(^210) A Wiccan Bible
Neither is having a familiar mandatory to being a Wiccan. If we were to insist that
every Wiccan have a familiar, that again would be objectification. Instead, the Wiccan
religion insists nothing but quietly observes that the very nature of the Wiccan soul
causes the Wiccan to love animals. Hence, being mindful of those critters needs, should
a Wiccan not be able to provide for those needs, that Wiccan does not take a familiar
into his or her home.
The word familiar comes from the Latin familiris, which refers to family. This is
why Wicca has involved familiars from its very beginning, not because doing so satisfies
the need to approximate the historical (and sometimes hysterical) stereotype of a Witch,
but because it hopes to guide Wiccans into experiencing the mystery of our relation-
ship with animals.
Again we see that water is wet and fire is hot are matters better learned by discov-
ery than by a book education. Yes, one could tell you that animals are sacred, but if one
guides the student in the direction of involvement with animals, should they have a
Wiccan soul they will arrive at that conclusion on their own. That having taken place,
the connection already forged will be infinitely more valuable than anything one could
read in a book. With that and the relationships discussed in Book of Plants, we see that
all living things are part of one large family.
If you are not convinced, spend some time in study of our cousin, the rat. If you do
not have one in your care, visit your local zoo or pet store and carefully watch how rats
eat. Study their hands and how they use them. Study your own and compare them to
Rat. Then leave and have lunch at the first fast-food restaurant you encounter. Care-
fully watch how humans eat. I think you will discover tremendous similarities, although
rats do tend to have much better table manners and social skills.
The second definition given for the use of familiar as a noun is “An attendant spirit,
often taking animal form.” Again, the dictionary hit the nail square on the head. The
familiar is an attending spirit or soul that has taken on animal form. Are not we all?
Certainly no one can argue that humanity is not itself an animal. Yes, humanity pos-
sesses distinct traits such as mind that are not found in other creatures, but we are
animals none the less.
So what of that stereotype of the old wart-noised Witch and her familiar the cat?
Science now tells us that healthy relationships with animals can greatly improve a person’s
health, thus extending that person’s life. Programs have been established to bring ani-
mals into the hospital to visit the ill and to nursing homes and retirement villages to
visit the elderly, bringing with them cheer and a sense of well being. Generally speak-
ing, of all the animals domesticated by humanity, the cat remains the most indepen-
dent, thus requiring the least amount of care. Such a creature would seem the animal
of choice for one who is elderly and perhaps unable to tend to the needs of a more
demanding critter. Now, if science is right about life extension being facilitated by a
healthy relationship with a loving creature, one can easily see how it would not be
uncommon to see the elderly with the creature that helped extend that person’s life.
Of course science has not always been the acceptable thing that it is today. If the
Witch-hunters of old had any logic behind their madness, their belief that the familiar
t WB Chap 12.p65 210 7/11/2003, 5:55 PM
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