Familiars

[Jezabel]

Familiars hail from primarily American and European witchcraft, but evidence of familiar-like use can be found in some African and southern Australian magical practitioners. Traditionally, familiars are magical partners, usually in a physical form, but they sometimes are an astral entity. These magickal partners you work with in a form of an agreement where both you and the familiar are benefactors. Familiars, though usually animals- fantastic or mundane, can also be other human beings, and there are even instances of familiars being mundane objects such as rings.

Familiars’ functions vary from culture to culture from whether or not they exist, to which levels or planes of existence they roam in and though in the shamanic traditions you can find familiars used, particularly among the Celts and among ceremonial magicians, the term at least to the best of my knowledge, has not been traditionally used among the Native Americans. We do however, depending on the nation, have totems, power animals, and/or medicine animals that can and usually do serve the same function as familiars along with the traditional role of a totem, et al. However, more often than not with the Native Americans, these familiars are of a spiritual or astral form.

Nonetheless, there are a few instances where even in the Native American cultures where familiars have taken on a physical form. In a Pawnee story, a young man named Dirty Belly and his grandmother lived on the fringes on the camp, scavenging from what the others from camp had left behind in order to survive. A dung horse that was assumed to be lame was left behind and against his grandmother’s wishes; Dirty Belly brought the horse along.

There was a spotted buffalo that the chief wanted the hide of to make a robe and offered his daughter’s hand in marriage and ten of his best horses (a sign of wealth) to the man that brought him the spotted robe. As the men were getting ready for the contest and laughing at Dirty Belly for even attempting such a thing with the horse and meeting much protest from his grandmother as she told him they were already laughed at enough, Dirty Belly heard the horse whisper to him to take him by this water and rub the mud on the horse. Dirty Belly did as the horse instructed and in return, the horse outran all the other horses and Dirty Belly was able to strike the spotted buffalo and take its hide. However, he refused the chief’s offer and instead gave the robe to his grandmother. He became a skilled hunter and warrior due to listening to the horse, however, one day his ego won over the horse’s instructions and because of that, the horse was shot dead by the enemy’s arrows. Dirty Belly cried over the horse and the horse’s spirit told him that he would return in three days and he did in a new body similar to the last. From that time on, he was known as a good hunter and warrior and won many victories over their enemies and the chief’s daughter’s hand in marriage. When his grandmother passed, she was buried in the spotted robe.

Though again, we of the Native American traditions do not necessarily have familiars, familiars in a lot of ways, do serve some of the same functions of a totem, power, and/or medicine animal, especially in ceremonies, visions, and prayer. Animal parts have always had significance in Native American ceremony, such as the buffalo skull in the Sun Dance or the dog head in the Kettle Dance or Thunder Dreamers’ Ceremony. The buffalo is a sacred animal to the Lakota, as we are also known as the Buffalo Nation. He is our brother. We also have a female virgin who represents the White Buffalo Woman in the ceremony who is pure and epitomizes her characteristics. With these physical representations acting as conduits for the animal spirits, power, knowledge, and medicine, though this is not always needed. Our animals keep us safe in journeys and/or ceremony or lend us their powers.

Familiars often seek their keepers, usually this is because they are seeking to reestablish a connection from a past life encounter. A familiar in this life could very well have been a lover in the last. Cats are very common to the point of being stereotypical in Western magick as familiars; I believe this has a very logical answer: cats are well known for their attraction of negative energy and the release of I through their claws, so it is obvious that they make ideal protectors in magickal and ceremonial situations…unfortunately for the witches, the cats could not stop an angry town mob with pitchforks in tow.

Do be advised that wild animals in most cases do not make good familiars as they accustomed to the outdoors and nature and bringing them indoors may do harm to them, yourself, and your home. Give the animal time to adjust to your settings if taking on a new familiar, about a month is usually good and make sure to tend to all of their needs. Animals have psychological and emotional needs just as humans do, feeding them isn’t enough. It takes time to establish whether or not an animal is just a pet attracted to the movements of your magickal practice or is truly your familiar.


Again, this proves that though the terminology and some of the basic applications and methods may differ, no matter the path, it is essentially all the same, we are all trying to achieve the same result, no matter what label you toss on it.

(Looks around and wonders when someone else is gonna do an article, lol!)
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[Sacrelige]

Good read - I liked this a lot.

[The Madame X]

Glad you are reading thru and enjoying the articles. Its good to know