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Celtic Radio Community > The Grove > Familiars


Posted by: Shadows 29-Apr-2006, 09:17 AM
When one mentions familiars a vision of an old croan with her black cat comes to mind...

Any animal can be a familiar ( animal guide ), it is not limited to cats.

These animals link us to the spiritual world as well as help guide our lives by example. There are many books on the subject worth reading.

So what is your animal guide ( familiar ) ?

A link to a site that may help you:

http://www.geocities.com/~animalspirits/index1.html

Posted by: sisterknight 02-May-2006, 10:07 AM
how does one learn what their animal guide is???i am intregued....

Posted by: Dogshirt 02-May-2006, 09:32 PM
My people go to a far, high place and fast for four days and nights. If it is meant to be, your medicine will come to you. And if not, you can try again.


beer_mug.gif

Posted by: Shadows 06-May-2006, 03:33 AM
What Dogshirt means I think is...

Your animal guide finds you. One can have many animal guides, they are around you all day long. An animal guide can guide on just one occasion or help direct your life.

Once found you guide will show you, through it's own traits and short commings, how to respond to your world by emulating it's actions and responses.

There is a good book called :

"Animal - Speak" by Ted Andrews http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875420281/bookstorenow57-20/104-8070552-8386346

that can help one find and interpret their animals guides.

Posted by: stoirmeil 06-May-2006, 05:44 AM
Another recommendation for Sandra Ingerman's work on shamanism. She has a wonderful take on power animals, describes them and how they enter (and leave) one's life, and how one may seek them; and she works with them extensively in her healing work. Again, she is coming from the work of Michael Harner, and his book "The Way of the Shaman" talks a lot about finding your power animal and giving it what it needs to stay with you.

This work is not referring to an animal companion -- that black cat of the old crone. smile.gif These are spirit helpers. A Shaman sees them clearly, but they are not visible to others in ordinary reality.

Posted by: Shadows 06-May-2006, 05:55 AM
QUOTE (stoirmeil @ 06-May-2006, 07:44 AM)
Another recommendation for Sandra Ingerman's work on shamanism. She has a wonderful take on power animals, describes them and how they enter (and leave) one's life, and how one may seek them; and she works with them extensively in her healing work. Again, she is coming from the work of Michael Harner, and his book "The Way of the Shaman" talks a lot about finding your power animal and giving it what it needs to stay with you.

This work is not referring to an animal companion -- that black cat of the old crone. smile.gif These are spirit helpers. A Shaman sees them clearly, but they are not visible to others in ordinary reality.

Yes that was going to be my next book recomendation.

Spirit ( Power ) animals are wonderful for those that can communicate with them, but the average person needs nurturing and guidence to reach that plain and learning about how to "read" animals in nature and learning from them is the first step towards that level of insite.
Once one has established a connection with animal guides or guide the journey gets much more interesting. Not everyone has Shamanistic tendencies.

Posted by: McKenna 16-Jun-2006, 03:15 PM
QUOTE (Dogshirt @ 02-May-2006, 10:32 PM)
My people go to a far, high place and fast for four days and nights. If it is meant to be, your medicine will come to you. And if not, you can try again.


beer_mug.gif

Any recommendations on exactly what is considered far/high? And can fasting include water and ANY kind of sustenance (fruit?)

I'm less worried about the fasting and more worried about how to get enough time off work...LOL

Posted by: ShadowDarkFyre 16-Jun-2006, 04:41 PM
My wife and I had two cats and a husky between us as familiars. They all died within the past three years. The middle "child", Ghost(the husky), died first. He hurt himself trying to get out of his pen and off his chain. He could always find a track, no matter how hard it was to find. Though he wasn't the brightest, he always seemed indestructible and immortal. Having been hit five times by heavy duty plow trucks and having nothing but a patch of fur taken off his butt to show for it.

Queenie, the youngest, died last year of kidney failure. Tenacious and playful. She was a sweetheart. Something told me, though, that she would be next. See, she and Ghost were soulmates. You rarely found the wolf without the kitten. They slept together, and played together. And whenever Ghost went outside, she'd wait for him at the door. When he didnae' come back, she waited for a week before giving up. She passed little more than a year after him.

Simone I spoke of here already when she passed. The oldest, at 18, she was the mother hen of the group: keeping both in line. till she lost her sight and started developing cysts in her skin. Queenie took care of her till her last. Then Simone was left. I think in some way it saddened her to have outlived the others. It never seemed right to me. I had promised her a logn time ago that I would bury her in the orchard on our land. Right next to a half-buried moonstone. The Eternal must've been smiling on me that day, for the ground to be as soft as if spring thaw had been a month gone. With still two feet of snow covering the ground, digging her place was easy. Laid her to rest, sang her a song, and said goodbye.

Now all three are our spirit guides when we need them, and only when. They roam the five acres of orchard now. It was always their home.

I imagine, even now, Somone's battle the both of them upside their heads to keep them in line, just like she used to.


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