I am wondering how this works. What can a familiar do? Whats the difference if i summon one, or use a pet i have in real life. (I have two cats).
How do i use the advantages of a familiar?
A familiar is there to assist you in your magical workings to look out for you and to help keep you safe. You can summon a familiar which is said to supposed to be a stray. There is much lore on familiars about being spirits that change their appearance. There is nothing with using a household pet as your familiar as long as it feels like it is right.
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.
A familar assists you with protection, and workings. Depending on the person, they may or may not have one. There are different familars, and they all have different meanings.
You can't summon one, by all means. But normally a familiar appears to you, it sometimes is in dreams, words, or even in life itself.
Say you see a black crow outside your window, annd it doesn't move. You continue with life, and then you meditate...you see a familiar in your meditating state, it's a crow again. Finally you go to sleep and you see a crow in your dream. It's most likely your familiar.
I heard about this in a book, it said it's also a way to find your spirit guide.
