Today marks both the birthdate of my familiar Binx and the death date of Noel, my familiar before him. So in honour of their spirits I am so excited to bring you my first blog all about the witches familiar!
In my experience, the connection between a witch and their familiar is one of the most profound connections that exists, and the journey through this divine connection is a purposeful path that you are called to walk together.
I received my first familiar when I was 3 years old, long before I knew anything about anything. Throughout my life I have had 4 familiars and they have all symbolized specific phases within my life, soul’s growth and my spiritual journey. So let's jump in to the magic of familiars!
What is a Familiar?
A familiar is a spirit guide that intentionally incarnates, in this earthly realm, to support you, guide you and assist you along your magical path. A familiar will have a consciousness and it will show up as an aspect of nature, most likely as an animal. However, depending on the witches beliefs, a familiar could also show up as a tree or land.
In whatever way a familiar shows up for you, that spirit is apart of your soul family; this connection is a type of soul recognition and soul bodning,. In fact, the word familiar originates from the Latin word 'Familiaris' which means 'domestic' or 'of family'. Like myself, you can have several familiars throughout your life and you might even have more than one at once. Though, it's also possible that a witch won't ever have a familiar and that this path simply doesn't call them in this lifetime.
Together a witch and their familiar walk this life anchored to each other, nurturing each other, testing each other, learning from each other and showing each other the meaning of unconditional love. The familiar teaches their witch how to activate their heart and supports them as they remove their blocks so that their heart space can begin acting as their compass.
A familiar will not show up as several different animals. A familiar is 1 spirit guide, incarnating into 1 being. If you need more resources on the different types of animal spirit guides then definitely check out my blog and video on 'The 5 Types of Animal Spirit Guides.'
Historically, familiars were labelled as an animal that assisted a witch and was the physical manifestation of a demon spirit. As you can imagine, this idea that spirit guides are demons was used to demonize people who were supposedly witches or had beliefs and practices that weren’t “mainstream.” Today, modern day witches have reclaimed the word 'familiar' and it is now attributed to these divine spirit guides that show up to assist us. Ultimately, a familiar is our partner who has our best interest at heart.
What is a familiar’s purpose?
A familiar’s purpose is to assist their witch, their partner, with their growth, with their magical craft and to support them on their soul’s journey. A familiar may have unique gifts and wisdom to share and this is where much of the magic happens within this connection. Familiar’s are often ancient souls that have lived many many lives and their wisdom is incredibly powerful.
One of the most powerful and meaningful purposes of a familiar is that they help their witch shift into their heart space and lead with love. The familiar will assist and support their witch as they learn to identify their wounds and their traumas as well as strip back their blocks and barriers so that they can allow their heart to be their compass.
With this work, and this partnership, the familiar ultimately assist their witch with their magical craft, their spiritual growth and with expanding their consciousness so that they can better access their personal power and move more into alignment with their highest self.
How does a familiar come into your life?
There is no easy answer to this question so hear me out I’ve got a lot to say! A familiar finds you in a divinely orchestrated way. You wouldn’t necessarily go buy an animal and it is automatically your familiar. Though that could happen because it is a nuanced process. Your familiar arrives in divine time to accompany you on this earthly plane knowing that you have work to do together that inspires not only your souls, but the souls around you.
You could absolutely come into union with your familiar in what appears to be a totally ordinary way, however there will be unique signs and synchronicties that have meaning for you. For example, when I was looking for a new cat I saw an ad for my cat Binx. His birth date was the death date of my familiar that had died excactly 1 year prior. Another example is my current familiar Winnie. When Binx was killed I started seeing the number 16. In the moment that I needed to decide if I was going to take Winnie, the woman who had him was wearing a shirt that had a giant 16 on it. I mean, the entire front of the shirt said 16. That was my sign.
You may have heard that a witch and familiar need to be bonded as soon as the familiar is born or when they are a baby, but that is not true. Sometimes we encounter our familiar when they are babies but sometimes we can find each other later in their lives. As well, we might also not even recognize our familiar after they’ve already been our pet for a number of years. For example, when I was 16 years old my mom, sister and I found a cat in a parking lot. She was walking around our car, she was abandoned and found us. The vet refused to take her, so we brought her into our family (where we already had 10-12 cats lol). However, I had my first familiar at that time. I didn't actually bond with her until years later after my other familiar died and until after I had begun my spiritual journey. She waited for the right time to show up as my partner.
Sometimes our familiars don’t fit into any of those descriptions and it’s something that only makes sense to you. This is a unique personal journey but the union with your familiar will be special to you. If you have a familiar, or have had one, take a trip down memory lane and look for those synchronicities if you don't already know them!
If you are hoping for a familiar or feel in your intuition that this path is calling you, then my biggest piece of advice is to do the inner work. Do the inner healing that you are here to do so that you have a strong sense of self and that there are less blocks in the way of your ability to recognize a soul bond when it presents to you!
Stay tuned for my conversations about familiars in the future and be sure to check out my Familiar Series over on youtube!