Liber ab Familia (Book of Familiars—Condensed^1215
familiar it is because we are not treating them as a familiar. We are not listening to
what they have to say because they do not use words. It wasn’t until some kind organi-
zation funded a huge public service campaign that many people realized leaving a dog
in a car during the summer might be a bad thing.
Thus, shattering the more popular conception that a familiar is defined as a critter
that is involved in Wiccan ritual, the point at which our pet becomes our familiars is
that point where we begin listening to them. After all, that is the classic definition of a
familiar now isn’t it? Our familiars communicate on a level that is far easier to under-
stand than words. But one need not pry these messages from them with a ouija board,
tarot cards, or psychic reading. Their messages can be found in their actions. Let me
tell you about my ferret friend Thumper, whose name she received from the sound she
makes when she has crawled into that space between the inner and outer wall of an
electric oven. You know, the space between the outer and inner wall of your oven that
is supposed to be filled with insulation to keep the heat in the oven that you find in the
bottom of the oven should you take your eyes off your ferret for a few moments.
Always trying to get me into a foot race or a game of attack the toes, she tells me
that when your needs are met, being playful is important to maintaining a healthy soul.
Just watching her tells me that when playfulness gets you into a tight spot, flexibility can
get you out of it. Of course, she also warns that playfulness can be misunderstood,
especially when she tries to play with Fred, my 4-foot iguana. She also advises that
sometimes things that seem fun for you will result in harm to someone you love even
when it doesn’t seem so at the time. Have you priced a new oven recently?
Now I am not about to try and crawl between the walls of an oven and displace the
insulation, but I am involved in a monogamous but long distance relationship that ben-
efits greatly from what Thumper has told me. You see, I am not without temptation,
and it does sometimes seem as if I can have my cake and eat it, too. But there’s Thumper’s
warning that what might seem like nothing more than playful fun might hurt someone
that I love. Sure, it does seem that a roll in the hay with a local lass wouldn’t hurt the
woman to whom I am sworn. I might even be able to rationalize the action, tricking
myself into believing it is just sex and doesn’t mean all that much. But there is that
insulation from my oven. It’s just insulation and doesn’t actually mean much. This be-
ing the first serious relationship I have been involved in since having that conversation
with Thumper, the word is still out on how things will pan out. But it does seem like
sound advice.
This brings up something very important about the advice given by our critter friends.
Even more so than our human friends, critters do not listen to their own advice. When
taking it, one must always do so from the stance of listening to what they do. You see,
critters do not share a common language, so in essence that which they do is what they
say. To tell me that playfulness might be misinterpreted, Thumper had no choice but to
try to play with Fred. To tell me that one should keep potential harm from oneself until
one is sure of its intent, Fred had no choice but to whap her with his tail and send her
rolling across the floor. To tell me that sometimes my loved ones won’t see eye to eye,
they had to stage the entire incident. Make no mistake, when the message is important
enough, critters will team up to deliver it.t WB Chap 12.p65 215 7/11/2003, 5:55 PM