(^212) A Wiccan Bible
against our Lord and Lady. No, the battle for animal rights has not been won, but with
continued inroads being made in a sensible manner, we are certainly winning the war.
Before I begin a discussion of the Wiccan familiar, I must warn you that I am not
talking about the fanciful stylish familiars or spirit animals that many folk lay claim to
for fashion sake. If you want to claim a critter is your familiar just to have something
neat to talk about with your friends, please do just that. Claim, and claim only! Adopt-
ing an animal is a serious responsibility that should only be taken by the most commit-
ted animal-lover.
Being involved with a familiar is a give and take relationship. When one truly wel-
comes a critter into one’s heart, he or she welcomes that critter as family. So if you are
not willing to give, please don’t take because without that willingness to sacrifice for
your familiar, neither you nor your familiar will receive the benefits of the relationship.
You might think that without a pet your life is miserable, but that is no reason to make
another critter’s life miserable.
The familiar is much more than simple companionship. It is a connection to the
world that we sometimes think lost when we moved into the cities. Prior to the Neolithic
revolution some 8,500 to 9000 years ago,^3 humanity lived mostly as a migratory crea-
ture. We fueled our migration up the coastal areas and tributaries, living off seafood as
well as the hunt for both flesh and fruit. The Neolithic revolution marks that point
when we turned our attention inland and began building permanent communities. Many
of those communities later became vast cities, and a difference could eventually be
seen in the habitat of humanity and of all other creatures. Today, those differences are
often defined as natural and artificial (man made) as if humanity were not a part of the
natural world.
Our familiars remind us that we did not leave the natural world at all, that although
our modern ways might seem artificial or removed from nature, there remains zero
degrees of separation between humanity and the natural world. If we were not still
connected to that natural world, we would not see extinction after extinction in direct
relationship to the actions of humanity. If we did not have the arrogance to deceive
ourselves into thinking we are not connected, we would not be shocked when we real-
ize the scope of the destruction.
Bison, American—Feminine, Earth
Also known as: American Buffalo, Buffalo, Bison
God associations: Great Spirit, Tatanka
Goddess associations: Durga
While there are many animals that illustrate the need for Wiccans to embrace the
children of Earth and Sky, few remain alive to tell their story. The American Bison is
one of those few. Where their numbers once exceeded an estimated 75 million, hu-
manity saw to it that by the beginning of the 20th century their herd had been reduced
to a handful of about 1,000. To put that figure into perspective, that means that for
every buffalo alive at the turn of the nineteenth century, at least 75,000 buffalo were
t WB Chap 12.p65 212 7/11/2003, 5:55 PM
barré
(Barré)
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