ANIMALS & WITCHCRAFT
DO YOU KNOW YOUR ANIMAL TOTEMS?
Begin the process of discovering your animal totems by examining the animals you have been most interested in & the times of your life that interest was piqued.
Use the following questions to help determine which animals are probably totems to you in your life.
Which animal or bird has always fascinated you? (We are drawn to that which most resonates with us. Those animals that fascinate us have something to teach us.)
2. When you visit the zoo, which animal do you wish to visit the most or first? (esp. children)
3. What animal(s) do you see most frequently when you are out in nature? Have you had encounters with animals in the wild? (The animals we encounter, in their city environments or in the wild, have significance for us. We can learn from them, e 19419m128t ven if only about survival within that environment.)
4. Of all the animals in the world, which are you most interested in now? (Our interests in animals change. Yes, we usually have one or two that are lifetime, power animals, but others become prominent when there is something importance or specific to teach us.)
5. What animal most frightens you? (That which we fear the most is often something we must learn to come to terms with. When we do that, it then becomes a power. Some shamans believe that fears will take the shape of animals, and only when we confront them without fear do their powers/medicine work for us instead of against us. Such an animal becomes a shadow totem.)
6. Have you ever been bitten or attacked by an animal? (Historically, if a shaman survived an attack, it was believed that the animal was the shaman's spirit totem and the attack was the totem's way of testing the shaman's ability to handle the power.)
7. Do you have dreams with animals in them or are there animal dreams you have never forgotten? (This is especially important if the dreams are recurring or if at least the animal image in the dream is a recurring one. Children often dream of animals, & attention should be given to these animals. They will often reflect specific spirit totems of the child.)
WOLF - Earth wisdom, protection
BEAR - Healing, Inner knowing
FOX - Elusiveness, agility, cleverness
HAWK - Perception, Focus, protection
MOUSE - Innocence, faith, trust
EAGLE - High ideals, spiritual philosophy
DOLPHIN - Psychic abilities, initiators
HERON - Intuition, organisation
HORSE - Stability, courage
RABBIT - faith, nurturance
JAGUAR - shamanic wisdom, focused power
DEER - physical pacing, body awareness
RAVEN - Inner journeys, dreams
OWL - symbolic wisdom, shadow work
MOUNTAIN LION - Strength, elusiveness
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
favoured 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
Familiars were given names like any household pet, which most of them undoubtedly were. Perhaps the best known familiar name is Pyewackett, the moniker 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
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;
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 that volunteer to work as familiars and are Karmatically 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.
crocodiles,
while in
Throughout
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 memorise 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.
Objective:
To trade places (mentally) with a dog or cat, or other animal.
Setting:
Home, Zoo, Wilderness, etc.
Instructions:
Relax your body as completely as you can. Calm your mind, eliminating all thoughts that 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.
Continue looking directly into the animal's eyes until you feel 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 recognise some of the artificial differences between the human and animal worlds.
You may be able to feel or sense the actual flow of the animal's 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.
There are two types of Shapeshifting; changing your light body in the astral to power animal, & changing your physical form on the earth plane into an animal.
Perhaps this is where the lycanthropy legend actually began.
Very adept shamans are said to be able to change their physical human forms into that of animals. There is also a middle ground where we should not miss. During certain ritual
dances, humans can be possessed by the animal spirit. Although they outwardly do not become the animal, their body may contort or move in the fashion that the animal is most comfortable. Vocalisations are also heard, such as the cry of the Eagle, scream of the Falcon, etc.
These power dances are not harmful, as long as they are done within some type of magick circle. Inwardly, the individual melds with the animal. The human's sense of smell or sight may be heightened, there could be increased dexterity in the limbs, or a feeling of savage power that the animal may represent. It is exhilarating & enlightening.
In the astral, taking on the shape of the animal is not particularly dangerous.
I had only one glitch, & that was in the form of a panther, where I had to learn to control the beast & not let it run away with my (or its) strength.
In order to keep accurate track of your astral studies, you should use your notebook. Be sure to write the date, time, moon phase, weather conditions & your own health at the time of the travel. Also indicate the reason for the exercise.
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