Witches familiars??

Merry meet all I am really confused about witches familoars now. Some say they exist in a physical form, others spiritual. I personally thought that the animal you connected with spiritually was your spirit animal, and the one that works with you and your path on earth in a physical form was your familiar. I also heard that familiars carry "messages to the spirit world" in their own timw or something. I am really confused about this. See, i always thought my familiar would be a rat because i connect with them and love them so very much that it would only make perfect sense. Anyways, please answer my question and blessed be. Willow

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Both the physical and spiritual animals are called familiars. The physical tends to be just called a familiar (animal) whilst the spiritual animal can go by many names; such as but not limited to familiar spirit, totem animal, totem spirit, fylgja, fetch, and spirit animal.

The physical familiar is an animal that you feel closely connected to. They tend be present in (magickal) workings and can aid in these workings by adding energy. These can be pets, but are not always pets. Some can be wild.

The spiritual familiar is one that you connect to in a similar yet different way. You connect with the spirit because, in a sense, it is part of you. It's connected to you by your spirit. So in a sense it is you - kind of like a small part of you that has taken an independent form of it's own. These familiars can take on any form that they please. They may take on the symbolic and/or spiritual manifestation of an animal that you are connected to. - in the spiritual/symbolic aspect. They may take the form of an animal that you feel comfortable with. They are not limited to only animal forms. They can take on hybrid/mythological farms; human-like forms; may even take form to look just like you do; etc. But it is not uncommon for them to stay in one form. They can help in a wide range of spiritual practices. Such as journeying, faring-forth, pathwalking, astral projection, etc. They can be used for guidance; and maybe councilling. It is not uncommon for the person to take on the for of his/her fetch when doing said spiritual workings. The familiar can be a mediator in the sense that they can send and relay messages.

With either type of familiar you are not limited to just a single familiar. You can have multiples of either one.

Merry Meet to you all
Thanks for the information , now it makes sense why I see Animal Spirits everywhere I go , mostly cats .
Its usually pets I have owned in the past .

Thanks a heap Vanity :D

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.

Personally, I don't like nor agree with the concept of a physical animal being a familiar. But it doesn't hurt to explain it either way. From what I do understand, the witch's familiar being a physical animal dates back to the witch trials, where animals were also burned because they were believed to be the witch's familiar. The animals killed tended to be but were not limited to (black) cats. Which has partial explanation to the present day superstition concerning black cats.

so a familier wouldnt make a good pet if it might die on the account of curses? this is all usefull information, thank you guess for passing it on