Magic and Medicines #25: Familiars and Animal Magic

About this episode

This episode explores the concept of familiars and animal magic, discussing historical beliefs and modern interpretations.

We're growling, purring and hissing our way into this month's Magic and Medicines episode to talk all about Familiars and Animal Magic! We start by talking about animistic beliefs in early societies, along with associations of animals with particular deities, before diving into Medieval and Renaissance ideas about witches' familiars documented in witch trial materials. With Vinegar Tom, Sacke-and-Sugar and Pecke-in-the-Crowne frolicking about our feet, we explore beliefs about how familiars might be summoned - and whether or not they are really something far more sinister than a magical companion.  There's a bit of Jungian psychology, of course, and an eclectic selection of beliefs from around the world - but are appearances of animals within spiritual practices really just symbols to assist us with self-development? Moving into the 21st century, we discuss neo-shamanism, power animals, and how domestic pets can be spiritually comforting to practitioners of magic and spirituality today, before rounding out the conversation by looking to the future with digital familiars and AI companions! We really hope you enjoy the episode, and we will speak to you again on Thursday with…

People in this episode

Hosts: Martin Vaux, Eleanor Conlon

Topics covered

• Familiars
• Animal Magic
• Animistic beliefs
• Witch trials
• Neo-shamanism
• Spiritual practices

Keywords

• familiars
• animal magic
• witch trials
• spirituality
• neo-shamanism
• Jungian psychology
• deities
• self-development

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Magic and Medicines, The Golden Branch, Vinegar Tom, Sacke-and-Sugar, Pecke-in-the-Crowne

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