Familiars
More than just cute pets
This is, yet again, a topic I feel weird writing about because I don’t feel like I’m experienced enough to be offering information in this area. It’s actually kind of funny that I feel that way, because this is something I have firsthand experience with. However, this is what Falcon wants me to write about today, so here we are.
While I’ve rarely mentioned her here throughout my writings, my little tortoiseshell kitty is actually my familiar. I don’t want to sound like I’m speaking from a place of being any sort of authority on the subject, as experiences with familiars can vary drastically from person to person. I’m just here to share my own personal experience.
Familiars choose people to work with for a wide variety of reasons. Something to understand is that, while there’s nothing wrong with being a witch or practicing witchcraft, you don’t have to be a witch or practice witchcraft in order to have a familiar. While it can be common for witches to have familiars, familiars are far more spirit-based rather than strictly associated with witchcraft. Because really, that’s what a familiar is: a spirit in animal form.
The way familiars come to people can be through all sorts of different means. With my familiar, she came to me through a mutual connection. She was born as a barn cat, but a friend of mine adopted her because she appeared to be struggling to nurse, as there was something wrong with her hind leg, where part of her foot was quite literally growing sideways. They took her in and bottle-fed her, but their spouse hadn’t wanted another cat and wasn’t happy having her there.
One evening, I went to their place with a group of other people, and, out of the whole group, this kitty insisted on sitting on my lap and licking my face, staying with me pretty much the entire time I was there. It was like she’d chosen me. I hadn’t been planning to get another cat, and I certainly don’t go to my friends’ homes thinking that I’m going to adopt their pets. However, when I met her, I had this feeling of a strong bond, like an immediate knowing that I was eventually going to be adopting her. About a week after this encounter, my friend reached out to me and asked if I would take the kitty in due to their spouse not wanting her. I was more than happy to do so.
Here’s the thing. By the time the kitty reached me, her foot was fine. I took her to the vet, and they did X-rays, and they saw absolutely nothing wrong with it, even though I have pictures from when she was younger, and her foot was deformed, for lack of a better description. What I understand now is that the deformity was temporary simply because it was a way for her to be taken in by my friends, who would eventually introduce her to me. That’s why it seemed like it miraculously healed itself.
After a brief introduction, she fit right in with my other pets and adjusted quite easily. However, I could tell that there was something different about her. She’s easily the most intelligent cat I’ve ever met, and it’s very clear that she understands exactly what I’m saying when I speak to her. I asked my guides, and they confirmed that she is most definitely my familiar. I do have another cat (a tuxedo kitty), and while I love him dearly, my guides have told me that he’s not a familiar, just a very sweet, lovable housecat.
The thing is, while my familiar can be very sweet, she also has a wild streak in her. Something to understand is that familiars are not at all the same as sweet, snuggly pets. Also, just because she understands me when I speak to her, it doesn’t mean she’ll do what I ask. She’s not here to do my bidding. Familiars are spirits, and they’re here for a purpose. They have their own agendas.
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Sometimes, as is the case with my familiar, it can feel like their purpose is to drive you absolutely bananas. They aren’t always nice. The way Falcon explained it to me is that my familiar is here to teach me about boundary setting, due to my history of being a people-pleaser. He once said to me, “How else will you learn to set boundaries with people in your life if you can’t set boundaries with a 6-pound kitty cat?” He definitely had a point there.
Because of this, she likes to push my buttons just enough to irritate me, and she knows exactly how to do it. She’ll go over and chew on things like power cords and charging cables, but she does it just enough to get my attention. She won’t actually sink her teeth into them, but rather, she’ll go and nose them and put her mouth near them just to see if I’ll scold her and tell her “No”, which of course I do. Once I do that, she runs away, as if she’s completed her mission. She does other things like this, where she’ll test the boundaries just a little bit to see if I’m going to respond. It drives me crazy, but it’s effective.
The difference between her doing that versus a cat just being mischievous is the fact that she’s very selective regarding the times that she chooses to do this. This isn’t a regular behavior; this is something she only does at very specific times. When it comes to other things a typical cat might do, however, such as the way my tuxedo kitty begs for meals, my familiar is completely unbothered. She just waits until I’m ready, and she doesn’t bug me at all.
Along with this, she’s incredibly protective. When she hears someone coming to the door, she’ll run over and growl at the door like a dog. Additionally, she also works in alignment with my other guides. If there’s a situation where they want to physically get my attention, they’ll have her come over and nudge me or interrupt what I’m doing so that I know to check in with them.
Depending on what I’m working on, she likes to involve herself as well. If I’m doing divination or spellwork, for example, she insists on sitting and watching the entire time, like she understands exactly what I’m doing. Meanwhile, my tuxedo kitty couldn’t care less and prefers to curl up and sleep. My familiar also loves getting into things like my tarot cards, crystals, and runes, where, again, my other cat doesn’t even notice them.
Returning to her being protective, she’s incredibly sensitive to energy, much more so than my other cat. If there’s any sort of energy shift, I can tell through her behavior before I even feel it myself, because she’ll react immediately. She’s like a tiny, fuzzy, energetic barometer. Because of this, there are times when it can seem like she’s acting absolutely wild, but really, she’s just responding to the energy in the environment around her.
While anyone can have a familiar, Falcon is saying that familiars aren’t for everyone, and they aren’t a pet you can just go out and find. You don’t choose them; they choose you, if it’s in your best interest to work with them. If a familiar is something you truly desire, you can ask your guides about whether one might enter your life. However, I need to reiterate that familiars aren’t like pets. If you’re interested in having a companion animal to keep you company while you do spiritual work, any pet could do this.
With familiars, though, they’re spirits, and they aren’t necessarily going to be cute and cuddly. Working with a familiar is really more or less like working with another spirit being. Why some spirits choose to remain in spirit form while others choose to present in animal form, I don’t fully understand. Falcon is saying it has to do with the lessons we’re intended to learn from them. Some people can learn certain things through working with their spirit guides alone, while others can benefit from having a physical being, in the form of a familiar, to work with.
If you really strongly feel you want a familiar in your life and believe you’d benefit from having one, ask your guides about it. They can at least let you know whether or not it would be in your best interest to work with one, and they may even let you know that one is headed your way in the future. Keep in mind, however, that while familiars are spirits, unlike our spirit guides, familiars are living, breathing animals, and they require every bit as much care as you’d give a pet. Cats, for example, can live for twenty years or more, so just like with any pet, you need to be prepared for the responsibility of that.
This alone may be why your guides know a familiar is not in your best interest. If there’s going to be a future point where you won’t have the resources or time to properly care for a pet, they’re likely not going to bring a familiar into your life, where you’d have a strong bond with them and would have to let them go. That’s why your guides may know that it’s better for you to simply work with spirit beings in their spirit form.
Falcon is telling me to bring this to a close, so I hope everyone has a beautiful day!
