So, as im still quite relatively new to everythig Magick has to offer, I do not know how familiars work, nor how to get one. Could someone please educate me?
Depending on beliefs they can be as simple as a normal cat or dog. A benevolent/ helpful spirit. A ka an egyptian spiritual double. Your personal lwa in vodoun. Shikigami paper dolls for omoyodo.Or as the malleus maleficarum would depict, an imp/ demon dressed as an animal. Usually to get one it can be just like befriending a spirit or making a pact with one.When you gain a familiar you have to give it a name to seal your contact/friendship.
First off, Magic is not normally spelt with a ''k'' at the end. Aleister Crowley, a practioner of the craft came up with this, to possibly distinguish it from the stage tricks, that ''magicians'' do.
Magic is the *Correct* term, i believe.
Secondly, this may come off as harsh. But what do you actually know? I'm pretty sure a new magic practioner wouldn't be advised to start off with something so lengthy, especially, ''animals'' so to, speak.
If you haven't already done this, i would start with the basic's. There is a helpful post on this.
ok
familiar is a animal (or a decreased person who is sent to this earth as an animal to guide u) is to guide you though spells and rituals depending on what kind of animal it is, they offer all sorts of traits. Some people have more then one!
You can pick your own. But you must ask permission from the animal before hand. But apart from that the animal(s) will notice you first before you notice them.
A familiar is an animl that lends energy to your workings, or aides yur magic in some way. From all I've read, they are not picked out like some people pick pets from a pet shop. They find you.
You do not have to do any bindings or other spells to tie yourself to the familiar.
A familiar is not a 'necessity'' to magic. So as stated above, I would look into learning the basics before worrying about this. No harm in asking questions though :)
I'm not sure where the idea that a pet is the same as a familiar came from. I guess I have to blame it on some of the crop of poorly researched books on the market these days. But the fact of the matter is that our beloved pets and a Witch's familiar are very, very different things.
A Witch's familiar is an animal spirit or a magical construct created by the Witch or the Magician as an adjunct to their magical workings, as a repository for power, and if needed as a defense against magical attack from another magic user. A Witch or a magician can draw upon the energies of the familiar when they need an extra boost of energy in a magical working. Conceivably if the spell is important enough, the Witch could completely drain the familiar of energy causing it to "die" or cease to exist. And in the case of a magical attack, the attack could be diverted to the familiar so that it would be the familiar which is destroyed rather than the magic user. None of these are things that I think any of us would want to do with our pets.
There is an excellent article on familars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit
Animals are very sensitive to the energies around them and they may be drawn to us when we are working magic because they can sense the energy. They also want to be around their people, which again will make them want to be where we are..and that may be where we are doing magic. Neither of these things makes the animal a familiar or inherently magical in and of itself.
So this is all quite helpful so could anyone point me in the direction of maybe a guide or article on how to create a familiar or spiritually link myself to and animal?
