Wiccans, I have a question about Familiars.?

There never was such a thing as "familiars" in the Wiccan religion. Do you know what a familiar was? It was a Christian belief from the middle ages that Witches could turn into animals, or turn evil creatures into animals to sneak around under their control.

I don't know what books or websites you have been reading about Wicca, but if they are talking about familiars, they suck really bad. Here is a better website to help you understand the religion: wicca.cnbeyer.com EDIT: No, I'm not out of line. I'm just not a "Wicca can be whatever you want to call it" kind of gal; the idea that "Wicca is everything" makes Wicca nothing.

You want to have a familiar? Fine... but that doesn't make it Wiccan. Why call it Wiccan?

Why pretend it's Wiccan? - It is a fact that the concept of familiar is not original to Wiccan and did not come from traditional Wicca.- It's also a fact that the origin of familiars came from Christian medieval Witch hysteria. It was centuries later that occultists began to turn the concept around to something positive-- an animal you have an affinity or relationship with.

Read some real history; not the romanticized pop-version of history a lot of Pagans like to perpetuate in shoddily written Llewellyn books. That Wiccans and New Agers or even Christians and atheists choose to re-invent the concept of "familiar" and adhere to such a practice in no way makes it a Wiccan practice or part of the Wiccan religion. Wiccans can scrapbook, too; that doesn't make scrapbooking Wiccan?

If someone wrote "how do I make my WIccan scrapbook and how do I know if it is right?" would it be wrong to state that scrapbooking is not a Wiccan religious teaching? The idea that a Wiccan HAS to make a scrapbook is as in accurate as the idea that a Wiccan HAS to find a familiar. Wiccans are fully fledged humans-- we can have a whole array of interests; that doesn't make our every interest become part of Wicca, even though we can take Wicca into any of our interests.

TEA-- if you are reading any "bitterness" into my words, then it's coming somewhere from within yourself. I may sound pedantic sometimes, but rarely bitter. And I would like to point out that you are the one making all the accusations at me; I'm just arguing the point.

I have put forth a very valid argument with very logical points. Instead of trying to psychoanalyze me or counsel me on what I need, why don't you put forth your own logical argument for why you actually believe familiars are part of Wicca?If you are interested in familiars, please pursue them in Good Health... but that doesn't make them Wiccan. I am interested in a lot of things, too, but I'm not going to pretend they are part of Wicca. I know Christians who read tarot cards... does that make tarot cards Christian?

No. Same thing here. Maybe if you stop reading an attitude in my words and actually read what I am trying to say, you will see my point.

FINAL EDIT: It appears that as long as I disagree with you, I’m going to sound bad to you. I never said "no true Wiccan" has a familiar; I said, the concept of familiar is not Wiccan. You can’t say “No True Scotsman would east sushi!”

But does that make Sushi Scottish now? Do we re-write the food histories and the cookbooks for them? Do we deny that sushi was originally Japanese?

What if a good portion of Wiccans begin incorporating Satanic worship? Are you going to defend it and say "hey, there's no such thing as 'no true Wiccan'?" Because I'm not.

I'm going to be there pointing out that belief in Satan is not from, or part of, Wiccan tenets, even if some claim to worship Satan. No path or belief is invalid? But why call it all Wicca? If we keep slapping the Wiccan label to include anything that anyone wants to do that is remotely spiritual– Wicca ceases to be a specific, identifiable religion and becomes the new term meaning "New Age."

You can call a pizza a pizza no matter what you put on it; but the toppings don’t make it a pizza. Toppings can come from Italy (sausage, garlic) or Hawaii (ham, pineapple), but they can still go on pizza and no one argues that. But if someone is just eating a pile of toppings in a plate, without the baked bread/sauce/cheese slice below, they’re not eating pizza.

If we start calling piles of meat and vegetables “pizza” to avoid hurting feelings of people who like the name “pizza,” then before you know it “pizza” is no longer a distinctive food; it’s just any old food on any old plate. Eventually we lose real, traditional pizza. What's wrong and so insulting with saying "this is the pizza; that's just a good topping that goes with it if you want"?

SO What's so wrong and insulting with saying, "this is Wicca; that's another spiritual practice that you can use with it if you want"? (This is getting crazy long so if you'd like to offer any more insight on the kind of person I must be because you don't like what I say, please feel free to take it to E-mail).

In Wicca, there is no such thing as a familiar. There is the utmost respect for life and creatures on this earth, but familiars are just a commercialized witch accessory.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.