Familiars.

Are there different types of familiars, and can they talk? Also, can you summon your familiar? Can they be from a different plane? My good friend (also a witch) were discussing familiars the other day and these questions came up. c:

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I'm not sure where the idea that a pet is the same as a familiar came from. I guess I have to blame it on some of the crop of poorly researched books on the market these days. But the fact of the matter is that our beloved pets and a Witch's familiar are very, very different things.

A Witch's familiar is an animal spirit or a magical construct created by the Witch or the Magician as an adjunct to their magical workings, as a repository for power, and if needed as a defense against magical attack from another magic user. A Witch or a magician can draw upon the energies of the familiar when they need an extra boost of energy in a magical working. Conceivably if the spell is important enough, the Witch could completely drain the familiar of energy causing it to "die" or cease to exist. And in the case of a magical attack, the attack could be diverted to the familiar so that it would be the familiar which is destroyed rather than the magic user. None of these are things that I think any of us would want to do with our pets.

There is an excellent article on familars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit

Animals are very sensitive to the energies around them and they may be drawn to us when we are working magic because they can sense the energy. They also want to be around their people, which again will make them want to be where we are..and that may be where we are doing magic. Neither of these things makes the animal a familiar or inherently magical in and of itself.

So a pet, wouldn't be a familiar? I've seen several people say their pet is.

It depends on the tradition. My familiars are almost never physical-plane and never animal-shaped. Maybe other traditions have them more frequently animal-shaped, and others have physical plane familiars, and others still have both.

It depends on the tradition and veiw. To be honest there, are tons of familars out there. I totally agree with lark right away though.

No, a pet is not a familiar; although a familiar may take the form of an animal.

There are different types of familiars, but I'm not sure if they can talk, which I don't think they talk. You can summon a familiars in a astral or spiritual form. I am not sure if they can be from a different planes, but you can try.
Also, you and your friend might come up with pretty good questions