| * Types of familiars *
Bees
According to many demonologists, if a witch or sorceress managed to eat
a queen bee before she was arrested, she would be able to withstand
torture and trial without confessing. This was one of many ready
explanations offered by witch-hunters when their victims refused to
confess. In this way, many witches were condemned to death despite the
lack of a confession.
Chickens
A chicken named Nan was considered a familiar in the 17th-century Bury
St. Edmonds trials of Suffolk, England. Three other chickens were also
cited as imps in the same area.
Crows
Sooty-feathered and harsh of voice, the crow was a fit familiar to
witches, prized for its ability to fly and spy. Villagers feared this
carrion eater, for it was a messenger of mortality. A fluttering crow
around the window or one that flew thrice over the roof, croaking each
time, meant Death was on his way. Simply to see the bird flying alone
could bring bad luck, and crows rising in a flock from a wood sometimes
presaged famine.
Flies
Margaret Wyard, an accused witch of Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk,
England, confessed to having flies among her familiars.
Hares
In ways both physical and behavioral, the hare was a natural ally of
witches: Hares are swift and agile, able to stand on their hind legs
like a person, prone to gathering in parliament-like groups,
orgiastically mad in the spring, wantonly destructive of crops and
possessed of a most unbeastlike cry. Some witches traveled in the shape
of hares. Given the association of hares with witchcraft and magic, it is
not surprising that superstition surrounded them. It was said, for example,
that the sight of a hare running down a village street presaged fire and
that the appearance of a white hare in a mine would be followed by a fatal
accident. A hare who crossed a person's path would bring bad luck. And the
very word 'hare' could not be mentioned at sea, so great was the fear of the
animal's power. Curiously enough, possession of a hare's-foot brought luck.
This belief arose not from the hare's traffic with witches but from much
more ancient associations: The hare is a notably prolific creature, and its
foot was long a sexual symbol.
Mice
Margaret Wyard, an accused witch of Bury St. Edmonds in Suffolk,
England, confessed to having mice among her familiars. Other witches in
the area admitted to having two "heavy and hairy" mice as familiars. In
1662, the nine- and eleven-year old daughters of Samuel Pacy somehow saw
invisible mice which they threw on a fire. One mouse "screeched like a
Rat." The other mouse "Flash'd like to Gun-Powder." One 16th-century Essex
woman confessed to having three mouse-shaped imps named Daynty, Prettyman,
and Littleman. Another woman had four named Sparrow, Robyn, James, and
Prickeare.
Snails
A victim of Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne, John Bysack confessed to
having six familiars in the form of snails. These imps sustained
themselves by sucking Bysack's blood. "Each snail was an assassin with a
particular assignment: Atleward killed cows, Jeffry pigs, Peter sheep,
Pyman fowls, Sacar horses and Sydrake Christians."
Snakes and Cats
Anciently inimical to each other, the serpent and the cat were favorites
of witches. The serpent seems to have played the smaller role: While it
could serve as a familiar, it was chiefly valued for its fearful aspect
and its link to Satan - useful in repelling the curious, who might
interfere with a witch's business. To dream of a serpent signified that
someone had a grudge against the dreamer.
The cat, on the other hand, was surrounded by speculation. Its pupils -
narrow slits in the daytime and luminous black globes at night - linked
it to the moon and emphasized its power to see into the future. Cats
were said to suck the breath from infants at night. And cats forecast
the weather: When they scampered and cavorted, wind was on its way; when
they washed their ears, rain was coming; when they sat with their backs
to the fire, they awaited frost and storms. Except in northern England,
where it was thought lucky to own a black cat (but unlucky to meet a strange
one), black cats were the most common embodiments of Satan. As for cats that
served as familiars - rather than as transformations of the witches
themselves - they were usually brindled.
Spiders
Spinner of webs, an archtrickster, and a silent and murderous trapper,
the spider was tiny enough to hide in the hood of a witch's cloak as a
familiar and whisper instructions in her ear. Ordinary folk said that to
dream of a spider meant betrayal. To see one in the morning brought bad
luck, and to kill one summoned rain. The sight of spiders terrified wedding
parties because the creatures were omens of unhappy marriage. And in
Switzerland it was said that the plague, with its black sores, was spread by
malevolent spiders travelling in secret from house to house.
Toads
Ugly and venomous thought it was, the toad seems to have been among the
most cherished of witch familiars: The creatures were dressed in velvet
by their mistresses, ornamented with bells and encouraged to dance.
Common folk both feared and valued them though. Toads were burned
because the horns on their foreheads marked them as agents of Satan and
because witches used toad spittle to concoct ointments that conferred
invisibility. On the other hand, toads were admired for their ability to
hear distant thunder long before the human ear could catch it; the sight
of the little creatures making their way to safe water provided a
reliable indicator for approaching storms. And very elderly toads -
rarely glimpsed - carried precious jewels in their heads, effective
antidotes to Poisson.
Dogs
The dog is a powerful guardian: Celtic ambassadors were accompanied by dogs
which acted as bodyguards, and in recognition of their role as protectors,
the term "dog" became a title of honor given to chiefs and warriors, heroes
and champions, whose names were often prefixed by "dog" - such as Cu-Uladh
and Cu-Chulainn. Even certain kings were honored in this way, such as the
British kings Cunoglasus (Tawny Dog) and Cunobelinn (Dog of the God Beli).
In Ireland there are tales of dog tribes - "men with the heads of hounds" -
and the inhabitants of Connaught are said to be descended from them. The
Concheannaich (dog-heads) were a similar tribe who lived at Moygonihy in
Kerry.
The dog as champion guards more than human lives and livestock. He is the
guardian animal of roads and track-ways, of crossroads and gateways. Here
we begin to glimpse the role of the dog as guardian of the Mysteries, of the
Underworld. English folklore is replete with tales of the Black Dog - a
phantom dog that presages death or patrols the networks of ancient
track-ways and roads, and other places of transit. Death represents a
moment of transit from one place to another, and the dog stands at these
threshold places as guardian and protector. Just as the dog would guard its
master from harm in the physical world, so in the Otherworld would the dog
protect and guide the soul of the dead. For this reason, figurines of dogs
were buried with their keepers. Later, dogs came to be depicted on
gravestones for the same reason. Just as a faithful and loyal dog can guide
a blind man through the obstacles and dangers of the physical world, so can
the dog as a spirit ally guide us safely through the Otherworld.
Many heroes were accompanied by a dog - King Arthur's dog was known as
Caball, and the Irish god-hero Lugh had a magic hound that was unconquerable
in combat, and which could turn spring water into wine. During a forest
exile and separation from his beloved Isolt, Tristan's faithful dog Houdain
kept him alive by catching game.
The life of the great Ulster hero Cu-Chulainn is intimately bound up with
the dog as a totem animal. As a boy, arriving late at a celebration held by
Chulainn the Smith, he found the gates of the enclosure guarded by the
smith's savage hound. The dog sprang at him, but he grabbed it by the throat
and smashed it against a pillar. Chulainn was deeply upset by the loss of
his dog, but the boy promised to rear a puppy for him, and to act himself as
guardian-hound of the household until the dog is full grown. During his life
he became a mighty warrior, and was named Hound of Chulainn by Carhbad the
Druid, He was known as the "Hound of the Bright Deeds," the "Hound of Sweet
Discipline," and the "Hound of Ulster." His downfall occurred when three
old hags persuaded him to eat some dog meat they were roasting on spits of
rowan. Once he had broken his obligation never to eat the meat of his totem
animal, his power rapidly declined and he was soon overcome by Lugaid, the
son of Cu Roi macDaire.
Another great hero, Fionn mac Cumhaill, was surrounded by dogs who had been
humans - his aunt Turen was turned into a dog by a fairy and his own two
dogs, Bran and Sceolang, were once his nephews. Bran's legendary exploits,
recounted in the Irish Fionn cycle and the Scottish tales of Fingal, have
made him a dog-hero.
The connection between dogs and water is ancient. Many goddesses of the
Celts and Druids were depicted with dogs as companions. Lakes, pools, and
the sea were all seen as gateways to the Otherworld, and the as guardians
and guides of this realm dogs were often depicted as going into the sea. By
entering the sea or the lake in legend, the dog is seen as entering the
magickal Otherworld of the Unconscious, of dreams, of life-after-death in
which all things are renewed and healed and in which we find immortality. |
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