Familiars

The following information has been researched by D.J. Conway in their book, Wicca: The Complete Craft.

Familiars are both astral and physical creatures. It takes a Witch embarking on a spiritual journey to the Otherworld. We Witches use the familiars’ energy from the Otherworld to shape-shift or become invisible.

The act of becoming invisible and shape-shift is not the fantastical magic you see in books and on television. This is a mental state that the Witch places herself in, as to borrow the Familiar’s abilities or to remain so inconspicuous as to seem invisible.

• Badger
  • Help you learn to fight for your rights and spiritual ideas
• Bat
  • Creature of the night
• Bear
  • Learning patience, transformation, balance, harmony, and defense
• Bee
  • Harmony and balance with others
• Blackbird
  • Associated with Goddesses. Help with deep meditation, learning of trance, and how to discover mystical secrets
• Butterfly
  • Immortality, beauty in age, long life, and joy. Helps to study reincarnation, transform your life, and to divine the future
• Cat
  • Fight fiercely when cornered or threatened. A strong protector. Help with astral journeys for hidden information, and to see spirits
• Cattle
  • Learning how to be more aware of what happens around you, how to be content with your life, when to retreat from danger
• Cheetah
  • Help develop self-esteem, fearlessness, a more confident bearing
• Cock/Rooster
  • How to dispel evil and negatively by the use of voice, excellent psychic guardian
• Crane
  • Sacred bird, messenger to the Gods. These Familiars carry the souls of the dead. It aids in learning to enter a higher state of consciousness, learning mage and astral travel, reaching the deeper mysteries
• Crow
  • Teaches prophesying, shape-shifting, boldness, skill, cunning, and how to access past lives
• Deer
  • Discovering alternate paths to a goal, interpreting dreams, understanding a necessary transformation, and how to accept others as they are
• Dog/Hound
  • Tracing information through a confusion of situations, thus finding the truth. Companionship, intuition, and protection
• Dolphin
  • Aide in discovering truth, learning elemental magic, releasing negatives, and learning eloquence, trust and change
• Dragon
  • Earliest symbol of the Goddess. Symbolizes royalty and power. A dragon will help any Witch who seeks its assistance. Teaches spiritual subjects, the powers of change and transformation, and protection
• Dragonfly
  • Teaches the meaning of dreams, uncovering and identifying illusions, and receiving mystic messages from a spirit
• Eagle
  • Solar creature. Associated with power, courage, and victory. Gain keen insight, take swift action, find hidden spiritual paths, create strong connection with Otherworld entities and guides
• Eel
  • Helpful in teaching how to get out of a bad situation
• Elephant
  • Help with removing obstacles and barriers to success. Represents wisdom, strength, prudence, and fertility
• Falcon
  • Connected with magic, shamans, and astral travel. Witches can use the Familiar to send healing energy to a dying person, or in any healing
• Fox
  • Great cunning and endurance. Aides in the ability to turn the tables on its opponent. Helps Witches when dealing with difficult people or when you want to be inconspicuous
• Frog
  • Symbol of the Goddess in the Mother phase. Helps with initiation, transformations, clearing negatives from your life
• Toads
  • Help with long life, prosperity, new beginnings, and good luck
• Griffin
  • A huge animal. Head and front look like an eagle, while the bottom half is a lion. Associated with solar deities. Helps with balance between psychic energy and spiritual enlightenment
• Hare/Rabbit
  • Associated with the moon. Help Witches with transformations, intuition, quick thinking, and hidden wisdom
• Hawk
  • Solar bird. The greatest and wisest. Help to develop clear-sightedness, recall past lives, overcome problems, and make the right decisions
• Hedgehog
  • Protect ones self without harming others
• Heron
  • Mystical, carries messages from the Gods to humans. Helps with gaining self-confidence, being patient, and succeeding by methodical work
• Horse
  • Aides as Guardians on journeys. They help overcome obstacles and is the symbol of freedom
• Jaguar
  • Largest cat. Cunning and fearless. Helps Witches to walk fearless in Otherworlds
• Leopard
  • Cunning, fierce, and intelligent. Astral leopard helps wit perseverance and cunning, particularly on astral journeys
• Lion
  • Helps with family problems, especially when trying t strengthen family ties. Teaches Witches to release stress and tension
• Lizard
  • Symbolizes good fortune and mystical wisdom. Aide in understanding dreams and facing difficult decisions.
  • Chameleon
    • Aides in staying out of trouble and to be aware as danger approaches
• Magpie
  • Symbolizes joy and good fortune. In the West, is symbolizes trouble and bad news. Aides in learning divination
• Mouse
  • Aides in cunning, ability to remain inconspicuous, have attention to small details, and harmony
• Otter
  • Aides in uncovering hidden talents and treasures, gaining wisdom, surviving a crisis, and making new friends
• Owls
  • Associated with Goddesses, wisdom, Underworld deities, prophecy, and the Goddess of Death.Aides in interpreting dreams, prophecy, unmask people who try to deceive you, practice magic and shape-shifting, and find hidden spiritual truths
• Pig
  • Boar
    • Aides with courage, concealment, and protection
  • Sow
    • Represents cunning, intelligence, and knowledge of past lives
• Rat
  • Japanese culture/zodiac says they represents wealth, cunning, stealth, and tracking what you seek
• Raven
  • Aides in divination and travel through the Underworld on astral travels
• Salmon
  • Associated with great wisdom (spiritual wisdom). Aides with deep mediation and divination
• Scorpion
  • Good at sending negative energy to senders
• Snake
  • Aide in developing psychic talents and creative powers. Transmuting your life to a higher level of goals. Provide knowledge about reincarnation, and how to shed one life for another. Aides in seeking the spiritual Goddess of Wisdom
• Spiders
  • How to get out of negative situations, making new beginnings, finding wisdom, and starting a new life
• Squirrel
  • Messenger of the Gods. Aids in preparing for the future, how to rest when not busy. This Familiar can also assist with a Witch to be aware of subtle messages of upcoming change and potential danger
• Swan
  • Aide in the interpretation of symbolic dream images, help you develop intuition and psychic abilities, and help you with transitions in life
• Tiger
  • Ally in learning how to deal quickly with problems without overthinking them
• Turtle
  • Lunar animal that supports the world. Aide in learning patience