being a necromancer prohibited, but so is consulting one. We are to put our wholehearted trust in Hashem, and listen to the prophet He will send (verses 16-22).

In discussing the sorcerer the Talmud (Sanhedrin 67a-68a) draws a distinction: only one who “performs an action” is liable for stoning, not one who “captures the eyesight” (ochez et ha’einayim), which Rashi explains us sleight-of-hand, an illusion, where one gives the impression of performing magic but is really doing nothing. Nevertheless, “capturing the eyesight” is forbidden.

Rambam (Sefer HaMitzvot, Negative Commandment # 32) decries this:
“major type of cunning combined with deftness of hand, until it seems to people that one is doing that which has no truth to it. This is as we often see: they take a rope and, placing it in the folds of their garment, produces a snake, or another throws a ring into the air and then produces it from a member of the audience.”
[Therefore, many modern day authorities prohibit magic as a form of entertainment (see R. Ovadia Yosef (1920- ) in Yabi’a Omer, III; Chochmat Adam (R. Avraham Danzig, 1748-1820), quoted in Pitchei Teshuva (R. Avraham Tzvi Hirsch Eisenstadt, 1813-1868) on Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah chapter 179.)]

Rabbi Akiva, in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua, illustrates further:
“Two people can pick cucumbers, but one is exempt and one is liable. The one who does an action is liable, but the one who ‘captures the eyesight’ is exempt.”

This example is taken from an incident involving Rabbi Akiva himself and Rabbi Eliezer. As our verse says,
you shall not learn to imitate,
meaning that only learning for the purpose of practicing sorcery is forbidden. However, a judge must learn about forbidden sorcery in order to judge cases that might come before him. Accordingly, Rabbi Akiva asked, and Rabbi Eliezer demonstrated picking cucumbers through sorcery. This type of demonstration is permitted.

Abaye summarizes:
“The laws of sorcery are similar to the laws of Shabbat, in that certain actions are liable for stoning, certain ones are exempt from stoning but prohibited, and some are permitted.”

Abaye’s comparison to the laws of Shabbat is instructive. Throughout the week we harness the natural forces for creativity, but we refrain from doing so on Shabbat. Perhaps this is why the passage begins
When you have come to the land which Hashem, your G-d, gives you.
In Israel, where every act of human creativity helps to develop the land, we need to be reminded all the more that our actions must be defined by holiness.