Animals in Witchcraft and Paganism

Animals in witchcraft and paganism are companions, messengers, and symbols, and every one of those roles rests on animism, the belief that animals, plants, rocks, and rivers each have a spirit. A familiar is an animal, or a spirit in animal form, that keeps a witch company in the craft, and tending one is a type of spirit work.

Animal omens are animals that appear unasked and have spiritual meaning for you, whether it's a crow on the fence or a spider in a dream. The practice of reading these signs, symbols, and dreams is divination. Animal guides are any animals a person feels kinship with, calls on, and learns from, and many pagans and witches keep familiars as pets or guides.

Spirit animals and totems are words with similar meanings that have been borrowed from other cultures and brought into modern day witchcraft and paganism. Cats, crows, horses, dogs, owls, toads, and spiders are the animals most often called witchy, but any animal could be a familiar, a totem, an omen, or a guide, or even more than one at a time.

A familiar is a spirit that helps a witch with spellwork, divination, and protection. Familiars are spirits in animal shape, usually in the body of a deeply bonded pet. A familiar met in dreams or meditation rather than in fur is usually called an animal guide, and pagans and witches keep both. In witchcraft and paganism a familiar is the animal that turns up for the practice on its own, circling the altar, sitting on the tarot cards, or refusing to leave the room while a spell is cast.

An animal omen is an animal that shows up in a way that stops you, such as a crow that follows you at the park, a deer that comes into your yard, or a frog that shows up in your living room. Sometimes ordinary encounters with animals come as omens, even though not every animal you see is an omen. A true omen is felt as much as it is seen, and the encounter can be ordinary and still feel magical.

Bone reading, or throwing the bones, is divination with a set of bones, teeth, claws, shells, stones, and small curios that the reader casts onto a cloth or the bare ground. The reading comes from where each piece lands, which pieces fall together, and which way they point. Every set is personal, built one found piece at a time, and many pagans and witches hear their ancestors speaking when the bones are cast.

Feather magic is the craft of reading and working with feathers that you find on your path. Birds are linked to messages, carrying the word of gods in most folklore around the world. Feathers can be read by the bird they come from, by color, and by which part of the bird it came from. Kept on the altar, carried in a charm bag, or woven into a witch's ladder, feathers stand for the element of air. They are used to fan smoke and to move energy through a room or around an object or person being cleansed.

Weather lore is a type of divination, where pagans and witches read the coming weather based on what animals are doing. A cat washing behind its ears means rain, cows lying down in the field mean a storm, and swallows flying low mean the pressure is dropping. Crickets chirp faster as the day warms, bats hunt late on a fair evening, and frogs sing louder before rain. People of the land have kept the same lore for centuries, just like the famous example of the groundhog looking for his shadow at Imbolc.

Animal correspondences are the meanings, energies, and gods a witch keeps for each creature, drawn from folklore and from what the animal does, and written into the Book of Shadows for spellwork and divination.

A to F

Bat, rebirth, initiation, night, and the dead; a thin veil between the worlds, and good luck in Chinese tradition.

Bear, strength, winter sleep, healing, and the protective mother.

Bee, community, work, sweetness, and messages between the living and the dead; a death in the house is told to the bees.

Boar, courage and fierceness; Freyr's animal in Norse tradition.

Butterfly, transformation, the soul, and the dead returning in a new form.

Cat, independence, psychic sight, protection, and the classic familiar; Freyja's chariot is drawn by two cats.

Cow, abundance, motherhood, and nourishment; Brigid's animal.

Crow and raven, prophecy, the dead, and messages from the other side; Odin's ravens are Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory.

Deer and stag, gentleness in the doe, wildness and the horned god in the stag; Cernunnos's animal.

Dog, loyalty, protection, and the guide of the dead; Hecate's animal.

Dove, peace, love, and the goddess; Aphrodite's bird.

Fox, cunning, adaptability, and going unseen.

Frog and toad, rain, fertility, cleansing, and the witch's animal in early modern woodcuts.

G to N

Goat, stubbornness, sure footing, and the horned god; Thor's chariot is drawn by two goats.

Goose, home, the hearth in winter, and watchfulness; the sound of the wild hunt overhead in folklore.

Groundhog, waking from winter sleep, new beginnings, and weather prophecy in early February.

Hare and rabbit, fertility, the moon, and the trickster; in folklore the witch's animal and the shape she takes at night.

Hawk, keen sight, messages from above, and the sun; Horus's bird.

Horse, freedom, travel between worlds, and the sea; Epona's animal.

Magpie, the trickster, the thief, and luck read by the counting rhyme, one for sorrow and two for joy.

Moth, the night, the soul, and visits from the dead after dark.

Mouse, quiet, small magic, and the household.

O to Z

Otter, play, joy, and ease in the water.

Owl, wisdom, the unseen, and the dark; Athena's bird, and a death omen in European folklore when it calls at the window.

Raccoon, cleverness, curiosity, and the night.

Snake, rebirth, healing, and hidden knowledge; sheds its skin and lives close to the ground.

Spider, patience, fate, and weaving; the spider at the door is a common omen.

Squirrel, gathering, thrift, and planning ahead; Ratatoskr runs the world tree in Norse tradition.

Swallow, the return of spring, home, and safe travel; flies low before rain.

Wolf, loyalty, the pack, instinct, and protection; Odin's wolves are Geri and Freki.

Wren, the king of birds and the Oak King's bird; hunted in the midwinter procession of British and Irish folklore.

Explore Witchcraft and Pagan Practices

• Spellwork, casting spells and making charms
• Herbal Witchcraft, the herbs used in witchcraft and what each one is for
• Pagan Divination, tarot, runes, scrying, omens, and other ways of reading
• Energy Work, grounding, centering, shielding, and cleansing
• Spirit Work, working with ancestors, deities, spirits, and familiars
• Kitchen Witchcraft, magic done in the kitchen and around the home
• The Four Elements, earth, air, fire, and water in witchcraft and paganism
• Wheel of the Year, the eight sabbats and how to celebrate them

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