Question of the Week #6 - Pets and Circle

This first Question of Faith comes to you on behalf of our wonderful dog Ginger. After finishing off the introduction, explanation of how this will work, and its history. I started to pace a little bit trying to come up with the first question. There were a number of different options available to me but I knew that the first one had to be something special and also something fun that would encourage people to take part. Ginger just sat there watching me as I walked back and forth with an innocent face that just wanted to be petted and maybe know what I was doing as well. When I paused and reached down to give her what she wants and pet the top of her head the idea struck.

Witches in myth often have pets as a part of their story and a few Craft books mention them as well. But rarely are they given their true due and offered any in depth discussion. How does your family pet come in to your own practice? I’ve known people who put them outside before ritual while some people close the door behind them before starting to keep them out. Still others let them wander about as they wish coming in and out of the circle like it wasn’t there. In my own house we tend to let them wander in and out and do as they please with the exception of Ginger the dog which does tend to get a little overly excited by everything. Well to be honest she gets overly excited by, well anything really.

If you do let your pets or familiars, if you prefer, wander about during ritual have you ever paid any special attention to how they act during the course of the ritual. It’s not at all uncommon for us to be cleaning up after the ritual and finding a cat or two just hanging out under the alter table. I’ve also seen kittens go in to overdrive during an energy building ritual. So many different things can happen with pets in circle and during rituals. I’m sure that we all have stories of pets and the relationship with magic I for one would love to hear some of them.

Regardless of whether you have an open access policy or separate your pets from magic and ritual what led you to that decision. We may never have given any serious thought to why we do what we do but there has to be some type of reason for it and it’s important to know that reason and not do things just because.

The search for an answer is the best part of an answer.
Randilin
P.S. – If you have a picture of your pet among your ritual or magical tools why not share it with the world?