Welcome & Intro

[Tegwedd ShadowDancer]

ding will be offered on Yahoo IM, WindowWelcome to Magickal Familars
and their Powers! This group will discuss all aspects of magickal
familiars and their uses, in magick and in fantasy. We will discuss
books, FRP gaming, fantasy art, and movies.

Raven Grimassi wrote a great book on magickal familiars: The Witch's
Familiar: Spiritual Partnership for Successful Magic[sic]. He says
that you can have not just animal familiars, but also plant and
mineral familiars. Remember the Pet Rocks of the 70s? They were
mineral familiars.

A familiar can also be something completely fantastical. Dragons,
unicorns, griffins can all be familiars. Basically the line between
familiars and totem animals is very slim. Animals have had a magickal
connection to humans for thousands of years. All manner of animals
have been used as familiars. A friend of ours has an owl as a
familiar. Of course his name is Archimedes. We have a friend (Hi
Tegan!) who has cockatiels as familiars. Stephen has had several
iguanas and water dragons as familiars over the years, from his first
one Smaug, to his last one Iggy who went away, and didn't come back
again. In fact, Stephen enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame with first
iguana, Smaug, by appearing on People Are Talking with Ross McGowan,
where the two of them were dubbed by him "the wizard and his lizard."
For a few years, I had a snake as a familiar. She was a Columbian
redtailed boa that I named Tonantzin after the Aztec Goddess of
childbirth and fertility. She later appeared as the Virgin of
Guadalupe. She started out small and the Delphinius, my third
husband, and I used to call her various names like "Crawling French
Fry" and "Mobile Spaghetti." I wore her in my hair when I did card
readings. The Delphinius said that the proximity of her head to mine
lent me her reptile stem (medulla oblongata in us) and since Tarot
reading is ritual behavior, and ritual behavior has its seat in the
medulla oblongata, or reptile stem, it really helped me. And it did.
I had to give her up though because she got too big. I'd like another
snake though, one that would stay small.

And of course, the classic Witch's familiar is the house cat. I've
had five over the years, 2 Pyewackets, Morticia, Rhiannon, and
Greymalkin. Greymalkin was a great cat. Cats are extremely psychic,
as are most animals. Is your Pet Psychic? is a great book on the
subject of psychic pets by Richard Webster. Most animals are psychic,
but cats are even more psychic than dogs. Greymalkin was extremely
psychic. She always knew when I wasn't feeling well, and would get
close to me, lie on me and purr to let me know that she was there for
me. She didn't care to attend rituals, however. When Doc and I would
have them, she'd leave the room.

There are different types of familiars. Cats are the most frequent,
but there are also lizards, snakes, and toads or frogs. There is a
kind of frog whose skin secretes a hallucinogenic ichor, so that could
be reason for the classical Witch's attraction to toads and frogs.
There are also the fantasy types of familiars such as the dragon. In
Anne McCaffrey's Harper Falls of Pern, the main character has as her
familiars numerous flying fire-lizards who are attracted by her music.
Another familiar would be the unicorn. Still another would be the
griffin, and the hippogriff. Some people have unusual familiars;
aquatic familiars like dolphins or orcas, the killer whales or other
members of the cetacean family. We also have seals, sea lions, and
walrus. Some also have roosters and hens of whatever color, but
especially the black hen, which is a tie in to alchemy. Another good
familiar is the horse. The horse was the familiar of the Greek sea
god Poseidon. Some dogs such as hunting hounds are the familiars of
the hunting Goddesses Artemis and Diana. In fact, calling a woman a
bitch is a referral to the priestesses of Diana. There are also
exotic familiars such as leopards, panthers, lions, tigers, foxes, and
bears (oh my!). I mentioned before didn't I that the line between
totem and familiar was exceedingly thin and fuzzy.

In fact, now that I've mentioned it, why don't we discuss the
difference between totem and familiar. A totem can be an animal
spirit, but a familiar has to be a physical creature. .

Faery dogs, cats, horses, cattle, and deer are classic familiars,
especially of faery magicians. These creatures are marked by their
perfectly white coats and red ears and tails.

Magickal familiars play a prominent role in such games as
NeverWinterNights. My daughter Nadia played the role of my
character's unicorn familiar in a D&D game I played when she was just
a little girl. She seemed to enjoy it. It was her first taste of
famtasy role play gaming. I felt that she could handle being a magick
user's familiar.

They've been futzing around with Stephen's SSI check again. He was
promised $646 for his January check, and he didn't even get $600. So,
as a result, the fundraiser is still





















Welcome to Magickal Familars and their Powers! This group will
discuss all aspects of magickal familiars and their uses, in magick
and in fantasy. We will discuss books, FRP gaming, fantasy art, and
movies.

Raven Grimassi wrote a great book on magickal familiars: The Witch's
Familiar: Spiritual Partnership for Successful Magic[sic]. He says
that you can have not just animal familiars, but also plant and
mineral familiars. Remember the Pet Rocks of the 70s? They were
mineral familiars.

A familiar can also be something completely fantastical. Dragons,
unicorns, griffins can all be familiars. Basically the line between
familiars and totem animals is very slim. Animals have had a magickal
connection to humans for thousands of years. All manner of animals
have been used as familiars. A friend of ours has an owl as a
familiar. Of course his name is Archimedes. We have a friend (Hi
Tegan!) who has cockatiels as familiars. Stephen has had several
iguanas and water dragons as familiars over the years, from his first
one Smaug, to his last one Iggy who went away, and didn't come back
again. In fact, Stephen enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame with first
iguana, Smaug, by appearing on People Are Talking with Ross McGowan,
where the two of them were dubbed by him "the wizard and his lizard."
For a few years, I had a snake as a familiar. She was a Columbian
redtailed boa that I named Tonantzin after the Aztec Goddess of
childbirth and fertility. She later appeared as the Virgin of
Guadalupe. She started out small and the Delphinius, my third
husband, and I used to call her various names like "Crawling French
Fry" and "Mobile Spaghetti." I wore her in my hair when I did card
readings. The Delphinius said that the proximity of her head to mine
lent me her reptile stem (medulla oblongata in us) and since Tarot
reading is ritual behavior, and ritual behavior has its seat in the
medulla oblongata, or reptile stem, it really helped me. And it did.
I had to give her up though because she got too big. I'd like another
snake though, one that would stay small.

And of course, the classic Witch's familiar is the house cat. I've
had five over the years, 2 Pyewackets, Morticia, Rhiannon, and
Greymalkin. Greymalkin was a great cat. Cats are extremely psychic,
as are most animals. Is your Pet Psychic? is a great book on the
subject of psychic pets by Richard Webster. Most animals are psychic,
but cats are even more psychic than dogs. Greymalkin was extremely
psychic. She always knew when I wasn't feeling well, and would get
close to me, lie on me and purr to let me know that she was there for
me. She didn't care to attend rituals, however. When Doc and I would
have them, she'd leave the room.

There are different types of familiars. Cats are the most frequent,
but there are also lizards, snakes, and toads or frogs. There is a
kind of frog whose skin secretes a hallucinogenic ichor, so that could
be reason for the classical Witch's attraction to toads and frogs.
There are also the fantasy types of familiars such as the dragon. In
Anne McCaffrey's Harper Falls of Pern, the main character has as her
familiars numerous flying fire-lizards who are attracted by her music.
Another familiar would be the unicorn. Still another would be the
griffin, and the hippogriff. Some people have unusual familiars;
aquatic familiars like dolphins or orcas, the killer whales or other
members of the cetacean family. We also have seals, sea lions, and
walrus. Some also have roosters and hens of whatever color, but
especially the black hen, which is a tie in to alchemy. Another good
familiar is the horse. The horse was the familiar of the Greek sea
god Poseidon. Some dogs such as hunting hounds are the familiars of
the hunting Goddesses Artemis and Diana. In fact, calling a woman a
bitch is a referral to the priestesses of Diana. There are also
exotic familiars such as leopards, panthers, lions, tigers, foxes, and
bears (oh my!). I mentioned before didn't I that the line between
totem and familiar was exceedingly thin and fuzzy.

In fact, now that I've mentioned it, why don't we discuss the
difference between totem and familiar. A totem can be an animal
spirit, but a familiar has to be a physical creature. .

Faery dogs, cats, horses, cattle, and deer are classic familiars,
especially of faery magicians. These creatures are marked by their
perfectly white coats and red ears and tails.

Magickal familiars play a prominent role in such games as
NeverWinterNights. My daughter Nadia played the role of my
character's unicorn familiar in a D&D game I played when she was just
a little girl. She seemed to enjoy it. It was her first taste of
famtasy role play gaming. I felt that she could handle being a magick
user's familiar.

They've been futzing around with Stephen's SSI check again. He was
promised $646 for his January check, and he didn't even get $600. So,
as a result, the fundraiser is still on. You can get either a reading
or a class for $32, or a reading and a class or 2 classes for $60.
You can't get two readings because the 2nd reading would be all
garbled. You can have it on Yahoo IM,
Windows Live Msgr, or Skype, and with the webcam and voice, it's
almost like being there. Call Stephen or contact him on YIM, Windows
Live Msgr, or Skype. You can call him at 916-455-2267. The fees and
any size donations can be deposited at abbot...@gmail.com. If
you're thinking of getting a computer, don't get one from Dell. They
are very slow to make good on their promises. Stephen had no end of
problems with his computer, and then it turned out it always should
have been a 64 bit operating system, and they had sent him a 32 bit
OS. Doc always used to say that one in 6 Dell systems don't work out
of the box. I got a Vaio from Overstock.com and mine seems to work
great. I'm not using it now. I'm waiting until I get antivirus and
a stand to put it on so I can operate it sitting in bed. Stephen also
has a referral number for Zodiac, one of his psychic reading
services. 1-800-280-8496 is the number, and you get to him directly
and he gets a whole $1 per minute instead of the 32 cents/minute he
usually gets.

I want to thank you all for going to http://www.firedrakesweyr.com/
and doing that search under Rita Trevalyan, my nom de plume. As you
know so well, two titles came up; Takuhi's Dream and Roman Rhapsody.
Takuhi's Dream is a Young Adult (ages 13-17 and for those adults who
prefer no erotic material in their fiction) SciFi novel about a young
woman who is being pursued across the galaxy by a monster she cannot
face and by two men; one who clearly means her ill, and the other,
well, you know what his intentions are, but the others will just have
to read it for themselves, wont they? Roman Rhapsody is a story about
a wealthy middle-aged woman in a state of ennui who is having
disturbingly erotic dreams about a Roman matron having an affair with
a gladiator. Will she find a project worthy of engaging her head and
heart, or will she succumb to the temptation of acting out her erotic
dreams with a modern gladiator and risk losing her happy marriage?

Stephen has two familiars, Inky and Little Boy. He didn't name either
of them. Inky was named by his daughter, and Little Boy, who was
named by and nominally belongs to our housemate. They are hilarious,
but I don't see them as magickal familiars. I want a female kitten.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky
Little Boy

















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