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  • Familiars in Witchcraft

  • Supernatural Guardians in the Magical Traditions of the World
  • By: Maja D'Aoust
  • Narrated by: Maja D'Aoust
  • Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)

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Familiars in Witchcraft

By: Maja D'Aoust
Narrated by: Maja D'Aoust
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Publisher's summary

A comprehensive exploration of familiars and their many forms and powers

• Explores witch’s familiars in folklore, shamanic, and magical traditions around the world, including Africa, India, Scandinavia, ancient Greece, and China

• Explains how familiars are related to shamanic power animals and how the witch draws on her personal sexual energy to give this creature its power

• Examines the familiar in alchemical, Hermetic, and Egyptian magical literature, including instructions for procuring a supernatural assistant

Exploring the history and creation of a “witch’s familiar,” also known as a spirit double or guardian spirit, Maja D’Aoust shows how there is much more to these supernatural servant spirits and guardians than meets the eye. She reveals how witches are not the only ones to lay claim to this magician’s “assistant” and examines how the many forms of witch’s familiars are well known in folklore throughout Europe and America as well as in shamanic and magical traditions around the world, including Africa, India, and China.

The author explains how familiars are connected with shapeshifting and how the classic familiars of medieval witchcraft tradition are related to the power animals and allies of shamanic practices worldwide, including animal guardian spirits of Native American traditions and the daimons of the ancient Greeks and Romans. She examines the fetch spirit, also known as the fylgia in Scandinavian tradition, and how the witch or sorcerer draws on their personal sexual energy to give this creature its power to magnetize and attract what it was sent to retrieve. She looks at incubus, succubus, doubles, doppelgangers, and soul mates, showing how familiars can also adopt human forms and sometimes form romantic or erotic attachments with the witch or shaman.

Reviewing alchemical, Hermetic, and Egyptian magical literature, including the nearly forgotten alchemical works of Anna Kingsford, D’Aoust explores their instructions for procuring the attention of a supernatural assistant as well as an extensive description of the alchemical wedding and how this ritual joins the magician and familiar spirit into a single unified consciousness. Exploring fairy familiars, she reveals how a practitioner can establish a “marriage” with a totemic plant or tree spirit, who, in return, would offer teachings about its medicinal and visionary powers.

Delving deeply into the intimate relations of humanity with the spirit world, D’Aoust shows how forming connections with living forces other than human enables us to move beyond the ego, expand our magical abilities, as well as evolve our conscious awareness.

©2019 Maja D’Aoust. All Rights Reserved. (P)2019 Inner Traditions Audio. All Rights Reserved.
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Critic reviews

“Guiding us gently through the realms of black cats and demon lovers, sibyls and oracles, earth angels and falling stars, Maja D’Aoust consistently returns to history and etymology as she reveals how familiar spirits, in their various shapes and forms, have always lived among us.” (Mikita Brottman, author of Phantoms of the Clinic and An Unexplained Death)

“In Familiars in Witchcraft, Maja D’Aoust brings together a vast wealth of lore, history, and incredibly useful insights with such readability and grace. In a subject cloaked in mystery, the author reveals her life experience and devoted education in what should be considered essential reading for the serious occultist and seeker alike.” (Gabriel Dean Roberts, author of The Quest for Gnosis)

What listeners say about Familiars in Witchcraft

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Amazing book dense with knowledge!

Such a great book! An incredibly compelling read - rich with knowledge and story. I love how much etymology can teach us and how Maja incorporates it into her incredibly well researched book!

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Good

going to see I get kindled , I would say for people to get this book

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interesting but not what I expected

I thought it might have more concepts about how to attain a familiar, instead it's about 90% speculative opinions being spoken as truth. It's more of an interpretation of history through the tint of 'WhAt IF', more like a fan fiction, than something I can trust.

The section about René Descartes is especially cringe worthy.

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