Animal Books

The art of Recognizing and Working with Familiars

Highlights of Animal Magick by D.J. Conway

• a VERY long list of deities and the animal familiars associated with them
• Short chants and meditation methods to help connect you with your favorite animals
• Really informative descriptions of the animals, including history, superstitions, attributes and chants

First off, what is a Familiar?  You maybe thinking this as you read the sub-title of the book.  D.J. Conway, author of Animal Magick, describes familiars in the first chapter like this:

“Familiar” actually comes from the Latin word famulus, which means an attendant.  The ancient Greeks spoke of personal daemons, a type of spiritual helper in either human or animal form.  Our present word “demon” was corrupted from this Greek word.  The actual Greek word for familiar, such as will be discussed here, was paredrii.

So basically a familiar is something that sends you mental messages to you.  Many people practice this form of Magick without even knowing it!  When one is obsessed with a particular animal and collects small statues and paintings of them, they could actually be communicating with an animal familiar.

Familiars and power animals are similar but not the same thing.  Familiars was born out of Europe from Shamanism, which lead to Wicca and Paganism.  Power animals, or animal totems, was born out of the Native Americans but also exists in almost every culture around the world.  A person can call on a “power animal” at any time and be “possessed” by that animal.  They would do this, lets say, if you are about to go in front of a huge audience and need confidence in speaking, you could call on your Chimpanzee or Dolphin power animal to boost your confidence.

With that out of the way, let’s get to what this book is about. I tried to explain what a familiar is, but the first chapter does so much of a better job than i can ever do.  Animal Magick is a great introduction to the European version of Animal Spirits.

This book is broken up into 3 parts: 1.) A Familiar What?  2.) Working Together, and 3.) Animal Allies of Fur, Feather, Fin & Scale.  Below you can find a total breakdown of each different parts.

Part I: A Familiar What?

1. Familiars & Humans
2. How to Attract a Familiar
3. Legends & Deities
4. Animal Familiars & Magick, A Meditation for a Familiar.  Shape-shifting Meditation

Part II: Working Together

1. Meditations
   Learning from the Falcon.  Snake Energy.  The Spiders & the Fates. Exploring the Oceans.  Riding the Unicorn. Into the Underworld.  Communing with the Night.  Pegasus.
2. Rituals
   North Direction.  East Direction.  South Direction.  West Direction.  Protection Ritual of the Wolves.  Prosperity Ritual of the Wolves.  Love Ritual of the Wolves.  Spiritual Growth Ritual of the Wolves.  Cat Magick for Calling Spirits.  Dream Work.  Opening the Psychic Senses.  Gaining Wisdom.  A Protective Mirror.  Renewing & Healing Magick.  Invisibility Magick.  New Beginnings.
3. The Beauty of Friendship

Part III: Animal Allies of Fur, Feather, Fin & Scale

1. The Cat Family
   Domesticated Cats.  Cheetah.  Cougar.  Jaguar.  Leopard or Panther.  Lion.  Lynx.  Tiger.
2. The Wolf Family
   Domesticated Dogs.  Coyote.  Fox.  Jackal.  Wolf
3. Land Creatures
   Antelope.  Ape or Monkey.  Ass or Donkey.  Badger.  Bear.  Beaver.  Bison or Buffalo.  Boar, Sow or Pig, Bull, Cow or Cattle.  Deer or Stag.  Elephant.  Elk.  Ferret.  Goats.  Hedgehog.  Hippopotamus.  Horse.  Mongoose.  Moose.  Mouse.  Opossum.  Otter.  Oxen.  Porcupine.  Rabbit or Hare.  Raccoon. Ram or Sheep.  Rat.  Skunk.  Squirrel.  Weasel.  Wolverine.
4. Birds & Winged Creatures
   Bat.  Blackbird.  Blue Jay.  Cock. Crane.  Crow.  Dove or Pigeon.  Eagle.  Falcon.  Goose.  Guinea Fowl.  Hawk.  Heron.  Hummingbird.  Ibis.  Lovebird.  Magpie.  Nightingale.  Ostrich.  Owl.  Parrot.  Peacock.  Quail.  Raven.  Robin.  Sea Gull.  Sparrow.  Swallow.  Swan.  Turkey.  Vulture.  Woodpecker.  Wren.
5. Amphibians & Reptiles
   Adder.  Chameleon.  Cobra.  Crocodile.  Frog.  Lizard.  Scorpion.  Snakes.  Toad.  Turtle or Tortoise.
6. Aquatic Creatures
   Carp.  Dolphin or Porpoise.  Eel.  Fish. Octopus.  Salmon.  Seal.  Whale.
7. Spiders & Insects
   Ant.  Bees. Beetle or Scarab Beetle.  Butterfly.  Dragonfly.  Spiders.
8. Mythical Creatures
   Basilisk.  Centaur.  Dragon.  Griffin.  Pegasus.  Phoenix.  Satyr.  Sphinx.  Unicorn. Winged Bull.  Wyvern.

Part IV:

1. Appendix:  Deities & Their Familiars
2. Bibliography
3. Index

The First Part introduces you to familiars, the four different types of familiars, the two ways to attract familiars and, my favorite part of the book, Legends & Deities, which explains how almost every single culture has been obsessed with animals, including America.

The Second Part talks about meditation and rituals.  The meditation section will inform you of the powers of meditation (which i fully believe everyone should meditate) and how to connect with animals during meditation.   This is actually a very interesting section if you try to practice a few of the listed meditation exercises.  What i like about meditation is the practice of visualizing things (if you are following my blog, you will notice i like to think and visualize!).  Once you start meditating, the exercises describes a scene in which you are introduced to a certain animal in a certain way.  I recommend reading the exercises to a tape recorder, your computer, ipod or whatever in a slow and relaxing voice and then replay it back as you meditate.  If you do do this, leave a few minutes of silence in the beginning to let yourself become relaxed.  The way that i start of meditation is visualize myself walking up to a beach and sitting down by the water.  As i watch the waves come crashing in and over my body, i let my breaths represent each crash of water coming over my body.  After a few minutes you can start thinking about other things.

The Ritual part of the book is a little confusing, but basically it involves chanting about a certain animal.  Each ritual will tell you what supplies you need, like incense, staff, herbs, rattles, drums, offering bowl and so on.  This may seem strange to some people, but it can be a VERY powerful experience if you ever do decide to try them.

the Animal Allies section is very, very informative.  This is the section dedicated to describing the above listed animals.  What i really like about this section is how D.J. Conway describes the animals, giving more of a history lesson explaining how different cultures have treated and dealt with the animal.  Also, i really like the 3 added sections per animal:  Superstitions, Magickal Attributes and a Chant.

Summary

I think D.J Conway’s Animal Magick is not just for someone trying to get into Shamanism or Wiccan magic, but will be enjoyable for the average animal lover.  This is a great resource for looking about the meanings of animals, and especially interesting for history buffs and deity lovers, because at the end their is an impressive list of deities and which animals are associated with them, 12 pages to be exact!  For example, i am obsessed with the Mayans, so naturally i love Quetzalcoatl, one of the most important Gods in their culture.  Here is how Mr. Q is listed:  Quetzalcoatl (Aztec; god): hummingbird, dog, snake.  Another Example:  Horus ( Egypt; god): falcon, hawk, cats, goose, antelope, dragon, wolf.  Super cool!