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A late-16th-century English illustration of a witch feeding her familiars. In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (strictly familiar spirits, as "familiar" also meant just "close friend" or companion, and may be seen in the scientific name for dog, Canis familiaris) were believed to be supernatural entities, interdimensional beings, or spiritual guardians that ...
In almost every animal there is some way to connect it to a lesson from the church or a familiar religious story. With animals holding significance since ancient times, it is fair to say that bestiaries and their contents gave fuel to the context behind the animals, whether real or myth, and their meanings.
Salawa – the "Typhonian Animal," a slender, vaguely canine-animal that is the totemic animal of Set; Sigbin – is a creature in Philippine mythology (Philippines) Sky Fox (mythology), a celestial nine-tailed Fox Spirit that is 1,000 years old and has golden fur (Chinese) Shug Monkey – dog/monkey creature found in Cambridgeshire (Britain)
Familiar – Animal servant; Far darrig – Little people that constantly play pranks; Farfadet – Small (some half-meter tall), wrinkled, and brown-skinned helpful sprites. The Fates – Three time-controlling sisters; Faun – Human-goat hybrid nature spirit; Fear gorta – Hunger ghost
There are 107 classes of animals in 33 phyla in this list. However, different sources give different numbers of classes and phyla. For example, Protura, Diplura, and Collembola are often considered to be the three orders in the class Entognatha. This list should by no means be considered complete and authoritative and should be used carefully.
It became a custom to take care of these animals when they were found within the area of the shrine. Normally, each kami had only one animal familiar, but sometimes, there were some exceptions where a kami had more than one. Even some of the "Seven Lucky Gods" like Daikokuten (a mouse) and Benzaiten (a snake) had animal familiars. [5]
Louis Le Breton's illustration of a grimalkin from the Dictionnaire Infernal. A grimalkin, also known as a greymalkin, is an archaic term for a cat. [1] The term stems from "grey" (the colour) plus "malkin", an archaic term with several meanings (a low class woman, a weakling, a mop, or a name) derived from a hypocoristic form of the female name Maud. [2]
Shikigami are conjured beings, made alive through a complex conjuring ceremony. Their power is connected to the spiritual force of their master, where if the invoker is well introduced and has much experience, their shiki can possess animals and even people and manipulate them, but if the invoker is careless, their shikigami may get out of control in time, gaining its own will and ...