1 What Is A Familiar There were also cases of wasps and butterflies, as well as pigs, sheep and horses. A familiar spirit alter ego, doppelgänger, personal demon, personal totem, spirit companion is the double, the alter ego, of an individual. It is the familiar spirit of the place; It judges, presides, inspires Everything in its empire; It is perhaps a fairy or a god. In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars sometimes referred to as familiar spirits were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic. Margaret Murray delves into variations of the familiar found in witchcraft practices. 17 In most cases, the magical practitioner would conjure their familiar spirit when they needed their assistance, although there are many different ways that they did this the Essex witch Joan Cunny claimed, in 1589, that she had to kneel down within a circle and pray to Satan for her familiar to appear while the Wiltshire cunning woman Anne Bodenham described, in 1653, that she conjured her familiars by methods learned from books. It does not look like the individual concerned. According to Sternberg the Goldi explain the relations between the shaman and his ayami by a complex sexual emotion. The dog, interestingly enough, was tried, convicted, and hanged. This sort of familiar was technically not illegal; England s Witchcraft Act of 1604 prohibited only evil and wicked spirits. It is strongest at midday. The length of time that the witch or cunning person worked with their familiar spirit varied between a few weeks through to a number of decades. These contemporary practitioners utilize pets or wildlife, or believe that invisible versions of familiars act as magical aids. Among those accused witches and cunning-folk who described their familiar spirits, there were commonly certain unifying features. In the 19th century, folklorists fired the imagination of scholars who would, in decades to come, write descriptive volumes on witches and familiars. The study of familiars has grown from an academic topic in folkloric journals to a general topic in popular books and journals incorporating anthropology, history and other disciplines. Once I was asleep on my sick-bed, when a spirit approached me. Sometimes she comes as a winged tiger. The historian Emma Wilby noted how the accounts of such familiars were striking for their ordinariness and naturalism , despite the fact that they were dealing with supernatural entities. Here is the report of a Goldi shaman. 23 During the Salem witch trials, there is little account of the practice of animal familiars, although one man was charged with encouraging a dog to attack by way of magical means. When my eyes, drawn like a magnet To this cat that I love. Familiar spirits usually had names and were often given down-to-earth, and frequently affectionate, nicknames. Familiar spirits were most commonly small animals, such as cats, rats, dogs, ferrets, birds, frogs, toads and hares. In the first decades of the 20th century, familiars are identified as niggets , which are creepy-crawly things that witches kept all over them. The English court cases reflect a strong relationship between State s accusations of witchcraft against those who practiced ancient indigenous traditions, including the familiar animal or spirit. For instance, the alleged witch Margaret Ley from Liverpool claimed, in 1667, that she had been given her familiar spirit by her mother when she died, while the Leicestershire cunning-woman Joan Willimot related, in 1618, that a mysterious figure whom she only referred to as her master , willed her to open her mouth and he would blow into her a fairy which should do her good. In some cases familiars replace children in the favour of their mothers. 30 Within this book Murray dedicates an entire chapter to the familiar spirit. The familiar spirit can be an animal animal companion. At the end of the war the dog was shot, allegedly with a silver bullet. Even though it may have an independent life of its own, it remains closely linked to the individual. Although the 1648 law that defined a witch as one who hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit had been suspended ten years earlier, association with a familiar spirit was used in the Salem trials as evidence to convict suspected witches. Folk tales Edit. If one of them refuses to come, the ayami makes them obey, but, they say, there are some who do not obey even the ayami. The court system that labeled and tried witches was known as the Essex. These include the 1556 Essex Witchcraft Trials of the Witches of Hatfield Perevil, the 1582 Trial of the Witches of St. When they served witches, they were often thought to be malevolent, but when working for cunning folk they were often considered benevolent although there was some ambiguity in both cases. Most data regarding familiars comes from the transcripts of English and Scottish witch trials held during the 16th 17th centuries. 1 According to records of the time, those alleging to have had contact with familiar spirits reported that they could manifest as numerous forms, usually as an animal, but sometimes as a human or humanoid figure, and were described as clearly defined, three-dimensional. In these areas, three categories of familiars are believed to exist 20. Sometimes she comes under the aspect of an old woman, and sometimes under that of a wolf, so she is terrible to look at. If someone or something is familiar , you recognize them because you have seen, heard, or experienced them before. Since the 20th century some magical practitioners, including adherents of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, use the concept of familiars, due to their association with older forms of magic. Tituba was said to have seen strange animals that urged her to hurt children, which included a hog, a black dog, a red cat and a black cat. were primarily rooted in the struggle for physical survival the lack of food or money, bereavement, sickness, loss of livelihood and so on , and the familiar offered them a way out of this by giving them magical powers. The witch s mark added a sexual component to the familiar spirit and is often found in trial records as a way to con- vict a suspected witch. The main purpose of familiars was to serve the witch or young witch, providing protection for them as they came into their new powers. They come to me in my dreams, and appear whenever I summon them while shamaning. Osyth, and the 1645 Essex Trials with Matthew Hopkins acting as a witch-finder. Prince Rupert s dog Edit. The former were often categorized as demons, while the latter were more commonly thought of and described as fairies. I taught them shamaning. In some rarer cases there were accounts where the familiars would appear at times when they were unwanted and not called upon, for instance the Huntingdonshire witch Elizabeth Chandler noted, in 1646, that she could not control when her two familiars, named Beelzebub and Trullibub, appeared to her, and had prayed for a god to deliver her therefrom. The first of these was that the spirit spontaneously appeared in front of the individual while they were going about their daily activities, either in their home or outdoors somewhere. I shall give you assistant spirits. Familiar spirits often appear in the visions of the afflicted girls. Ann Putnam in particular was supposed to have frequently seen the yellow bird in her afflictions. The prosecution asserts Sampson called familiar spirits and resolved her doubtful matter. 29 In 1921, Murray published The Witch Cult in Western Europe. Her information concerning familiars comes from witchcraft trials in Essex in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the British accounts from the early modern period at least, there were three main types of encounter narrative related to how a witch or cunning person first met their familiar. If you know or understand something well, you can say that you are familiar with it. When the ayami is within me, it is she who speaks through my mouth, and she does everything herself. Historian 2 Emma Wilby identified recurring motifs in various European folk tales and fairy tales that she believed displayed a belief in familiar spirits. Using her studies into the role of witchcraft and magic in Britain during the Early Modern period as a starting point, the historian Emma Wilby examined the relationship that familiar spirits allegedly had with the witches and cunning-folk in this period. Meeting Edit. If something is familiar to you, you know it well. Magicians conjured them in rituals, then locked them in bottles, rings and stones. The mark was most commonly an extra teat found somewhere on the body and was suspected to be used to suckle the familiar spirits. As historian Emma Wilby noted, their problems. 18 It was also believed that familiars helped diagnose illnesses and the sources of bewitchment and were used for divining and finding lost objects and treasures. You are to heal with their aid, and I shall teach and help you myself. Examples of the growth and development of familiar scholarship are found in Folklore , which consistently contributes articles on traditional beliefs in England and early modern Europe. It was a very beautiful woman. In some cases, the magical practitioner then made an agreement or entered a pact with their familiar spirit. Sarah Good was said to have a yellow bird who sucked between her fingers. She said I am the ayami of your ancestors, the Shamans. Another Essex trial is that of Hellen Clark, tried in 1645, in which Clark was compelled to state that the Devil appeared as a familiar in the form of a dog.