0:05

You know, I am.

I am tired of talking about humans on this show.

So later animals little baby, yeah, I was going to say fur babies.

I feel like that’s become kind of allergy.

Is that shoe?

You know, precisely.

I never know what to chew.

0:20

Guinea more, but I’ll just say chuji anymore.

Maybe that’s not cool anymore either.

I don’t know.

Is saying chuji, chuji.

I don’t know.

Might be it probably is.

It could be the scariest thing.

We talked about today.

How old we are Elder Millennials?

Yeah, well there is a little twist here, the animals were talking about are called familiars.

0:40

And they are the devoted pets to witches.

So today, I think we can all agree that familiars have a much more positive reputation.

But with anything occults related, there’s of course, a dark past but we do get to talk about.

Not just little babies but spooky babies would obey.

0:57

That’s that’s true.

Little demonic babies.

1:13

Hi everyone, and welcome to rituals a Spotify original from par cast.

I’m Christine cheaper.

And I’m M Schultz and every week, we’ll explore the evolution of spiritualism.

And the Occult through stories practices and the impact on Modern culture, we are getting ready to talk about some familiars.

1:29

As whether they’re furry or scaly or feathered feathered.

Oh, yeah.

Or naked.

Sometimes there’s a mole rat in there.

You never, you never know.

I’m very excited about this.

I have watched Charmed so I feel as Elementary prepared as possible.

1:48

I don’t know.

You sound sound like it sound bad, which means I’m ready to learn a lot more anyway.

Let’s crack it.

2:08

All right, so speaking of pets we’re going to be talking about pets in the context of which is today.

But do you have a pet?

That was I’m thinking maybe your dog bones, right?

Wasn’t that.

Like one of your most devoted he was a good boy.

Yeah, bones.

I had from 4 to 14.

2:24

So pretty formative years and as an only child, I think my parents saw him as like a replacement for a sibling to a point where, when my parents got divorced in there, like custody scenario, the dog came with me everywhere.

So like I, you know, I always had the dog with me, no matter where I was staying.

2:43

So, yeah, we were a little buddies and he was really good dog.

I’d haven’t really had any other pet.

So I don’t know what a devoted pet looks like as an adult.

But I would say he was definitely the Mainstay like my whole childhood.

I remember him always being there and he was very good.

He was very kind.

2:58

I think his whole life, he was like an old grumpy man.

He just kind of just sat on the same stare every day for his whole life and he was very content with that.

An old soul and old soul, but he wasn’t allowed or he was just kind of always there and just write a lounge with you.

3:15

Who’s a good dog?

That’s so sweet.

Well, are you familiar with any kind of animals in the world of the occult, or spiritualism in particular?

I’ve only heard of familiars actually, but again, like I said, I have a very rudimentary understanding of them.

I don’t even know if my understanding on them is correct.

3:33

So what about you, are you aware of any other animals and spiritualism, you know, not really Except that I did learn, you know, when there’s that kind of Trope about witches that when they’re making, you know, a potion or brew that they’re putting in like eye of Newt and yeah, wing of bat and all that.

3:50

Do you know that fun fact that actually most of those terms were not meant to be parts of actual animals.

Oh, those are meant to refer to plants like so certain plants looked like those like a wing of a bat or I have Newt and So that was kind of the nickname for these plants at least.

4:12

This is what I remember learning a year or two ago, because part of at least from what I understand about, being a, which is like not harming animals.

So, they weren’t just murdering bats and like, ripping their wings off and putting them in potions.

Interesting actually supposed to be more like, herbal or plant-based stuff.

4:29

I like how like instead of just having a name for the plant, they just kind of went off of.

It’s like illustration.

They were yes, I wonder why that is.

Oh no, I’m also.

An eye of Newt.

I feel like that I probably look similar to many other eyes.

What if I pick the wrong planet?

Yeah.

4:45

Why was it called eye of Newt compared to something else?

That’s interesting.

Okay, I just looked it up to make sure.

And yeah, apparently, the which has seen in Shakespeare’s Macbeth is where they describe this concoction eye of Newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog and they refer to plants not animal parts.

5:00

And I have new specifically is a pseudonym for mustard seed.

Oh that does look like an eye of Newt.

Now I get it.

I know what mustard seed look.

So, Like this literal seed.

Yeah, I guess yeah.

Huh, interesting, yeah.

So anyway, fun fact for you there.

That’s the only kind of animal / which fact I have aside from familiars, which what is your understanding of familiar?

5:22

Okay, so again like I said I couldn’t even say the word elementary earlier.

So bear with me.

You said, rudimentary though.

And that was pretty good.

It was a recovery from nothing of those.

I was trying to say.

I have an elementary understanding but whatever.

It doesn’t matter.

My probably wrong.

5:38

Understanding of a familiar again, I’ve only watched Charmed and I’ve only heard through like my own friends.

What a familiar might be, but it’s either like a spirit guide or something along those lines.

Maybe a family member, who’s is someone connected to you, almost in Disguise as an animal?

5:57

And it could be an animal somewhere in your environments, whether your pet or an animal, you see in your neighborhood all the time.

And it’s for them to like be able to check in on you or guide you to safety or give you answers.

You’re looking for.

Or and I only mainly know that because my friend Deirdre had a cat princess, who lived way too long by the way, that can I feel like I waited for that cats and not be with us for a very long time and every time I’d go home to visit it like, holy shit, she still here, we always thought she liked if familiars exists.

6:27

She kind of felt like one to everybody.

She always felt like it always seemed like she knew way too much for a cat or it just seemed like she was beyond her years.

It was weird.

It just felt like she could understand you and it made no sense.

I don’t know how else to describe except I felt like she knew what the hell was going on all the time.

6:45

Which means she knew I was waiting for her to die.

Yeah, not good.

Not gonna.

It makes sense in hindsight though.

Catch that cat.

Never liked me so well.

There you go.

I wonder why.

But that’s my basic definition of a familiar is that it’s just someone, that’s spiritually aligned or related to you, looking out for you but as an animal as an animal, maybe in Disguise or something like that, I don’t know.

7:07

Okay.

I think they’re actually Really animals from the start from, what I’ve gathered from this research, but we’ll get into it, okay?

Because my understanding is pretty similar.

Pretty basic for watching like Sabrina, mmm.

And that, you know, shows like that.

But we’re going to learn much more about it today.

7:23

So, okay, cool.

And when I say, we’re going to learn more about it.

I mean, we’re going to get familiar with the topic.

You know, you’re going to use that through and through and I’m going to let you do it to thank you.

So, sometimes familiars were actually referred to as imps, which is something Did not know.

7:39

Nope.

Like everything with this deep of a history, there are varying descriptions of what form, a witch’s familiar comes in and what their purpose is.

In, more modern times, you probably like, have heard of the Trope of a witch’s familiar.

Being a cat often times a black cat, which is weird because princess was a black cat by the well.

7:57

There you go.

Weird.

But they’ve also been known to be ferrets, mice moles.

I mean, maybe you’re naked.

Mole rat could fit in here.

Hmm.

Toads, and the occasional dog.

Ugh, too.

So that’s nice in those forms of familiar, would be controlled by an evil spirit.

8:14

So it was, this is where we take a turn, so connected to the devil.

So this naked mole rat is pretty demonic and they do feel kind of evil to me.

Yeah, I feel like they’ve got a Sinister Spirit.

Okay, so that’s interesting because I never even crossed my mind, they could be evil.

8:30

I always just saw them look good.

I think about how witches were perceived, that makes sense.

You know, they had a similar perception about them, I guess.

Mhm.

This is generally piece of the Laura, where people connected familiars with the devil meeting, which is were also connected with the devil and therefore also evil.

8:46

So, yeah, the fact that their friends, their buddies means, they must both be like in cahoots with the Devil Makes Sense, makes sense.

There’s also stories of insects including bees and flies being around during the English Witch Trials.

If I had a familiar and it was a fly, I think I would be so disappointed, like endlessly, disappointed me like really everybody else gets like a ferret?

9:06

I know.

Well, you know, that doesn’t make Expensive because like, I guess I never understood why I’d like in The Exorcist there was like all these flies like, oh, they’re like a legion harbingers of death or something from Hell, Straight From Hell, aha, I guess.

They’re associated with death, you know, coming from maggots and all that.

9:23

Well, now if they’re associated in this way to, I can see how they’re like a, maybe a demonic.

Hmm, there’s something more than just deaf.

I don’t know.

But also I’m like, of course there were flies.

It was like 1,300, it wasn’t indoor plumbing, that’s also fairly.

There was probably more bugs.

9:39

There weren’t pesticides around, you know, right?

Well and especially if you’re putting these people on trial and like packing people in a hot Courthouse or putting them up on, you know, some sort of what’s the word a Gallows or whatever.

Like of course, there’s gonna be flies, buzzing around.

9:56

But okay, it’s a good point.

To go back to your original point though.

A fly as you’re familiar of all of them I’d be like that’s God man.

That’s how I imagine.

Like the heart planeteer feels just like, oh, I’m just here for like the what Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

10:11

Oh I don’t see.

No I’m not familiar, not familiar.

Okay Kristin get out of here, the back.

So, again, this plays off the double part, the insects were considered a sign of familiars carrying out demonic acts, like damaging crops, and causing famine.

10:29

So, I guess they were onto something.

Considering the Bubonic plague was, you know, carried by fleas on rats.

And bugs, are known to destroy crops.

So I guess I do see why they were considered a negative presence.

And if they were associated with witches, they might be.

10:45

I can see that connection there, fair enough.

Now, you may Wonder How does a witch come to get a familiar attached to them?

Let me tell you.

Okay, thank you, you can guess if you want but it wouldn’t help anyone.

So thank you as detailed in a 20-19 article by Professor Helen Parish, in the journal religion, some stories, say The Familiar approaches the which with the promise, they’ll help them with their feelings of being alone, or distressed.

11:13

Hmm.

So basically a cat will come up and say, hey, Let’s take a seat, I’ll comfort you, and be your friend, which, I mean, I would fall for in a heartbeat.

That’s a very similar to how a lot of people say like I didn’t find my pet, they found me who saved, who ya ever exactly?

11:31

Who saved who?

So I feel like people still will get a pet if they’re especially, I mean, like pets have been known to really like help alleviate depression or yeah.

So I feel like that’s still a thing of like animals are there to help you through feeling alone, isolated?

And yeah, absolutely.

I can see how that immediately became a truck because it’s still true.

11:49

It just a different way today.

Hmm.

It’s also been said the familiar just appears and is now the witches pet or the familiar is handed down to them, which I feel like you kind of alluded to when you were saying like if they’re in your family, hmm Yakko, princess lived forever.

Princess I’m telling you it was not normal like this should have been studies on her.

12:09

I’m telling you that had to have been an ancestor or something.

There’s something creepy was going on with that minimal.

There’s also the argument that a familiar Spirit was a demonic entity.

Entity that would fool the witch into aligning with the devil.

So almost like the, which was innocent until this animal.

12:27

This familiar would kind of trick her into signing or soul up for the devil.

Aha, so though, which was so alone that she agrees to follow the Customs, I have a friend for friends and makes me feel a little targeted, but we’ll move on.

Basically, when the familiars acted evil, it was them acting on.

12:49

Half of the devil and the witch that own that familiar had allegedly made a contractual arrangement to be loyal to Satan.

Yeah.

And inflict harm.

So I mean I don’t know what they’re thinking, like these ferrets are doing.

That’s so evil, but I guess a cat could eat someone’s pet mouse.

13:08

I don’t know where the evil part.

Imagine if the pet mouse is also a familiar.

Oh shit.

Well then you’re really big trouble, Duel of spirits, honestly, that’s seems own fault.

If he said that partnership, that’s Through this true.

Well, I was just like, imagine working at like, the SPCA or something, at the time, whatever that means.

13:24

And just like having all these animals to pick from and like, which ones are having a Legions with Satan, you know, you don’t like, even just being on a farm.

You have like Barn cats, you have cows like which one gets to be the Demonic entity?

I don’t know.

I guess it’s whichever one, is the meanest.

13:40

Yeah.

How does Satan pick which animals are worth his time to seduce into being friends with you?

You know, we’ve talked about how goats have come to Symbolize Satan.

And I wonder why there are not more goat familiars, but maybe cats are just sneaky and more considered pets I guess.

13:58

So.

But you would think you could combine the two stereotypes and witches and goats should be friends, right?

I like that partnership.

But I mean, whatever.

What do I know?

Fucking nothing.

You’re not lying, not much at all.

So once a which gets a familiar, then what?

14:15

Well obviously em they need a name.

So Usually what they would do is give them human names like that, and then they would keep them in pots or boxes lined with sheep’s wool.

Wait, so you’re so desperate for a friend, Satan gives you one and then you keep it going to put on another pot and you named him like Carl or something.

14:35

You bet him in a flower pot with a lid on it.

My friend Carl, he’s a naked mole rat and he’s very evil.

This is my pet.

Mongoose has name is Jeff and I leave him up.

There’s in the closet very evil being familiars were fed.

14:54

This is obviously we get into their dietary habits and this is troubling.

They were fed anything from milk bread and raw meat to witch’s blood so sharp turn there.

So, really the gamut is wide.

Yeah.

Yeah.

15:09

So milk and bread.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

And then we go to like human blood very quickly and the ritual of blood feeding was meant to not just nourish The Familiar yuck but also So was a reward for fulfilling the devil’s demands.

You’re holding up your end of the bargain and this.

15:25

Yeah, sacrificing yourself to the double.

Okay.

Exactly.

Because some believe that feeding a human blood, also gave the familiar quasi human status and if you fed blood to a demon which The Familiar was considered that meant you’re offering your soul to the devil.

So basically like what you’re saying, like you’re offering up your end of the bargain, here’s my blood.

15:43

Thanks for destroying the neighbors, crops for some reason.

And you know what?

That probably is where I have heard.

The Stereotype that they’re somehow related to you or like in Disguise and part human quasi human.

Okay, so now we are unpacking stereotypes today.

15:59

People, I am learning, we are having a good day.

That makes a lot of sense, too.

Because, like, what you were saying about princess.

Now, I’m using her as the example of a familiar.

We were saying about Princess like knowing what was going on.

It almost gives her like a human energy about her.

16:16

She certainly didn’t feel like a cat.

Like she felt like Something was up sorry fee but I did always think like oh she feels like she’s in the know somehow compared to other animals.

Like she’s it’s because here we are in someone in her blood.

I think that you know, you always thought that was a little weird.

16:33

Even a TV shows like if there is a magical cat they’re talking there’s like a humanist straight to them.

Also in Charmed there was a familiar who have literally turned into a human whenever know her name was kit like cat and they didn’t know it was like just a Catholic.

16:49

Always around their house, just bopping around Whenever there was trouble and then eventually, she like turns into a human and like, help, save them or something spoilers, I don’t totally remember the episode.

I might be giving you a completely different story line, but she does become a human eventually.

So I think everyone’s kind of falling for this stereotype.

17:04

Yeah, I’m getting it.

I’m getting it in English stories, a, which might have more than one familiar, which is fun.

Just a legion of flies, under your command.

I prefer Legion of cats but with so yeah, yeah, a murder of crows if you will, Mmm.

17:20

So you would have maybe one for working Magic on human beings and then other familiars to work Magic on other animals or inanimate objects.

They have just like different.

They all throw little jobs.

Yeah, they have their own name tags.

17:35

That’s just mine because I thought it was cute.

Very funny.

Coming up as you might expect during which trials that took place in various places around the globe.

Specifically in England, there have been documented cases where a familiar was present.

17:54

I’ll tell you the story of one cat connected to three separate witches, and his name was Factory Banks or I don’t know.

I’m sure you were going to say princess, but yeah, I don’t know.

I’m just start, I three separate.

I don’t know.

We’ll see which cat you referred to, but it’s either princess or Thackery Binx and no one in between Mean.

18:15

They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes time can do anything but welcome to cold cases.

The new Spotify original from par cast.

I’m Carter Roy.

Every Monday join me as I revisit the clues and miscues of some of the most elusive criminal cases in history, from burglary and arson to kidnappings and murder each.

18:41

Episode of Cold cases explores, the many types of crime, the many ways, they remain unsolved and how long it takes to find the answers if ever will Justice.

Be served, only time will tell follow cold cases, free and only on Spotify.

19:12

All right, in 2020, the owner, and creative director of the hood which brie Luna told Teen.

Vogue, quote, familiars Are Not Just Pets.

They are our truest friends and confidants.

They hear and see it all.

They understand and know us better than we may even know ourselves.

19:30

It’s very sweet, very heartwarming.

I mean a little bit more heartwarming than the pagerank our blood and very part satanic.

But as we talked about their past was Connected to the devil and being evil spirits.

And so I think probably as time has gone on and we’ve looked at witches with a more understanding positive light.

19:51

I think maybe the form of the familiar also got a little less demonic in nature.

Sounds trivia in the familiar lower.

Once they were accepted by a witch that which was then associated with the devil because this animal is, you know, doing acts for the bevel and we know how much the reputation of witches was skewed back in those days.

20:11

So, So they were already not looked upon in a friend by the way.

Yeah, really unfortunately as we’ve talked about on the show several times, there were witch trials that took place because people thought they were saving the world from these evil witches and maybe less documented than other pieces of these witch trial, stories were the presence of familiars which again like I feel like this would have piqued my interest.

20:37

Like why are we not including these little animals and all the stories?

I don’t know.

Yeah.

I feel like for as much as we talk about spiritualism or people involved in it, I feel like I rarely hear about their pets, and that really is something I could Vibe with.

That should be our third podcast for every episode.

20:53

We just talked about a different pet of a spiritualist and what their ends and outs talk about a witchy pet.

Yeah, I love that.

That’s nice.

So, familiars at the witch trials, let’s get into it.

It was apparently during conversations and debates about magic and Witchcraft where the relationship between animals and humans started.

21:11

And Ali turned into the devil appearing as an animal to witches.

And so came the demonizing of which owned pets during accusations and trials, I am now realizing maybe I don’t want to know the details of the stories of The Witches pets because I don’t want to know what happened to them.

21:29

Hmm.

Fair enough.

Starting to realize, maybe that wasn’t a happy story in the I mean if they’re hurting humans right there probably hurting their bridge to Satan.

If you don’t I’m saying exactly They legitimately think this is not a cat.

This is Satan’s minions than yeah I can see why that where that would go wrong.

21:48

Also really grasping at straws here for like any reason to hate a person it’s like oh they have a pet like that must be the demon like any reason to call someone a witch.

Yeah.

Your ferret is doing bad bad things and I just know it any reason to call someone a witch?

I guess.

So you keep a fairy in a pot.

22:05

I would probably also call you which, but that’s besides, yeah, maybe if you have your pet, And it likes to weasel into boxes, maybe just quickly take them out of the box before someone notices in The Stereotype of reforms.

The first recorded, which trial that explicitly references familiars is believed to be the witch trial in Ireland of Alice kittler.

22:27

Interesting kit.

You soak it earlier.

I was killer, I like that.

And this was in 1324.

A lot of the English Witch Trials and what was printed about them.

Also mentioned familiars.

Those references said that familiars appeared in a variety of Forms including in human form, okay, so you were right on them.

22:45

Okay, well I finally just write about something I guess that’s true because you don’t watch what we do in the shadows, do you know?

But humble brag, I worked on it so you know to watch it.

I didn’t run.

Watch it though, to me, it felt like work, so.

23:01

Oh, I see.

Well, there is a familiar, who is a human?

So I is it a cat?

No, I just said it’s a human.

So it’s a I don’t know if it’s like we knew what it’s animal form.

Might have been another is known animal form.

That’s what I’m saying.

Like sometimes they can be humans.

Oh, just plain old human guys got plain old human.

Yeah.

So sometimes they could be humans and occasionally a hybrid of both.

23:21

So I don’t know if that’s like an animorph situation or if they are like, literally just always human combined with an animal.

I don’t know.

I don’t understand but this was supposedly reflecting their demon side.

So also in the UK and Essex, there were trials that took place in kallmes, furred beginning in 1566 and there are stories of three women accused of Witchcraft in Trials where familiars are connected to them, specifically a white spotted cat named Satan.

23:48

It’s like you were signing up for trouble with that name.

I feel like I like to think that those three which is, they were just like they have the darkest humor at this point.

They were like, you know what fine?

You think.

He’s Satan, he’s Satan, let her lean into it apparently.

24:03

The cat was fed their blood and brought material objects to the women.

The cat also supposedly hurt, some people In the community caused illness and even death.

Whoa, and the idea was that the cat was passed down.

As we mentioned, being one of the ways to get a familiar with instructions for its care.

24:23

Oh how to take care of Satan, warm milk before dinner and Cold Blood In Cold Blood?

I feel like giving a cat to somebody with an instruction manual.

Might just be more you know this cat named Satan was a little too rough.

24:41

For me to handle with my toddler in tow so maybe you can take care of this cat Satan.

Here’s an instruction manual.

I feel like that’s happens.

Even today we’re all of a sudden like you’re just being handed a cat that was too rowdy for one family.

Now it’s like wife the deal with and now he’s no problem and then princess would live 45 years.

24:58

Sorry, at least 45.

I feels like Fidel like that’s a very interesting point.

Maybe the instructions that came with the caliper like two baby, make your experience with the cat less horrible.

I don’t know.

She loves blood.

Just one prickle do one just one on the facing.

25:17

Don’t worry.

So unfortunately here are the results of those three Witch Trials, Agnes Waterhouse confessed and was hanged.

Elizabeth Francis was imprisoned for one year but repeatedly, questioned and Joan Waterhouse was acquitted - still don’t understand how you were acquitted at that point in time.

25:36

I know because I feel like if you confessed, it’s because you were kind of forced to, you know, right.

I feel like all the Things that were just described about that cat.

I feel like those were all upset under duress.

Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.

Exactly.

Exactly the feeding of blood to the familiar.

25:51

The cat was a big part of Agnes’s testimony, so here you go.

She said the cat always wanted a drop of her blood and this is where it becomes a little Troublesome.

She claimed, she had scars from where she had pricked her skin for the cat and she later wanted to withdraw that testimony, but because she had scars, they were I know you were telling the truth, you can’t withdraw your testimony because you have the physical scars after Agnes accused.

26:19

Witches would have their body searched for scars yikes.

That were used as evidence that they fed the demons, their blood and interacted with the devil and Beezus.

Yeah.

Somebody who walks into coffee tables?

At least three times a week, the number of scars I have just from being clumsy.

26:36

I would be in trouble used yet instantly.

Well this also feels like one of those things.

Like it was set under duress.

And then like, the witch Hunters used that testimony as a way to investigate every person after that.

Spent the confession, quote-unquote.

26:52

Now, all these people are now being like searched for scars, which is like, everyone’s got a scar somewhere.

Absolutely.

And remember, they were also searching people for birthmarks.

Yeah.

So I mean, I’m sure anything that was even slightly abnormal they could use against you.

Wow.

27:07

Okay.

Well so this is just another who’da thunk that like familiar.

Hers would also be.

I mean I know that they are part of witches and therefore probably had a part of witch trials, but I never even thought like oh a cat scratching.

You were you feeding them blood.

Oh something that people were looking for.

Every time we talk about the witch trials, there’s a new thing.

27:25

I’m learning that they searched your body for.

Yeah.

That they used against you and it’s just I mean you have enough at this point.

Yeah.

What more do you mean Martini?

Like if you have eyeballs you’re a witch at this point.

Yeah.

Mary Beth Norton’s book in the devil’s.

27:40

Snare about the LM witch hunts and trials in the early 60s 90s mentions familiar spirits as well.

Specifically, connected to a young woman named Tituba, which I feel like you’ve talked about before on the show, I think so.

Yeah, I remember her being accused of Witchcraft.

It said a hog yellow bird, black dog, red cat.

27:59

And black cat were quote emissaries of the devil that urged her to hurt children.

Oh well, hmm.

I mean, what?

First of all us, Specific and colorful array of animals.

Sounds like a children’s book that went wrong.

28:17

But yeah.

So I feel like, why are these what urged her to hurt her children.

I feel like the logic never makes sound never.

Makes us just huge gaps that were just being filled.

Uh-huh.

Willy-nilly willy-nilly up.

28:34

Next familiars have found their place in pop culture.

I feel like you might know and probably have already mentioned some of the most famous Famiglia Years from Comics to TV.

So we’ll get into that a little more detail.

Yay.

29:00

All right.

So let’s talk familiars in pop culture.

As I said, the modern take on familiars is much more friendly.

Furry fur baby, you know and less evil.

Devil creatures, who drink your blood?

Hmm magic practitioner Nina, Khan told Teen Vogue and 2020, people can be connected emotionally and communicate telepathically with animals.

29:21

I love that.

I also love that I want to keep that part.

I liked that part.

I follow some animal mediums and psychics on tick-tock.

You also follow some human psychics named chip Coffey, I sure do.

And I bet he can talk to animals if he really wanted to.

29:37

He could do it all as far as you’re concerned.

She’s quoted as saying about her hamster.

Bagel.

Okay.

I don’t need to hear anything else but this is the best.

I love that.

We started with a cat named Satan and no red, a hamster named Bagel like we really I can’t tell if we’re going up or down, I mean oh me too.

29:57

So she’s quoted as saying about her hamster, Bagel he became Came a true familiar to me.

I adopted him in my late teens from a friend who could no longer care for him and immediately felt bonded.

I could easily read his emotions and he communicated with me in so many different and meaningful ways.

30:13

That’s very sweet.

There are times where I don’t believe people when they say things like that but then I think back to princess and I’m like, yeah, I felt the same way, but she felt about Bagel.

So I don’t know.

You didn’t seem to be as enamored with Princess.

We understood each other, though.

I understood she wanted to kill me.

30:28

Oh, I see, I understood.

I Was Here For the Long Haul.

You know, you didn’t seem to understand that because you were surprised every time you saw her alive.

That’s true.

She just kept proving me wrong and then she’d look at me go.

That’s right.

I’m still here.

Silly your.

Oh my gosh.

30:45

Well, one of the most famous familiars and pop culture is a black American shorthair cat.

I’m sure you heard of him.

His name is Salem.

Yeah, I do appreciate, Salem me to Salem was first introduced as an orange cat, believe it or not, in the comic Archie’s mad.

House number 22, in 1962 and he belong to Sabrina Spellman AKA Sabrina the Teenage Witch, love it, love it in the Sabrina comics and the later TV shows Salem’s General story is that he was once a witch that was stripped of his powers and sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat by The Witches Council.

31:20

Oh so this is like his punishment.

Basically I see which is also very Factory Banks of hocus-pocus, right?

He was also cursed to be a cat.

That’s true.

Similar origin story.

Hmm, did you watch Netflix has chilling Adventures of Sabrina?

I didn’t but I heard from many who did that, it was very good.

31:38

It’s a great show.

And so they do touch on that.

Storyline that plot line that this is his punishment and he’s actually a witch who is being punished to live in this cat form.

Gotcha.

So in the series on Netflix Salem is referred to as a goblin, who’s a powerful protective Force for his humans.

31:57

I also call you a goblin, you do.

But you don’t say, The other nice things about me, my little Goblin, other pop culture references to familiars can of course be found in books shows and movies that deal with the supernatural, the book series, His Dark Materials which I know my little sister used to read or watch the TV series.

32:16

The X-Files one of my favorites, what we do in the shadows, which I mentioned earlier, Charmed one of your favorites and Supernatural if Vic.

We’ve checked off all of these in some way.

Yeah, in some way many think their familiars in the world of hair, Potter, but the Wizarding World website printed that JK Rowling denied that they exist in the Harry Potter universe.

32:38

So they’re actually not considered familiars, which is interesting because I feel like we’re all thinking of like that scabbers the rat, right?

And like big and I feel like it is you know, they all have a pet.

It seems like it would be a familiar, you know.

32:53

Yeah.

And I guess because scabbers and like you find out he is a human in Disguise which is maybe where I get that reference.

From.

But yeah, I guess that was through a spell right?

Not I don’t know but okay I guess if the Wizarding World says it so then I’ll believe it.

I’m not going to fight it.

Yeah yeah yeah so I guess they were not considered even though there are familiarity as they were not considered familiars.

33:16

So maybe all this will make you think differently.

The next time, you look at your pet, I have a black cat and he likes to drown his own toys.

So I feel a little bit like I’m already scared of him, so he Take his toys and carry them to his water bowl and then drop them and watch them as they sink to the bottom.

33:38

And he will do this with.

Not only his toys were pretty much.

Any small object in the house.

Sometimes even a sock or a mitten baby.

Socks have been known.

He drags them to the water bowl and then just watches as they sink to the bottom.

It’s very dark to watch.

I wonder if he would do that with a small animals.

33:53

If he could get his hand on a little animal, that’s kind of what we feared might happen.

So I don’t think there are any small rodent It’s in our future.

You also have a dog who is known to, like, do the thing with his toys, where he’s imitating, snapping, their neck.

Yeah.

That like big selling shake back and forth.

34:09

That’s so cute Until you realize, it’s their instinct to break their praise neck Charming.

So, he snaps the neck and then moonshine, drowns, it in the river and together.

They come in a double homicide, it’s my sister calls, Juniper, our other cat, the white cat old God, old God, why I don’t know.

34:30

Why, but she has developed this nickname for him.

So really all my pets.

Have some like creepy dark, dark Back stories that I didn’t quite sign up for old God.

Oh, that’s very scary.

It’s very scary.

Do you feel like out of any of them?

34:45

Do you feel like you’re particularly bonded to any of them in a certain way Gio’s?

My firstborn as you know, so I consider him, you know, my first child.

Now that I have a child, I feel like I’m allowed to say that because in the past, I felt like I shouldn’t say that.

Because people with actual children would not love it but I do, I consider him my firstborn who is certainly our first 24/7 responsibility, first project and big mistake.

35:11

Yeah, I think I don’t regret it but trust me when they say it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of work.

What do you think?

At the end of all this?

How do you feel about familiars?

You know, I kind of prefer the newer.

Take we have e to the more modern take that, I definitely think of it as a modern take.

35:28

I don’t know if it’s really that, I guess.

No more probably than animals just having a really close bond with their owner that it feels like a human connection.

Right?

Right.

Like maybe I can see them coming off as something more Supernatural, because we know where we’ve often talked about how they can hear and see things that we can’t.

35:44

True good point.

So maybe because they’re, I don’t know if they’re connected more spiritually or maybe they just experience the world differently than we do and it’s creepy.

Holy, yeah, that’s a great point.

But I could see that as becoming part of the more modern.

Take two of that.

Oh, they’re It to the spirits because they know what’s going on like that.

36:03

They can see Beyond the Veil maybe haha.

Yeah so I think it’s at least a fun Theory.

I definitely wish my cat could be a true like human or spirit guide familiar or something like that.

You because you don’t have a cat.

But if you were to get a familiar, what would you get?

36:19

Because you don’t have a pet right now.

Yeah happily.

So by the way is considering I have watched you through all the tumbles.

I’m like, I’m like I’m happy to have always towards it.

I love being selfish.

My time step on it wet toy, in the middle of night with socks on.

And you want to know what?

36:34

Did I just step in?

Yeah, I like how you had three of those and then you’re like, let’s make a human one.

That’s the look.

Will you just love the chaos I guess on the edge?

And, you know, that about me, I love waking up to a dry floor all the time and every room boring if I had to.

36:51

I mean if we’re picking what type of pet I like a dog but if we’re picking a familiar yeah feel like that gives me more room to pick something kind of kooky something kooky.

For sure.

I used to have a hedgehog.

Yeah, I really loved my hedgehog.

They’re not legal in California though.

So, I would still pick a hedgehog.

37:07

I think, I don’t know.

I had something.

I know, and I feel safe with and he was also very sweet and cute.

So if you had a hedgehog, I might move back to LA.

They’re also so low maintenance.

So it was a really interesting time for me as someone who doesn’t like responsibility or commitment.

37:24

They are low maintenance and they only live a few years.

So you know, that is perfect for me and just A freaking Cactus at this point or nothing at all.

That lasts a long time too.

Oh my God, what about you besides a dog or a cat or a human something?

37:41

You don’t.

I think something fun like a ferret.

I’ve always wanted a ferret me too.

I feel like they’re really fun pets and I’ve heard people who have them have, just and rats.

I know, you’re probably not a big fan of, I’m not team rat.

I’m not know.

They’re so smart and sweet.

And gentle, I can Vibe with the Hedgehog and that’s about it.

38:00

It in the sorry, maybe pygmy goat, like one of those little tiny ones goats are good to pig, or go.

I’m gonna have a whole farm.

This is what happens.

Okay, this is what happens.

This is how my house ends up.

A circus and the zoo tomorrow Christine’s going to call me be like so I bought a farm and so guess what?

38:18

I don’t know what to tell you about, as the friend who is so against like picking anything that involves commitment to get random text in the middle.

The night of Christine, who would likely say, I bought a whole farm and this is Like now that’s the scariest thing in the world fair, I live in Kentucky, so if I were going to buy a farm, this might be the easiest /.

38:37

Cheapest place to do it, it wouldn’t be that hard for, you know.

And also you know I think it’s kind of an ideal scenario for you because you don’t have the responsibility.

You get to just sit on the sidelines.

That’s why I’m friends with you.

I’m like, yeah.

Okay.

Babies.

You’ve got dogs, you’ve got it all.

So I can second and experience it.

38:53

I’m tired, I can go home.

So you can like visit feed my dog too much peanut butter and then I deal with the puke afterward.

It really is like An ideal scenario for me, only but for you only?

Yeah, of course, and for my dog and that’s the familiar.

I want.

39:18

Thanks so much for listening.

We’ll be back next week with another great episode information.

On today’s episode came from witches, familiars in England by m Amory, which is familiar as and human animal interactions.

The English Witch Trials by Helen Parish Conway Hall, which has and the dead the case for the English Coast familiar by Victoria car, the witch, cult in Western Europe, by Margaret Alice Murray, the BBC, The Witches Mark in the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 by Devon McMahon.

39:46

In the devil’s snare by Mary Beth Norton.

Teen vogue’s article, what a witch’s familiar really is by Lisa, Stardust and chilly Adventures of Sabrina, which familiars explained on den of geek.

Remember to follow rituals on Spotify to get a brand-new.

Episode every week and you can listen to this and all other episodes of rituals for free exclusively on Spotify.

40:06

And if you liked this show, follow at par cast on Facebook and Instagram and at podcast Network on Twitter, you can find me at the M Schultz and you can find me a text.

And she fur.

Thanks again for listening and we will see you next week.

Rituals is executive produced by Max Cutler and is a Spotify original from podcast.

40:24

It was created by Max color, sound design by Kristen Acevedo with associate.

Sound designed by Kevin McAlpine fact-checking by Laurie, Segall research by Sapphire Williams.

It’s produced by Chris and Acevedo and Jonathan Ratliff with production assistants by Ron Shapiro.

40:40

We’re your host, Christine cheaper and M Schultz.

Hi, I’m Carter Roy.

Host of the Spotify original from par cast, cold cases, from burglary and arson to kidnappings and murder explore.

40:59

The many types of crime, the many ways, they remain unsolved and how long it takes to find the answers.

If ever catch a new episode of Cold cases, every Monday, listen free only on Spotify.