The Fylgja

Remember the cats, ravens, and other familiar spirits who are often the companions of witches in European folktales? 

These are fylgjur (pronounced “FILG-yur”) in the plural and fylgja (pronounced “FILG-ya”) in the singular. The fylgja is generally perceived in an animal form by those with second sight, although human fylgjur aren’t unheard-of.

It’s an attendant spirit whose well-being is intimately tied to that of its owner – for example, if the fylgja dies, its owner dies, too. Its character and form are closely connected to the character of its owner; a person of noble birth might have a bear fylgja, a savage and violent person, a wolf, or a gluttonous person, a pig. In a sense, this helping spirit can be seen as the totem of a single person rather than of a group.

Fylgja literally translates as “follower,” but, as often as not, it’s depicted as traveling ahead of its owner, arriving at the intended destination before its owner or appearing in the dreams of someone who will meet the owner the following day. Intriguingly, the term is also applied to the afterbirth, but the connection is mysterious and unclear (Source: Norse Mythology.org)

Reading The Signs

Totem animals/power animals are often indicators and oracles. Once we have discovered what our power animals are we will often see our power animals on our travels—above us in the sky; waiting for us by the side of the road or path; in our local environ.

They will make it obvious they are there for us.

Take note of what is on your mind at the time and what is occurring in your life. Understand your power animal and the message it is telling you. Often other Power animals we are not accustomed too will appear in the same way—take note of the animal and the time … they will also be providing you a message.

The more sensitive you become to the animal & bird kingdoms, the more we will become aware of the signs …. Matthew James 

An Introduction To Animal Familiars

Sarahannelawless: True witches and shamans have familiar spirits – we just do – whether we like it or not. Totemism stems from Animism which every culture’s spiritual beliefs evolved from at some point in time. Animism is the belief that everything has a spirit and a consciousness — a soul– from the tiniest microorganism on earth to the planets in the heavens. Animists usually believe in rebirth & reincarnation either as another human, or an animal, tree, or star. Anything or one can be an ancestor and in a way this is true as even scientists will tell you every single thing in the Universe is created from the same dust resulting from the explosion of the “big bang”. Spirits of place (genus loci) are thought to be a soul who has come to reside in a hill, stream, or grove as its guardian and benefactor. Animism is usually viewed as more primitive with Polytheism being seen as more advanced (think Stone Age vs. the Roman Empire). But as many modern religious scholars have discovered there is more natural harmony and more earthly wisdom within animism than almost any other world religion. You can easily have one without the other, however, in some cultures the two did go hand in hand: the Norse had their pantheon as well as strong beliefs in land spirits and even the ancient Greeks had spirits of springs, rivers, hills, forests, etc which were worshipped almost at the same level of devotion if not more as their pantheon of deities with sacrifices, offerings and festivals in their honour. Anthropologists call these divisions the “low cult” (animism) and the “high cult” (polytheism)...read more>>>...