Having a familiar is overplayed by pagans. Everyone seems to think some live animal is going to rush into your arms and play magick pet-pet. What about spirit animals? What about thoughtforms created in place of famliars?
And on another hand, why don’t pagans pay attention to signs? What if your extreme love of bacon is actually Pig (spirit) trying to get as close to you as he can? I’m serious! What if Pigeon keeps leaving feathers along the paths you walk, trying to do more than just add to your feather collection? Sometimes we’re all so hard-headed when we think we know how the universe works.
Another part of me wonders if therians can even have familiars. I mean, if you ARE an animal in some form, would an animal guide be necessary? I’ve always thought of familiars as being sent to balance our tame human energies with their wilder animal ones; if you’re no tame human, is there a need for such a partnership?
And then there’s Fox. I saved a fox pelt from the thrift store (it was under some boots on a display case), and he was quite pleased. He refuses to be part of anything in my spirituality or lifestyle, but he was quite happy to take a place lazing about on my animal altar. Fox doesn’t talk to me without prodding, so he’s not really a familiar… or is he just waiting for the right time?
I would love it if the puppy we plan to get next year happened to attach itself to me, but that’s completely non-magickal. If it also liked my rituals, I’d be surprised; contrary to everyone’s claims of familiar-hood, I’ve yet to meet anyone with a magick-happy pet. I’m content with the idea of a family member rather than a covenmate.
This is how my brain works. I read a blog post that mentioned finding your familiar, and these are all the thoughts that ran through my head. The catch? They ran through together, all at once, and at least 100 times faster than I can type. This is why my conversations and blog posts can be a bit random.
Larissa Lee 