familiars

so, its not possible for a pet you already own to be your familiar is it?

Login or Signup to reply to this post.

No, it is not. A familiar is an energy form created by the magic user, not an actual physical animal.

I personally also use the term "familiar" for any and all spirit guides that I develop a continual relationship with, whether I made them myself or not, whether they're even animal-shaped or not.

A familiar has many terms. Like lark said a energy being. Or it could be a strap animal that teaches you whether this be a dragon lion tiger etc.. Or it could be a animal you share a spiritual bond with and helps you in your occult or magick.

Not necessarily animal-shaped.

Just as long as you are familiar with the spirit.

Hee. Get it? Geddit?? ;-P

I will say I have had a couple of curious incidences with my pets when Ihve been practicing magick both outside and inside. I usually put them in another room, but if they are sleeping I feel mean.

When tracing the circle astrall, my dog seemed to be able to sense the area, and walked around it, then sat in the eastern quarter. This was odd behaviour for him, he is never still if I am outside.

Could be coincidence, however, it was enough to temporarily distract me!

I personally do to see my dog as a familiar, the concept of it being a real animal seems outdated and very medieval to me. This again being said, I have seen a different term thrown around by few experienced authors and I was shocked to see them believe such things- I label it as nonsense still, but each to their own!

Aleister Crowley mentioned something about the spirit of an animal being an elemental spirit and that a magician could co-inhabitate the animals body and the animal, if given permission, would be glad with this and it 'elevates' the animals spirit....or something like that.

I am badly paraphrasing because I dismissed the idea, I am also struggling to remember where I read it- I believe it was in Liber ABA, but I do not have time to search through that book at the moment!

I prefer Aeon's definition, it is much more compatible with other people's personal paths.

Animals have a better sense of energy than we do. They are sensitive to energy, that's why your animal was attracted to it. Though it's not usually dog or cat, usually it's a smaller animal.