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NEL, Novel and Familiar Stressors nel.edu | - Pointers from Practice - Familiar Challege 2: Overworked... developmentalscreening.or... | We are all familiar with media reporting of collegeofmidwives.org | Programs: Accion por Salud... cmmb.org |
"Familiar" redirects here. For the Linux distribution, see Familiar Linux.  A familiar spirit or familiar (from Middle English familiar, related to family) is an animal-shaped spirit who serves for witchery, a demon, or other magician-related subjects. Familiars serve their owners as domestic servants, farmhands, spies, and companions, and may help bewitch enemies. Familiars are also said to inspire artists and writers (see Tutelary spirit, Power Animal and compare Muse)[citation needed]. Familiars are considered an identifying characteristic of early modern English witchcraft, and serve as one feature setting it apart from European witchcraft[citation needed]; although we find legends of "Familiar creatures" in other parts of the world.
[edit] Familiars in European mythologyFamiliars are most common in western European mythology, with some scholars arguing that familiars are only present in the traditions of Great Britain and France. In these areas three categories of familiars are believed to exist:[1]
[edit] Historiography on the Witch's FamiliarScholarship on the familiars has changed and improved in depth and respectability since it was covered in the demonological contexts of early modern Europe. The study of the familiars has evolved from an obscure topic in folkloric journals to popular books and journals that incorporate a historical discipline with multi-disciplinary approaches like anthropology, history, and women’s studies. James Sharpe, in his article on the witch’s familiar in The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: the Western Tradition, states: "Folklorists began their investigations in the 19th Century [and] found that familiars figured prominently in ideas about witchcraft."[2] In the 1800s, folklorists fired the imagination of scholars who would, in decades to come, write descriptive volumes on witches and familiars. One example of the growth and development of familiar scholarship can be found in the scholarly publication Folklore, which has consistently contributed articles on traditional beliefs in England and early modern Europe. In the first decades of the 1900s, the familiar was only superficially mentioned as "niggets", which were "creepy-crawly things that witches kept all over them".[3] Scholar Margaret Murray's work in familiar scholarship delves into variations of the familiar found in witchcraft practices. Many of the sources she employs are trial records and demonological texts from early to modern England. These include the 1556 Essex Witchcraft Trials of the Witches of Hatfield Perevil, the 1582 Trial of the Witches of St. Osyth, and the 1645 Essex Trials with Matthew Hopkins acting as a Witch-finder.[4] In 1921, Murray published The Witch Cult in Western Europe.. Her information concerning the familiar comes from witchcraft trials in Essex in the 1500s and 1600s.[5] Recent scholarship has become more multi-disciplinary, integrating feminist-historical and world-historical approaches. Deborah Willis' Malevolent Nurture: Witch-Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England links the witch's relationship with the familiar to a bizarre and misplaced corruption of motherhood and maternal power.[6] In his book Hostage to the Devil, Jesuit and exorcist Malachi Martin described a purportedly real possession case in which a familiar spirit was involved. Through his account one is left with the unmistakable impression that these spirits are considered real by the Church and that they are no different than demons. The only difference between familiars and demons are the specific ways in which a familiar possesses an individual. In contrast to demons, familiars do not possess the body. They rather possess the personality, the soul, the human affective relations and the psychological processes of a victim, but the familiar spirit maintains a differentiated personality with those who attack. Another characteristic described by Malachi is that the familiar spirit entices the human spirit by appearing friendly and comforting when things go wrong, thus developing a progressive dependence on the spirit and the diminishing reliance of one's individuality. [edit] Prince Rupert's dog During the English Civil War, the Royalist general Prince Rupert was in the habit of taking his large poodle dog named Boye, into battle with him. Throughout the war the dog was greatly feared among the Parliamentarian forces and credited with supernatural powers. As noted by Morgan [7], the dog was apparently considered a kind of familiar. At the end of the war the dog was shot, allegedly with a silver bullet. [edit] Witch trialsMost data regarding familiars comes from the transcripts of English and Scottish 'witch' trials held during the 16th-17th centuries. The court system that labeled and tried witches was known as the Essex. The Essex trial of Agnes Sampson of Nether Keith in 1590 presents prosecution testimony regarding a divinatory familiar. This case is fundamentally political, trying Sampson for high treason, and accusing Sampson for employing witchcraft against King James VI. The prosecution asserts Sampson called familiar spirits and resolved her doubtful matter. Another Essex trial is that of Hellen Clark tried in 1645, in which Hellen was compelled to state that The Devil appeared as a 'familiar' in the form of a dog.[8] The English court cases reflect a strong relationship between state accusations of witchcraft against those who practiced ancient indigenous traditions, including the familiar animal/spirit. In some cases familiars replace children in the favour of their mothers. See witchcraft and children. [edit] See also
[edit] References
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