Familiars

[WiccanWitch]

Reading up on familiars- it is an animal a witch uses to aide or assist with her craft or from which to divine information. Other reading suggests a witch and her familiar will be drawn together, magnetically.

It seems a little stereotypical but I'm a cat person. (Oh heavens a witch -in training- who likes cats??) I worked with cat rescue even fostered some. I own or am owned by four.

If my daughter might be a witch waiting to blossom her familiar is definitely one of our cats. They've had a bond for years. The other three are drawn to me but only one picks me as a first choice. The other two have favorites or times I am their favorite. But the one drawn to me DRIVES ME CRAZY. She's got the whiniest teenage girl meow you could ever ask a cat to have and she likes to bestow it upon me at 4 am because the food dish is unacceptably half empty. She's definitely mamas girl in that she has to be wherever I am

So is she my familiar and I haven't acknowledged her as such because of her little nuisances? I mean I love her as much as I want to wring her little neck sometimes. Lol.

Is a familiar like a friend and you can have those kinds of differences or is the connection flawed and I haven't found one yet?


Me and one of the cats. She chooses me if my husband isn't home.



This big guy is very lovey but I share "mama-ship" with a lady across the street.



This is the one that loves me but drives me nuts. Beautiful isn't she?

[AthenaLaReina]

Hi!

Your cats are beautiful. I've had a couple of cats, but none of them were my familiars in the sense of my craft. I had a black one - super stereotypical - at the time I first started practicing. I wanted to think she was my familiar. Because how cool would that be, to have a black cat and be a witch, right? But she ended up being more my mother's cat than mine.

I now have a familiar. She is a dog named Tigress. I never would have expected her. But she was definitely put in my path for a reason. And now, she's my best friend, accomplice in crime jk, and certainly works with me in my practices. I've noticed the potency of my craft increase once she began participating in rituals. Did some research recently regarding words or terms to use as far as craft goes. 'Tigris' meant 'overall success,' which was a word to be repeated a number of times. The spelling is different, but I still found it interesting that my dog's name phonetically sounds the same. Invoking overall success every time someone says her name.

[Myrth]

My cat is a familiar. She joins in on energy work. I was pleasantly surprised by this. She started joining me the first day I got her. I never expected it and did not even ask her to join in. She has strong energy. She is also very bonded to me and follows me around much like my dog used to before he died. You will know a familiar.

[AthenaLaReina]

I agree. You certainly know a familiar when one happens upon you. Being the person I am, I performed a great deal of research regarding familiars whenever Tigress came to me. I just like to know stuff, and get every possible position or argument before I make up my mind about something. Everything aligned with her. I have multiple dreams with her being very involved, her presence very clear and obvious.

Beautiful black cat in your avatar. I'm assuming that's your familiar

[Myrth]

Thank you and yes that's my familiar.

Tigress is a cutie too.

[Autumn Jewel]

Agreed with the above posts. You will definitely know your familiar if and when one happens upon you. I received mine last Samhain. Long story short, he came to me by a series of strange, seemingly unrelated events. Maybe I'll post the full story in a different topic later with a pic. (If my internet at home ever gets fixed, ugh.)

[Becks]

Sweet babies people, the one that drives out crazy has a sweet face. Very intense eyes.

[SnowCat]

They're beautiful. I see the girl is a calico. Am I also seeing blue eyes? I have a calico point Siamese mix. She like to throw my stuffed cats of the book shelf.

Snow

[blue_moon]

What a cute cat wiccanwitch

I half-hatted my cat for the longest time. She kept throwing up on my bookshelf and peed on my daughters pillow. Always hiding all day long! I hardly ever got to pet her - never ever allowed to pick her up!

All that changed after 10 years (!!!) Around the time i decided to unpack my identity again, have my witchy books in my shelf and start living with the moon again and spellcasting and all.

My cat waites for me now. Shes around me all day - doesn't hide (or pee in the beds) - i get to pick her up and pet her for hours. Its great!
Familiar? - at least mate for my soul.

[AthenaLaReina]

Yaaassss. We should definitely start a thread for discussion about our personal familiars and their stories. I like this idea. I never get tired of telling Tigress's story.