Familiars
The word familiar is taken from the Latin word familiares.
In the 17th century a familiar was classed as being a spirit that attended a witch.
Although most of the time the familiar was visible, some witches had familiars that were not.
It was believed that the familiar was a gift to the witch from the devil and that it would help the witch in black magic rituals and in doing bad deeds.
Having a familiar was enough to prosecute someone as a witch and send him or her to the stake.
The familiar can take many forms including snakes, horses, pigs, birds and even human beings, but the best-known familiar is the cat.
The connection between the witch and the familiar is normally instant but the trust and the bond between the two comes with time as in all relationships.
The familiar can be an important helper to the witch when she is working magic as the familiar provides a link to the animal kingdom and all of the powers and qualities it contains.
You do not need a living animal to be your familiar; a totem animal can work just as well.
Totem animals are animals with similar personalities to the person using them or they are used because the have qualities relevant to the spell they are working.
The totem animal can be either a picture or statue of the animal.
There are also astral familiars, spirit animals that work with us during meditation and dreams.
These familiars can be any kind of animal including ones that we would not be able to have as a familiar in the physical world such as wild animals or creatures like the dragon.
You can have just one familiar in your life or you can have several different familiars that come and go as and when they are needed.
Not all pets are familiars. Familiars represent the good aspects of that animal and have similar personalities to the witch.
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