There is also Pagan belief in the magick or powers of animals in which the positive qualities are emphasized. Totem animals protect, teach and help in other ways.

During the witch hunts and persecutions of the Middle Ages in Europe, cats and other animals were seen as demons or evil imps that aided those accused of practicing witchcraft. Innocent animals were killed in massacres. Some believe animals are guardian spirits.

Familiars

The word is derived from the Latin, “famulus,” which means a servant or slave. The church decreed familiars were imps or minor demons that took the shape of an animal. During Medieval Times, witch hunts and persecutions were at their feverish zenith. The belief was that these animals were given to witches by the devil after initiation or by other witches or were bought. They would do the witches’ bidding and help them create evil and chaos. They would enchant or bewitch humans and animals, as well as deliver messages and perform errands. Familiars could go into and out of places unnoticed when humans couldn’t. Some believed that witches could shape shift into animals and/or the devil appeared in the form of a black cat.

In most parts of Europe, black cats were the primary targets of being condemned as familiars, although people also believed all were the devil’s creation. Pope Innocent VII enacted a law that all cats in Europe be put to death. Not only did this lead to Cats Persecuted as Familiars throughout Christendom, but people who owned cats being put to death as witches.

Other animals including toads, dogs, rabbits, weasels, wolves, owls, snakes, ferrets, hedgehogs, spiders, blackbirds, chickens, flies and horses were deemed to be familiars.

Today, most people don’t regard animals as evil demons or imps doing witches’ biddings. The emphasis is on their positive power, medicine or magick. They don’t destroy, which is in line of the belief in totem animals of Native Americans.

Totems or Power Animals

Native Americans aren’t the only Shamanic people who believe in the powers or magick of animals. The belief in this is universal and varies from culture to culture. These totems are seen as a tribal culture, one for a clan to which they belong and one for the family. In the States and some other countries the concept of the tribal and clan totem exists.

Many did and still see totems as personal power animals, some of whom stay with them throughout life and others who are present when needed. There are parents who, when children are afraid of the dark, will assure them that a stuffed animal will protect them during the night.

Most modern magickal practitioners have pets that represent the positive powers of the animals and do their work in the presence of their animals; however some fauna, such as the ones in the case of A Witch Doctor’s Curse: Juju Snakes, appeared to send three African horned vipers after a surveyor who ordered his hut destroyed. Could it be that there are those who still use animals as familiars or were they protectors as is silently broached in this article?

Related Articles:

Cat: Pagan Symbol of the Arcane

Owl: Pagan Symbol of Wisdom

Sources:

Animal Magick, D. J. Conway, (Llewellyn Publications, 1996)

Animal Messages, Susie Green, (Cico Books, 2007)

Animal-Speak, Ted Andrews, (Llewellyn Publications, 2002)

David Pickering, (Cassel, 1996)

Dictionary of Witchcraft,

Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm (A Fireside Book, 1994)

The Druid Animal Oracle,

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (Facts on File, Inc., 1999)

The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft,

Jamie Sams & David Carson, (Bear & Company, 1988)

The Medicine Cards