Paganlore.com
Familiars
Deva Bluewing
Non-Pagan history
describes familiars as low-ranking demons in constant attention
to Witches for the purpose of carrying out spells and bewitchments.
Familiars
usually assumed animal forms - cats, toads, owls, mice and dogs
seem to have been
the most common - though virtually any animal or insect could
be suspected. In the
Witchcraft Trials, if so much as a fly buzzed in the window while
someone suspected
of being a witch was being questioned or tried, it was said to
be her (or his) familiar.
The inquisitors took the Bile to heart: those who had familiars
were "an
abomination unto the Lord" and should be "Put to death:
they shall stone them with
stones: Their blood shall be upon them" (Lev. 20:27).
Familiars - also
called imps - were said to be given to Witches by the Devil or
bought
or inherited from other Witches. A Witch could have several of
them. Cats were the
favored forms, especially black ones. The fear that all cats were
Witches' familiars
was one of the primary reasons for the famous cat massacres that
swept through
medieval Europe.
Familiars were given names like any
household pet, which most of them undoubtedly
were. Perhaps the best known familiar name is Pyewackett, the
monicker the Witch's
cat in the movie Bell, Book and Candle, and a name that dates
back to Renaissance
England. Pyewackett, Matthew Hopkins (the famous Witch hunter)
stated, was a
name "no mortal could invent."
During the Witch hysteria of the Middle
Ages and Renaissance, the obsession with
familiars was confined mostly to England and Scotland, where they
are mentioned in
numerous trial records, especially those related to Hopkins. The
Witchcraft Act of
1604 made it a felony to "consult, convenant with, entertain,
employ, feed, or reward
any evil and wicked spirit to or for any intent or purpose."
But the Malleus
Maleficarum (1486),the major Witch inquisitor's handbook, offers
no instructions
concerning familiars in the interrogation and trial of Witches.
The book does
acknowledge that an animal familiar "always works with the
Witch in everything."
There is a scant evidence of familiars
in early American Witch trials. In the Salem
Trials in 1692, John Bradsheet was indicted for "inciting
a dog to afflict." The dog
was tried and hanged as a Witch.
Outside of Witch trials, more benevolent
familiars were believed to exist, serving
wizards and wise men (and women) who were magicians or village
healers. The
familiars helped diagnose illnesses and the sources of bewitchment
and were used
for divining and finding lost objects and treasures. Magicians
conjured them in
rituals, then locked then in bottles, rings and stones. They sometimes
sold them as
charms, claiming the spirits would ensure success in gambling,
love, business or
whatever the customer wanted. This sort of familiar was technically
not illegal;
England's Witchcraft Act of 1604 prohibited only evil and wicked
spirits. Some
familiars were said to be Faeries. Oberon was a popular name for
fairy familiars in
15th and 16th century England.
Many modern Witches have animal familiars,
usually cats, which are their magical
helpers. Some also have dogs, birds, snakes or toads. Witches
do not believe the
familiars are "demons" or spirits in animal form but
simply animals whose psychic
attunement makes them ideal partners in magical workings. Some
Witches say that
it is possible to endow pets with magical powers and turn them
into familiars, though
others don't believe it should be done. Still others believe familiars
are never "pets"
(and should never be treated as such) but are animals who volunteer
to work as
familiars and are Karmically attracted to Witches. Witches who
do not have familiars
send out psychic "calls" to draw the right animal.
Familiars reputedly are sensitive to
psychic vibrations and power and are welcomed
partners inside the magic circle and other magical work. They
also serve as psychic
radar, reacting visibly to the presence of any negative or evil
energy, whether it be
an unseen force or a person who dabbles in the wrong kind of magic.
Familiars are
also given psychic protection by their Witches. Some Witches it
seems also use the
term familiar to describe thought-forms created magically and
empowered to carry
out a certain task on the astral plane.
Sorcerers and shamans in cultures around
the world also have helpers in the form of
spirits. Dispatching them on errands to heal, harm or kill - called
sending. The physical
shape of a familiar varies. New Guinea sorcerers rely on snakes
and crocodiles,
while in Malaya, the familiar is usually an owl or badger passed
down from generation
to generation.
Throughout Africa, the wild creatures
of the bush are said to be Witches' familiars:
for the Lugbara, they are said to be the toad, snake, lizard,
water frog, bat, owl,
leopard, jackal and a type of monkey that screeches in the night;
for the Dinka, they
are black cobras and hyenas. The Zulus' familiars are said to
be corpses dug up and
re-animated with magic; they are sent out at on night errands
to scare travelers with
their shrieking and pranks. In Shamanism, a novice shaman acquires
his familiar
spirits, usually manifesting in animal, reptile or bird shapes,
when he completes his
initiation. He or she may send them out to do battle in his or
her place, but if they
die, so does the shaman. Familiars usually stay with their shaman
until death, then
disappear. Among certain Eskimos, the familiar is embodied in
an artificial seal, not
a live animal.
In closing, what I usually instruct
in this area is that the student of magic who feels that
they have found a familiar is that they should practice an exercise
called "Trading
Places" by Keith Harry. This exercise is simple enough to
memorize and to practice,
and though it was not written specifically for bonding with an
animal familiar it was
designed for becoming familiar with an animal, and inducing a
mystical experience.
I think you will readily discern its value in the acquiring of
a familiar.
Trading Places Exercise
Objective:
To trade places (mentally) with a dog or cat, or other animal.
Setting:
Home, Zoo, Wilderness, etc.
Instructions:
1. Relax your body as completely as you can. Calm
your mind, eliminating all
thoughts which do not relate to your intent and purpose. Sit so
that you are
comfortable, and as nearly as possible on the same level with
the animal you will
be working with. Lie down if you like. The important thing is
that you are able to
comfortably make eye contact with your animal partner in this
exercise. It is also
important to satisfy yourself that the animal is likewise comfortable
and secure
with you.
2. Take a deep breath. As you slowly exhale, look
into the animal's eyes, and imagine
that a part of your awareness is being transmitted through your
breath into the animal's
mind. Watch the animal breathe, and imagine that a part of its
awareness is being
transmitted into your mind.
3. Continue looking directly into the animal's eyes
until you fell your consciousness
merge with the animal's consciousness.
Benefits:
As the boundaries between you and the
animal dissolve, you may feel as if you've
really traded places with a member of another species, as though
a part of you has
become the animal - this is the height of subjective merging.
You may begin to feel
compassion for another species. You'll also probably recognize
some of the artificial
differences between the human and animal worlds. You may be able
to feel or sense
the actual flow of the animals emotions and mental imagery. Should
you accomplish
this then it should be no trouble for you to contract with the
animal to serve as your
magical partner. Asking another to become such a partner also
places upon you the
responsibility of becoming its partner. I would not recommend
contracting an animal
to become your familiar and then treating the animal as a pet.
A pet is something you
possess, own. A Familiar, to my way of thinking, is an individual
who has entered into
a mutually beneficial relationship (partnership) with you, and
therefore should be
afforded the respect and consideration due a partner.
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft - Rosemary
Ellen Guiley
Twelve Exercises For Inducing Mystical Experiences
(Omni Dec. 1988) - Keith Harary