Also called familiar spirit, witch's familiar, imp
A familiar is a spirit helper believed to assist a witch or cunning person, often in animal form. In early modern English witch trials, familiars such as cats, toads and dogs were treated as evidence of a pact with the Devil; modern witches usually mean a pet or spirit companion they feel a bond with.
TraditionEarly modern English folk belief; modern witchcraft
RegionEngland, especially Essex and East Anglia
Era1560s to 1640s trials; modern revival from the 20th century
Moon◐ Any moon
DayMonday · Moon
ElementSpirit
Difficulty●○○ Simple
Time15 minutes, repeated over weeks
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
The working
Understand that a familiar is a relationship, not a tool. An animal's welfare always comes first, and no spell needs an animal to do anything.
If you feel a pet is your familiar, simply spend calm time with it while you meditate or work at your altar, letting it come and go freely.
Never confine, drug, mark, dress or feed anything unusual to an animal for ritual, and never use candles, incense, essential oils or salt where a pet can reach them.
For a spirit familiar, sit quietly by a candle, set out a dish of water, and invite a helpful, protective presence. Note any images or animals that come to mind.
Record dreams, repeated animal sightings and feelings in your notebook over several weeks.
Give thanks with a small offering, such as fresh water, or by doing something good for animals, like donating to a shelter.
If anything feels frightening or unhealthy, stop and close the session; good companions do not demand anything harmful.
Take care: Never harm, confine or stress an animal for any spell, and keep candles, incense, essential oils, salt and toxic plants (lilies are deadly to cats) away from pets. Respect wild animals by watching them, not catching them.
Versions across time and place
i
Sathan the cat, Chelmsford 1566
Elizabethan English witch trials · 1566
Elizabeth Francis told the court she had a white spotted cat called Sathan, given by her grandmother and fed on bread, milk and drops of blood. She passed it to Agnes Waterhouse, who was said to have turned it into a toad. Agnes was hanged on 29 July 1566, one of the first women executed under the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act.
Recorded in: The Examination and Confession of Certain Witches at Chelmsford (1566 pamphlet); Essex Record Office
ii
Hopkins' imps
English Civil War witch hunts · 1644 to 1647
During the East Anglian witch hunts, Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne kept suspects awake and watched for small animals visiting them. The frontispiece of Hopkins' pamphlet shows imps with names like Pyewacket and Vinegar Tom. Their hunts are usually counted as the deadliest in English history.
Recorded in: Matthew Hopkins, The Discovery of Witches (1647)
iii
The cunning folk's fairy helper
British cunning folk · 16th and 17th centuries
Historian Emma Wilby shows that healers and cunning folk also spoke of familiar spirits, often in human or fairy form, who taught them cures and found lost goods. Accusers recast these helpers as demons.
Recorded in: Emma Wilby, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits (Sussex Academic Press, 2005)
History
The idea of the familiar is especially English. Belief in helping spirits existed across Europe, but the animal imp suckled by a witch became a main kind of evidence in English trials. The first famous case came at Chelmsford, Essex, in 1566, when Elizabeth Francis and Agnes Waterhouse described a cat named Sathan. Agnes was hanged on 29 July. Elizabethan pamphlets spread such stories, and familiars became standard in later trials, as historian Marion Gibson and the Essex Record Office have documented.
The pattern peaked between 1644 and 1647, when Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne led witch hunts across East Anglia, using sleep deprivation and 'watching' to catch visiting imps. Emma Wilby has argued that some familiar stories came from real visionary experiences among cunning folk. In the 20th century Wiccans and other witches reclaimed the familiar as a beloved animal companion or spirit guide, a gentle version far from the trial records.
