Sabrina’s familiar is an American Shorthair cat named Salem Saberhagen. Created by George Gladir and Dan DeCarlo, Salem was introduced as an orange cat in in Archie’s Madhouse #22 in 1962. The cat kept its own tongue in the comics, and didn’t start talking or developing its cutting wit until later. In the comic series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Salem was a witch who was stripped of his magical powers and sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat with no magical powers by the Witch’s Council. His crime was plotting to take over the world. On Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, familiars are said to be goblins. Various texts have described them as demons, fairies, elves, pixies, and other elemental beings believed to inhabit the physical bodies of animals. Some documents mention dwarves, which might not seem elementary to the modern student. Familiars can be physical, spirit or artificial. The physical familiar is a pet, animal or creature. The spirit familiar is a conscious entity from beyond the land of the living. Artificial familiars are created by magic. Further reading: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Ending Explained
A Little History
Most of what we know about familiars and early occult traditions and beliefs come from those who would wish to destroy the practice. The Christian Church associated any spirit other than an angel as demonic. Pope Innocent VIII issued a papal bull condemning witchcraft on December 5, 1484. The first works on the subject came from inquisitors Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer who wrote the book Malleus Maleficarum. “Funny enough, the earliest mentions of a familiar that I am aware of is actually the Christian Bible,” Alexandrian witch and High Priestess of the New Orleans Coven Christine Stephens tells Den of Geek. She points to Leviticus 20:27, which states “a man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death.” Laura Lenhard who runs Talisman and Cauldron in Derby, Connecticut, points to The Bible‘s Book of Samuel: “‘Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may go to her, and inquire of her,’” she quotes. Saul’s servants referred him to “a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.” But Saul was looking for someone with “the gift of being able to induce or compel a departed spirit to revisit the world and submit to questioning,” Lenhard says, not an animated animal spirit. Further reading: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Will Have an Exorcist Episode The concept of animal familiars goes back to Medieval texts, such as the 1566 pamphlet English Witchcraft, which comes “from the period of state-sanctioned witchcraft accusations,” says Lenhard. “The Devil is represented as a familiar spirit and the animalistic creatures used as a vehicle are described in detail. Between 1566 and 1704 there were 81 different pamphlets on witchcraft. These pamphlets were sort of like little magazines of the day, and became more narrative and storytelling as time went on. The 1604 Act criminalized the keeping or conjuring of familiar spirits.” “During the witch trials, witches confessed to having familiars, notably the Essex Trials in 1556, and under the Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins in 1645,” adds Lisa Derrick, an author and sorceress who follows the Thelemic dictum. Further reading: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Review: Archie’s Teenage Witch Gets A Bold, Dark Makeover According to the colonial laws of Massachusetts, “if any man or woman be a witch, that is, has or consults with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death.” A girl from Andover, Massachusetts, accused a neighbor’s dog of trying to bewitch her in October of 1692. The dog was shot but later cleared of the crime by Cotton Mather himself. The Puritan Minister who sat judgment over the most famous witch trials in America ruled if the dog was actually the devil in disguise, it would not be possible to kill it. Helen Clark, who was accused of conjuring a storm through witchcraft in Leith, Scotland, in 1645, confessed to meeting the devil in the form of a black dog. During Britain’s Pendle Witchcraft Trials of 1612, Elizabeth Demdike confessed her familiar’s name was Tibb, who she claimed was a spirit who could take the shape of almost any animal he pleased, but was most pleased in canine form. Alizon Device confessed her black hound was a familiar who did her bidding after she let it suckle at her breast. Further reading: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Episode 1 Review – Chapter One: October Country All dogs may not go to heaven, but there is a special place for them in the Wiccan and pagan traditions. The Greek Goddess of Witches, Hecate, was protected by dogs. The three-headed dog Cerberus guarded the underworld in Greek mythology. The Egyptian God Anubis had a jackal’s heads. The goddess Artemis had a dog familiar. In shamanism, the animal familiar is not a physical creature, but a spiritual entity which travels through the astral. Shaman initiates find their familiars by manifesting an animal or reptile shape. They might also inherit a familiar from an older member of the family or tribe who is dying. A bequeathed creature will have a vested interest in the lineage and stay with them until death. Some witches feel the presence of their familiars passing from the body of an elder pet to a younger pet.
Helper Animals
Magical practitioners also choose different creatures because of their associations with specific tasks. A toad familiar helps with healing and also assists as witches move in and out of the spirit realm. A spider familiar has the ability to spin and weave the strands that feed the tapestry of a spell. Snakes are associated with old gods, goddesses and the banishment from Eden story from The Bible. Snakes assist in transformative magic because they undergo their own transformation when they shed their skins. One practitioner who preferred to remain anonymous says her python Hades is very useful in magical working. She says she “uses the skin that she sheds in root/herb mixtures, tinctures, oils, baths, gris gris bags, etc.” Baptized into African spiritual traditions at birth during her naming ceremony, she credits her grandmother, who “used to work with snakes in swamp land Louisiana.” further reading: Complete Guide to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Easter Eggs Owls may deliver the mail in the Harry Potter series, but they are also the nickname the kids have for the Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. An owl familiar is traditionally associated with wisdom. It also represents flight, as do all its aviary cousins. The falcon familiar brings the gift of perception and acute vision. The raven will evermore be associated with death, but a raven familiar can pick up information and is thought of as a messenger. A bat familiar has acute hearing and can maneuver the darkness. These airborne creatures may also help witches who need to fly.
Like a Bat Out of Hell
From 1400 to 1782, between 40,000 and 60,000 people were put to death for witchcraft in Europe. Familiars also protect the property and body of a witch during astral travel. “Most commonly, familiars guard sacred space and ritual circle,” says Lenhard. “They can move within and without, unlike humans.” Further reading: True Detective Season 3: A History of the Occult in the Ozarks The bewitching beasts bring their own flavors to magic, sometimes incendiary. “One of my most helpful cats, Miss Judy, who was black and very old (17) when I got her, set her tail on fire during a ‘silence’ spell and added an extra zap of burnt black cat fur to the successful working,” says Derrick. “My current black cat donates his fur for working. My darling pit mix Dexter would howl along as I banished.”
Here Puppy. Hear Kitty.
Sabrina calls her familiar to her by going into the woods and chanting an invocation. Real practitioners sometimes call their familiars through a meditation which sets its intent on meeting an animal companion, although a familiar can be drawn consciously or subconsciously. However, most practitioners believe animal familiars pick the witch, not the other way around. “They meet and greet you as an equal,” says Lenhard, whose magical companion is a parrot named Orlando. “A familiar is not a pet. They either want the job or not. It is their choice.” Witches respect and revere the earth and nature and see all life as equal. They treat familiars the same. “A familiar is an equal in every way.” While most in the NeoPagan community no longer believe spirits or demons inhabit an animal, many believe the creatures have supernatural gifts of intelligence, often very human. Practitioners report a kind of telepathic bond with their familiars. “Absolutely,” says Lenhard. “Most will get up and start walking to the door as you are thinking of going out. Orlando perches on my shoulder when I am crafting.” Further reading: Activist Witches Protest Trump Immigration Policy at Detention Center Besides the spiritual aspects of the relationship between familiar and magician, the bond is friendly. Once the witch and the familiar bond in a spiritual merging and the pair can communicate, they react to each other’s needs. “She communicates on her terms, but she can always sense my mood,” says the anonymous witch. “When I have migraines, she will sit right on top of my head.” Familiars are psychically protected by and protective of their witches. The animals are sensitive to psychic vibrations, and react in the presence of negative energy, but they have their own personalities, biases and agendas, and often must be further conditioned to the ways of their witch. “Well, every pet should be trained,” Derrick laughs. “There are old stories of witches feeding their familiars some of their blood, but I can’t say if that’s common, or healthy. My familiars have just fallen into their gigs instinctively.” Further reading: Salem Witch Trial House Up for Sale Sabrina Spellman’s cat Salem protects the teenage witch, helps her with her magic, and keeps her company. The series hints that the black cat is much more than he appears, larger and far more powerful a creature than pads, paws, and claws. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina premieres on Netflix on October 26. Culture Editor Tony Sokol cut his teeth on the wire services and also wrote and produced New York City’s Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera AssassiNation: We Killed JFK. Read more of his work here or find him on Twitter @tsokol. Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2018 Special Edition Magazine right here!
