Not quite a god, Loplop is Ernst's familiar spirit, and where he goes a kinetic energy follows.
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Each angakkuq keeps a familiar spirit in a leather bottle which he evokes and consults like an oracle. This familiar spirit seeks Torngarsuk in a cave and brings good fortune as well as healing power.
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In some cases, the magical practitioner then made an agreement or entered a pact with their familiar spirit. The length of time that the witch or cunning person worked with their familiar spirit varied between a few weeks through to a number of decades.Wilby 2005, p. 77. In most cases, the magical practitioner would conjure their familiar spirit when they needed their assistance, although there are many different ways that they did this: the Essex witch Joan Cunny claimed, in 1589, that she had to kneel down within a circle and pray to Satan for her familiar to appear while the Wiltshire cunning woman Anne Bodenham described, in 1653, that she conjured her familiars by reading books.
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Yel iyesi (; ) is the Turkic spirit or deity of wind. The name comes from the Turkic words "Yel," which means wind, and "iye," the familiar spirit of any natural asset.
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Although the 1648 law that defined a witch as one who "hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit" had been suspended ten years earlier, association with a familiar spirit was used in the Salem trials as evidence to convict suspected witches. Sarah Good was said to have a yellow bird who sucked between her fingers. Ann Putnam in particular was supposed to have frequently seen the yellow bird in her afflictions. Tituba was said to have seen strange animals that urged her to hurt children, which included a hog, a black dog, a red cat and a black cat.
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Ev İyesi is a house spirit in Turkish / Turkic folklore. Usually İye has the meaning of "familiar spirit". He is masculine, typically small and bearded. He takes on the appearance of current or former owners of the house and have a grey beard.
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It was said that Cardano was always in the company of a familiar spirit who talked to him. This may be a rumour originating from a habit of speaking to himself. Fazio Cardano was the father of Gerolamo Cardano.Alan Shuchat; Simon Gindikin.
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Mull of Cara, near Broonie's Chair Cara is famous as the home of the Uruisg/broonie, the familiar spirit of the Macdonald of Largie family. A rock formation known as the Broonie's Chair is found at the extreme southern tip of the island.
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Biróg (Biroge of the Mountain, Birog), in Irish folklore is the leanan sídhe or the female familiar spirit of Cian who aids him in the folktale about his wooing of Balor's daughter Eithne. She is reinvented as a druidess a Lady Gregory and T. W. Rolleston's retellings.
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In Scandinavian folklore, Fuligo septica is identified as the vomit of troll cats. In Finland, F. septica was believed to be used by witches to spoil their neighbors' milk. This gives it the name paranvoi, meaning "butter of the familiar spirit". In Dutch, "heksenboter" refers to "witches' butter".
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Yer iyesi (Tatar: Җир Иясе or Cir İyäse, Chuvash: Ҫĕр Ийӗ, Sakha: Сир Иччи) is the Turkic / Mongolian spirit or deity of earth or territory. In Turkic languages Yer means land or earth. And İye is the familiar spirit of any natural asset. Yer iyesi protects the earth or any region.
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Legend has it that Soulis's tenantry, having suffered unbearable depredations, arrested him, and at the nearby Ninestane Rig (a megalithic circle), had him boiled to death in molten lead. In actuality, he died, a prisoner, in Dumbarton Castle. Hermitage Castle is reputed to be haunted by Redcap Sly, de Soulis's familiar spirit.
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Following his vision quest, Shaman gains the power to beseech spirits to fulfill his requests. He cannot force the spirits to obey. In this incarnation, Shaman carries a "spirit staff," which glows when he summons the spirits. He wears an "eagle helm," which can transform into an eagle which serves as his familiar spirit.
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According to ancient Turkic traditions and opinions fire is a sacred phenomenon, and can purify all things, even spirits or souls. The people obliged to respect the fire in family or in social life. In fire sits and lives a protector spirit (familiar spirit). If he was angry, then can be harmful to humans.
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Due to the help of Doctor Doom, Susan gives birth to a healthy baby girl, which Doom names Valeria, his price for helping Sue. Doom places a spell on the baby, which makes her his familiar spirit, to be used against the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four wrestle Valeria free from Doom's control and defeat him.
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According to ancient Turkic traditions and opinions, water and rivers are a sacred phenomenon and can purify all things. The people used to be obliged to respect the water in family or in social life. In the water sits and lives a protector spirit (familiar spirit). If he is angry, then he can be harmful to humans.
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The term means owner, master, lord, possessor in Turkic languages. Ezen (familiar spirit, protector spirit) has the same meaning (owner, possessor) in Mongolian language.Mongolian Dictionary, Andras Rajki ("ezen", "etseg") An İye guides, helps, or protects animals, individuals, lineages, nations, and even inanimate assets such as mountains or rivers. According to the shamanic worldview, everything is alive, bearing an inherent virtue and power.
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Saya (Zaya) was mythological male character associated with summertime in early Turkic mythology, particularly within Altai, Anatolia and Azerbaijan. He was associated with rituals conducted in rural areas during summertime. Turkic peasants celebrated the Summer Solstice on June 23 by going out to the fields. In Anatolian folklore, a familiar spirit called "Saya Han" lived in mountains who protects sheep flocks.
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During Aphrodite's main festival, the Aphrodisia, her altars would be purified with the blood of a sacrificed dove. Aphrodite's associations with doves influenced the Roman goddesses Venus and Fortuna, causing them to become associated with doves as well. In the Japanese mythology, doves is Hachiman's familiar spirit. Hachiman is the syncretic divinity of archery and war incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism.
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"Koç" is still the word for "ram" in the Turkic languages, as well as Turkish and Azerbaijanese. Also, Koçan or Koç Ayı is a Turkic word for a month in folk calendar. The month Mai (or sometimes June) is sometimes named Kosak in Turkish language. In Anatolian folklore, a familiar spirit called "Koça Han" lived in mountains who protects sheep flocks.
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The Quraysh protested 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib's intention to sacrifice his son and demanded that he sacrifice something else instead. 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib agreed to consult a "sorceress with a familiar spirit". She told him to cast lots between Abdullah and ten camels. If Abdullah were chosen, he had to add ten more camels, and keep on doing the same until his Lord accepted the camels in Abdullah's place.
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Od iyesi (Tatar: Ут Иясе or Ut İyäse; Chuvash: Вут Ийӗ; Sakha: Уот Иччи) is the Turkic and Mongolian spirit or deity of fire. In Turkic languages, Od (or Ot) means fire, and iye is the familiar spirit of any natural asset, literally meaning "master" or "possessor." Od iyesi protects the fire. It is also known as Ateş iyesi or Alev iyesi ("flame" or "blaze spirit").
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Panthor in the Filmation animated series Despite his generally callous attitude towards his henchmen and others, Skeletor displays a certain degree of affinity towards animals. Skeletor's most constant animal companion is Panthor. Panthor is Skeletor's evil feline companion, a giant purple panther who serves as an evil counterpart to Battle Cat. Panthor is portrayed as Skeletor's pet or familiar spirit, being at the right of his throne.
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He next appeared in "Mutants", where he is stolen by Bainbridge to mutate. He then appeared in "Bollo", where he is gravely ill, escaping death when the Grim Reaper takes Howard instead of him. He briefly appears in "Electro", smashing up a guitar in the style of Jimi Hendrix. By the second series he has become Naboo's familiar spirit, and has appeared in every episode since.
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A kind of familiar spirit acquired by a male who says the proper incantations over the newly buried body of a stillborn child. It takes the form of a civet or musang and may cause convulsions, unconsciousness or delirium. In exchange, its master feeds it eggs and milk. As with other spirits of this type, a bajang may turn on its master if it is neglected.
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The second manner in which the familiar spirit commonly appeared to magical practitioners in Britain was that they would be given to a person by a pre-existing individual, who was sometimes a family member and at other times a more powerful spirit. For instance, the alleged witch Margaret Ley from Liverpool claimed, in 1667, that she had been given her familiar spirit by her mother when she died, while the Leicestershire cunning-woman Joan Willimot related, in 1618, that a mysterious figure whom she only referred to as her "master", "willed her to open her mouth and he would blow into her a fairy which should do her good. And that she open her mouth, and that presently after blowing, there came out of her mouth a spirit which stood upon the ground in the shape and form of a woman."Wilby 2005, pp. 60-61.
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Gaule himself followed the position of William Perkins on witchcraft. He objected to the "swimming test" for witches, used by Hopkins and Stearne in the first half of 1645. Unusually for the time, Gaule engaged with the question of the imp or familiar spirit thought to accompany a witch. While he was convinced enough that witchcraft existed, he suspected theories about it that connected with popular superstition rather than scriptural sources.
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One example of this was Tom Reid, who was the familiar of the cunning-woman and accused witch Bessie Dunlop, while other examples included Grizell and Gridigut, who were the familiars of 17th century Huntingdonshire witch Jane Wallis.Wilby 2005, pp. 60-63. An Agathion is a familiar spirit which appears in the shape of a human or an animal, or even within a talisman, bottle or magic ring. It is strongest at midday.
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These include the 1556 Essex Witchcraft Trials of the Witches of Hatfield Perevil, the 1582 Trial of the Witches of St. Osyth, and the 1645 Essex Trials with Matthew Hopkins acting as a Witch- finder. In 1921, Murray published The Witch Cult in Western Europe. Her information concerning familiars comes from witchcraft trials in Essex in the 16th and 17th centuries. Within this book Murray dedicates an entire chapter to the familiar spirit.
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The nagual is considered different; where the tonal is the day spirit itself, the nagual is the familiar spirit of the day. It is probable that the tonal represents the daytime aspect and the nagual the nighttime aspect of the tonalli, 'the things of the day'. Practitioners of powerful magic were normally born on days related to animals with a strong or harmful aspect. They would have specific tonals such as the jaguar or puma.
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A Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcrafts was a book written by George Gifford and published in 1593. It 'is notable for its attention to the ministerial challenges posed by witch belief as well as for its entertaining dialogue designed to appeal to a wide audience'. Gifford told the story of many alleged witches, including Feats, a reputed sorcerer in Elizabethan London, whose familiar spirit was a black dog named Bomelius.Devil Dogs, p.
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The kalamat preside over Sama-Bajau community events along with mediums known as igal jinn. The kalamat and the igal jinn are said to be "spirit-bearers" and are believed to be hosts of familiar spirits. It is not, however, regarded as a spirit possession, since the igal jinn never lose control of their bodies. Instead, the igal jinn are believed to have acquired their familiar spirit (jinn) after surviving a serious or near-fatal illness.
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A story of "a priest who for the space of 40 years employed a familiar spirit", illustrated in Elizabeth I of England's copy of the Histoires Prodigieuses by Pierre Boaistuau. Pierre A. Riffard proposed this definition and quotationsPierre A. Riffard, Dictionnaire de l’ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 1983, p. 132; Nouveau dictionnaire de l’ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 2008, pp. 114-115. The French poet Charles Baudelaire, a cat fancier, believed in familiar spirits.Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil (1857), “The cat”, 2.
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For instance, folklorist Eric Maple noted that in the English region of East Anglia during the latter nineteenth century, it was commonly thought that familiar spirits, which were often referred to as "imps" in that region, took the form of white mice.Maple 1960. There were however some exceptions to these naturalistic familiars, for instance a woman in Cambridgeshire was believed to have a familiar spirit that was a cross between a frog and a rat.Hutton 1999. p. 102.
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A story of "a priest who for the space of 40 years employed a familiar spirit", illustrated in Elizabeth I of England's copy of the Histoires Prodigieuses. Pierre Boaistuau, also known as Pierre Launay or Sieur de Launay (c. 1517, Nantes – 1566, Paris), was a French Renaissance humanist writer, author of a number of popularizing compilations and discourses on various subjects.'Boaistuau' seems to be the best authenticated spelling and is used by the majority of secondary works.
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A tutelary ( or ) (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.
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The creature appearing under the name nine-tailed fox () in the Shanhaijing, depicted in an edition from the Qing dynasty The fox spirit () or nine-tailed fox () is a mythical fox entity originating from Chinese mythology that is a common motif in East Asian mythology. In East Asian folklore, foxes are depicted as a familiar spirit possessed of magic powers. These foxes are depicted as mischievous, usually tricking other people, with the ability to disguise themselves as a beautiful woman.
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His father's magic allows him to distort the Human-God's precognitive abilities, see a person's destiny, but causes his magic powers to replenish at a slow rate. In addition, the Human- Gods curse causes all people to detest Orsted, except for Rudeus, due to his immunity to curses. ; :One of the warriors who defeated Laplace during the war between humans and demons. He resides in a floating castle and has eleven familiar spirit with an angelic humanoid named serving him.
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Spider-Girl #10–11 When Spider-Girl was trapped in an illusion by her enemy, Misery, she was given encouragement from a familiar spirit. She recognised the spirit as being Aunt May.Spider-Girl No. 90 In the final arc of Amazing Spider-Girl, Aunt May acts a spiritual advisor to May in order to help her grandniece reclaim her identity and save Peter from Norman Osborn. In this form, she initially appears as a younger version of herself, which prevents May from recognizing her.
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The Hantu Raya is a type of familiar spirit in Malay folklore that acts as a double for black magic practitioners.Wives and Midwives: Childbirth and Nutrition in Rural Malaysia, By Carol Laderman Roughly meaning "great ghost", it is supposed to bestow great power onto its master.Malay magic: an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the ... By Walter William Skeat Because the Hantu Raya always takes on its owner's appearance, its true form is unknown. Modern urban legends typically describe it as a large, imposing black shadow with a humanoid shape.
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A small orange cat with a jowelled and weathered human face. The Cat is perhaps the Zombie Priest's most loyal minion, and is given to long-winded speeches on the subject of his master's greatness. Lazlo and the Graves have great contempt for the creature, but the Cat has proved himself useful enough to keep around, even giving one of his eyes to his blind master, although this was an unexpected action by the Priest. It is suggested in the recent story arc that the cat is the Priest's familiar spirit.
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The philosopher Marsilio Ficino considered it to be a link between the physical body and the incorporeal soul while others such as Jean Fernel associated it more with animal spirits. Philosopher Henry More introduced the term into the medical setting and considered the astral spirit to be a part of the body that was separate from the "rational soul". More's viewpoint was criticized as "[reducing] spiritual phenomena ... to pseudo- physical explanations". Astral spirits have also been associated with the familiar spirit and witchcraft, specifically black magic, and was considered at one point to be demonic in origin.
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Living in the 16th century Bessie Dunlop, Elizabeth Dunlop or Elizabeth Jack was an Ayrshire farmer's wife who was 'burned at the stake' at Edinburgh for the crime of sorcery, witchcraft, incantations, etc.Love, Page 138 Her case was unusual in the amount of fine detail related in her testimony and the lack of anything but positive or neutral outcomes of her recorded ministrations and actions. Her admission to the use of a 'familiar spirit' and association with the fairies were the main cause of her conviction and her death sentence. For consistency the name 'Bessie Dunlop' is used throughout.
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Meanwhile, three eccentric older women arrive in the town and appear to be searching for something. They bring with them the "daughter" of one of the women, later revealed to be a mannequin, but which at one point appears to be walking by itself. The story eventually reveals that the three women are witches from England's Middle Ages who escaped a witch-hunt by somehow slipping through time into the modern age. The Grinnygog, which was a type of familiar spirit, had lain dormant until being removed from the church, when it summoned the witches to the present day.
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Fantastic Four #54 (June 2002) As the price for his help, Victor insisted that he be allowed to name the child. He did so, naming her Valeria after a woman he had loved in the past. Unknown to the Fantastic Four, Victor also planted a spell on Valeria, making her his familiar spirit, as revealed in Mark Waid's Unthinkable story arc, her eventually taking his surname.Fantastic Four #67–70 and Fantastic Four #500 (May–September 2003) Due to the numerous supervillain attacks on the Baxter Building, New York City's Child Protective Services questioned the safety of Franklin and Val.
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Shaman gains the power to beseech nature spirits for aid, although he can not command them as Elizabeth does. He also receives a staff and an eagle helm, which can transform into a familiar spirit. When a pregnant Snowbird is about to give birth to her first child and the birth needs to happen at a place of power, Shaman beseeches the spirits to lead him to such a place. However, Talisman, corrupted by her power and fueled by her rage, compels the spirits to unknowingly lead Shaman and Alpha Flight to a place of evil instead.
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Title page of a 1603 reprinting of Daemonologie King James, in his dissertation Daemonologie, stated the term "faries" referred to illusory spirits (demonic entities) that prophesied to, consorted with, and transported the individuals they served; in medieval times, a witch or sorcerer who had a pact with a familiar spirit might receive these services. In England's Theosophist circles of the 19th century, a belief in the "angelic" nature of fairies was reported. Entities referred to as Devas were said to guide many processes of nature, such as evolution of organisms, growth of plants, etc., many of which resided inside the Sun (Solar Angels).
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Mac Kineely=Cian wishes to reclaim > the cow, but is advised that he can only succeed when Balor is dead. Cian > then consults Biroge (Biróg) of the Mountain, who is his leanan sídhe or > familiar spirit and a banshee and she transports him by magic to the top of > Balor's tower, where he seduces Ehnea. In time Ethnea gives birth to > triplets, which Balor gathers up in a sheet and sends out to be drowned in a > whirlpool. The messenger drowns two of the babies but unwittingly drops one > child (unnamed in the original telling, but Lugh in Lady Gregory's version) > into the harbour, where he is rescued by Biróg.
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Van Dyck's Arabic translation of the Old Testament uses the alternative collective plural "jann" (Arab:الجان); translation:al-jānn) to render the Hebrew word usually translated into English as "familiar spirit" (אוב , Strong #0178) in several places (Leviticus 19:31, 20:6, 1 Samuel 28:3,7,9, 1 Chronicles 10:13). Some scholars evaluated whether the jinn might be compared to fallen angels in Christian traditions. Comparable to Augustine's descriptions of fallen angels as ethereal, jinn seem to be considered as the same substance. Although the fallen angels is not absent in the Quran,Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Jeffrey Kripal Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in the History of Western Esotericism BRILL, 16.10.
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Memorial to John Napier in St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh In addition to his mathematical and religious interests, Napier was often perceived as a magician, and is thought to have dabbled in alchemy and necromancy. It was said that he would travel about with a black spider in a small box, and that his black rooster was his familiar spirit. Some of Napier's neighbors accused him of being a sorcerer and in league with the devil, believing that all of the time he spent in his study was being used to learn the black art. These rumors were not helped by Napier when he used his black rooster to catch a thief.
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In 1978, Naboo was mistakenly sent to Earth by the King of Xooberon to protect the amulet of the planet's Fountain of Youth. He became a drug dealer for Rudi and Spider at one point in the 1970s, and eventually went on to work as a kiosk vendor at the Zooniverse. While at the Zooniverse, he would often help Howard and Vince out of situations they often found themselves in, typically their explanations being followed by his catchphrase, "I don't believe this!" Naboo left the Zooniverse to become a freelance shaman, moving into a flat in Dalston with Howard, Vince, and Bollo, the latter now being his familiar spirit.
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The game's setting was to take place in the Middle Ages, centering on the relationship between humans and small creatures called "Bogles". Similar to the concept of a familiar spirit, the Bogle act as "protective charms" that assist humans in their daily lives. However, some humans want to take advantage of this relationship; Bogles were once large giants in the past, and humans have found a way to transform them into giants again, with the intention of waging wars by using them. As the title suggests, a recurring theme of the game was to be on the evoking of tears, in the context of both sadness and joy.
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Even if the imp was successful in getting the friendship it sought, it still often played pranks on its friend either out of boredom or simply because this was the nature of the imp. This trait led to using the word “impish” for someone who loves pranks and practical jokes. Eventually, it came to be believed that imps were the familiar spirit servants of witches and warlocks, where the little demons served as spies and informants. During the time of the witch hunts, supernatural creatures such as imps were sought out as proof of witchcraft, though often the so-called imp was merely a black cat, lizard, toad or some other form of uncommon pet.
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In this sense, this film is dance." Furthering Deren's theme on rituals, Moira Sullivan says ritual archetypes in the film are: "juxtaposed with images of modernity and frozen matter - freeze frames, statues, bodies – are ‘spiritualized’ through movement, similarly how symbolist poetry (one of Deren’s poetic influences) ‘spiritualized language’." Deren's character in relation to Christiani's is almost mirror-like, leading film writer Bruce McPherson to write: "In Ritual in Transfigured Time, Maya appears as the protagonist’s counterpart, at once a double of Christiani and her familiar spirit, in a social choreography that moves towards the accomplishment of the protagonist’s ‘critical metamorphosis.’" This metamorphosis is further contextualized by writer William C. Wees, who says: "...references to water and dance accumulate and gain increasing significance as the film proceeds.
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Tor Mór on Tory Island, the setting of some versions of Balor's folktale In one early collected and published folktale (mid-19th century) Balor is a famous warrior on Tory Island. Balor hears a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson. To avoid his fate, he locks his only daughter, Ethnea (recte Eithne), in a tower to keep her from becoming pregnant. Balor goes to Donegal across the sea, and steals the magical cow of abundance Glas Gaibhnenn belonging to MacKineely (recte Cian mac Cáinte) MacKineely/Cian learns he can only get the cow back when Balor is dead, and with the help of his female familiar spirit (leanan sídhe) named Biróg, enters the tower, finds Ethnea and impregnates her.
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She is called in biblical Hebrew אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת־אֹוב בְּעֵין דֹּור (’êšeṯ ba‘ălaṯ-’ōḇ bə-‘ên dōr), "a woman, possessor of an ’ōḇ at Endor". The word אֹ֖וב ’ōḇ has been suggested by Harry Hoffner to refer to a ritual pit for summoning the dead from the netherworld, based on parallels in other Near Eastern and Mediterranean cultures. The word has cognates in other regional languages (cf. Sumerian ab, Akkadian âbu, Hittite a-a-bi, Ugaritic ib) and the witch of Endor's ritual has parallels in Babylonian and Hittite magical texts as well as the Odyssey. Other suggestions for a definition of ’ōḇ include a familiar spirit, a talisman, wineskin, or a reference to ventriloquism based on the Septuagint translation.
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He is surprisingly perceptive, being able to read both Kamui and Arashi's thoughts from their facial expressions, and with Kamui, is able to discern that other forces besides the Dragons of Earth may be working against them. In addition to generating powerful electrical discharges, he is also capable of calling upon a gohōdōji, a magical being similar to a shikigami (or familiar spirit), manifesting as a massive, hideous ghostly creature. It is psychically linked to Sorata, allowing him to spy on others and act at a distance from himself, but he suffers any damage inflicted upon it. In the manga his gohōdōji follows Arashi until it is needed, functioning much like a guardian angel, while in the anime he dispatches it once, to protect Arashi when he cannot intervene himself.
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W.R. Kirk repeated the later story of a taniwha (water-monster), the "familiar spirit or guardian of Te Rakitaounere (also given as Te Rakitauneke) a famous chief and warrior" who lost his master about the Dunedin hills, slithered down the Silverstream, 'Whaka-ehu', and 'lay down and left a hollow Te Konika o te Matamata' on the site of Mosgiel. The taniwha (named Matamata) wriggled down the Taieri, making its tortuous course, and when he died became the seaboard hills, including Saddle Hill. This story has associations with Kati Mamoe, ('Ngati Mamoe' in modern standard Māori) of the late 17th or early 18th century. According to tradition this period also saw the occupation of the kaik (unfortified settlement) near modern Henley – called Tai-ari like the river – and on the hill above it a pa, or fortified settlement, called Omoua.
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The beliefs classed together under lycanthropy are far from uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be temporary or permanent; the were-animal may be the man himself metamorphosed; may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all appearance unchanged; may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whomever it may devour, leaving its body in a state of trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a familiar spirit, whose intimate connection with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being. Werewolves were said in European folklore to bear tell-tale physical traits even in their human form. These included the meeting of both eyebrows at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low-set ears and a swinging stride.
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Wilby 2005. pp. 74–75. Wilby noted how both British cunning folk and witches often described similar scenarios for how they had first encountered their familiar: most prominent of these was the claim that the familiar had simply appeared spontaneously whilst they went about their everyday activities, whilst other claims held that the witch or cunning person had inherited it from another magical practitioner, who was usually a family member, or that they had been given it by a more powerful spirit.Wilby 2005. pp. 60–61. The magical practitioner and the familiar then set about on a working relationship, sometimes solidified in a pact.Wilby 2005. pp. 77–81, 92–95. At times, the familiar spirit was believed to take the cunning person on a visionary journey to a place called Elfhame (literally meaning "elf- home"), which is now often referred to as Fairyland. In these trips, the cunning folk's soul was typically believed to go with their familiar on a journey into a hill, within which they would find a great subterranean fairy hall.
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According to legend, William II de Soules, who was lord of Hermitage Castle, was arrested and boiled alive by his tenants at the site in 1320 in a cauldron suspended from the two large stones, on account of being a particularly oppressive and cruel landlord. Quoted in (Bartholomew writes of the "burning to death" rather than "boiling" of Lord Soulis.) William was also a traitor (he conspired against Robert the Bruce) and, according to Walter Scott, by local reputation a sorcerer. In John Leyden's ballad Lord Soulis, William's mastery of the black arts (provided by his redcap familiar spirit and also learned from Michael Scot) was such that rope could not hold him, nor steel harm him, so (after True Thomas, who was present, had tried and failed to make magical ropes of sand) he was wrapped in a sheet of lead and boiled. According to Leyden's ballad, in his time (1775–1811) the locals still displayed the supposed cauldron used: However, William II de Soules was not actually boiled alive but died in prison in Dumbarton Castle, probably sometime before 20 April 1321 (and Leyden's kettle was actually a relic of the Old Pretender's rebel army of 1715, according to Walter Scott).
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