Familiar Spirits

 I know when most people hear the term 'familiar spirit' they immediately think of either an early modern demon in animal form or a witch's beloved pet. For me though its neither of those - I think of fairy familiars and of a being who has been with me since I was a child. 

First a bit of background. Fairy familiars are a concept we find in early modern witchcraft; they are Fairy beings who are connected to a witch and who act as a go-between for the witch and the Good Folk. (I discuss this in depth here). The relationship between a witch and fairy familiar is very different from what we might envision for other types of familiars - the witch is the one who is in service, for one thing, and the relationship between the two is often very intimate or personal, either as lovers or as family members. 

In Ireland we see an overlapping concept, that of the Leannán sidhe - literally fairy lover. This idea goes back at least a thousand years in Irish myth and folklore around one of the sidhe known to be the lover of a human; usually thought to protect & sometimes offer knowledge to their human lover, they could be of either gender. The term was also used to translate the Biblical 'familiar spirit' because it was understood to be a similar concept. For example in Bedell's 1642 'Leabhuir na Seintiomna', Isaiah 3 & Samuel 8, uses the term leannáin síghthe for familiar spirits.

There are multiple ways for a person to acquire a familiar, although with fairy familiars they are usually given to a person by a fairy monarch or come to the person to establish a connection between them and the Good Folk. While they fall into the general range of familiar spirits they are a specific category within that and have their own unique aspects and qualities.

I think what this all looks like in practical terms will be different for each person. I can talk about historical accounts and I can talk about my own experiences - which I will below - but I don't think there's any one template for how this goes. I'm not even sure that the different schools of thought on it or people who have these connections agree on why or how they exist, never mind the details of it all. So while I will offer a bit on my own experiences here I do want people to be clear that this is entirely my own experience 

I have mentioned in various places that I have always had the Othercrowd around me, even before I really understood what they were. I have distinct memories as a young child - perhaps 5 years old - of a woman with dark red hair coming into my bedroom at night to comfort me when I was scared; only later did I realize she was a woman of the sidhe. She has continued to be a presence for me and is one of my main connections among the Other to this day. She has told me that we are 'family' and she often acts as a guide or mentor for me now. I did nothing to invoke or call her but she seems to have her own reasons for wanting this connection.

When I was 12 I started practicing witchcraft and began to open up to and learn about magical practices. Several years later, when I was around 14, I met my fairy familiar, although due to some extreme foolishness on my part at the time I offended him in such a way that I did not see him again until I was 24. Honestly I'm lucky he came back at all, usually in similar situations the Otherworldly being goes never to be seen again. I'll often talk about the care needed around the Othercrowd because their reactions can be extreme, and this is one of the things I think of, but in this case I was very lucky that I was given a second chance. Since he returned he has become another foundational presence in my life, helping to shape my spirituality and acting as a familiar to me - a go-between for me and the Fairy Queen I serve and the Good Folk more generally - and in the older role these beings take in Irish culture. As with her I didn't call or invoke him but I believe he initially came at a time when I was first opening up to magical work, and then returned at a point where I had started to deepen my spirituality and reconnect particularly to the aos sidhe.
Both of these beings are vital to my spiritual practice but also to me personally. They have taught me many things which I incorporate into my witchcraft and more than that have been an anchor for me throughout my life. 

For me having a fairy familiar or a fairy guide, if I might call her that, is a key aspect of my practice but also of who I am as a person.