What is an Animal Familiar?

In some traditions of modern Wicca and Paganism, the concept of an animal familiar is incorporated into practice. Today, a familiar is often defined as an animal with whom we have a magical connection, but in truth, the concept is a bit more complex than this.

History of the Familiar

During the days of the European witch hunts, familiars were "said to be given to witches by the devil," according to Rosemary Guiley's Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft. They were, in essence, small demons which could be sent out to do a witch's bidding. Although cats -- especially black ones -- were the favored vessel for such a demon to inhabit, dogs, toads, and other small animals were sometimes used.
In some Scandinavian countries, familiars were associated with spirits of the land and nature. Fairies, dwarves, and other elemental beings were believed to inhabit the physical bodies of animals. Once the Christian church came along, this practice went underground -- because any spirit other than an angel must be a demon. During the witch-hunt era, many domestic animals were killed because of their association with known witches and heretics.
During the Salem witch trials, there is little account of the practice of animal familiars, although one man was charged with encouraging a dog to attack by way of magical means. The dog, interestingly enough, was tried, convicted, and hanged.
In shamanistic practices, the animal familiar is not a physical being at all, but a thought-form or spiritual entity. It often travels astrally, or serves as a magical guardian against those who might try to psychically attack the shaman.
Today, many Wiccans and Pagans have an animal companion that they consider their familiar - and most people no longer believe that these are spirits or demons inhabiting an animal. Instead, they have an emotional and psychic bond with the cat, dog, or whatever, who is attuned to the powers of its human partner.

 

Finding a Familiar

Not everyone has, needs, or even wants a familiar. If you have an animal companion as a pet, such as a cat or dog, try working on strengthening your psychic connection with that animal. Books such as Ted Andrews' Animal Speak contain some excellent pointers on how to do this.
If an animal has appeared in your life unexpectedly -- such as a stray cat that appears regularly, for instance -- it's possible that it may have been drawn to you psychically. However, be sure to rule out mundane reasons for its appearance first. If you're leaving out food for the local feral kitties, that's a far more logical explanation. Likewise, if you see a sudden influx of birds, consider the season -- is the ground thawing, making food more available?
If you'd like to draw a familiar to you, some traditions believe you can do this by meditation. Find a quiet place to sit undisturbed, and allow your mind to wander. As you journey, you may encounter various people or objects. Focus your intent on meeting an animal companion, and see if you come into contact with any.
In addition to familiars, some people do magical work with what's called a power animal or a spirit animal. A power animal is a spiritual guardian that some people connect with. However, much like other spiritual entities, there's no rule or guideline that says you must have one. If you happen to connect with an animal entity while meditating or performing astral travel, then that may be your power animal or it may just be curious about what you're up to.

Via ask.com

England's Witchcraft Act of 1563 Goes Into Effect (June 1st)

Until 1951, England had laws strictly prohibiting the practice of witchcraft. When the last act was repealed, Gerald Gardner began to publish his work, and brought witchcraft back into the public eye without threat of prosecution.

Put into effect on June 1, 1653, the Witchcraft Laws mandated the outlawing of any kind of witchcraft-related activities. The 1951 repeal made it easier for modern Wiccans -- Gardner was able to go public just a few years later, when he published Witchcraft Today in 1954.
 
It's important to note that the 1653 Witchcraft Laws were not the first to appear in the English judicial system. In 1541, King Henry VIII passed a piece of legislation that made witchcraft a felony, punishable by death.

In 1562, Henry's daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, passed a new law that said witchcraft would only be punished with death if harm had been caused - if no physical harm was done to the alleged victim, then the accused only faced imprisonment.

It is important to look back upon these days and learn the struggle we had to face, people fear what they cant understand.


-The Crafty Witch

All About: Dowsing

Dowsing is purported to be a psychic method of finding hidden things, i.e. water, gold, treasure, etc.  To tell the truth, we had a little trouble when we embarked on the research for this page, because for every document that touts the wonders of Dowsing, there is another document that describes controlled studies in which dowsers basically performed very poorly.

Despite this, Dowsing has been utilized for hundreds of years, and in Europe it is still considered a valid medium for finding water, etc.  As such, we will treat it as a viable phenomena for the purposes of this page, as it does seem to work in some cases.

The use of Pendulums to answer questions is a variation on traditional Dowsing methods, and again, this is met with quite a bit of skepticism as far as the literature is concerned.  This use of Dowsing comes very close to the concept of using Ouija Boards for insight into the unknown, and quite frankly, it seems to us that a Ouija Board is much better suited for this type of inquiry.  However, we will leave that decision to the reader, and do our best to describe and report various techniques and tools used in Dowsing on these pages.

All concerned seem to agree that Dowsing is a learned art that comes with practice, and that it is probably not a spiritual entity that causes the rods or pendulums to react in the ways they do.  Rather, the results appear to come from inside the dowser himself, and indeed, some people have the innate ability to find whatever they are looking for without the use of tools of any kind.

For most of us, however, a tool of some sort is required, and on the following pages in this section, we will concentrate on how to make or acquire the proper tools for Dowsing, and how to actually utilize them for the desired results.  

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-The Crafty Witch