The Once Unknown Familiar: Shamanic Paths to Unleash Your Animal Powers

by Timothy Roderick

The animal spirit is an extension of the unconscious mind and will reveal its power to those who seek its help. By using the techniques in The Once Unknown Familiar , you will tap into the long-forgotten Northern and Western European heritage of the "Familiar Self" and invoke the untamed, transformative power of these magical beasts.

Genres: Witchcraft

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 1990

About the author

Timothy Roderick is a native southern Californian who lives in Los Angeles. Timothy has written five nonfiction titles including the COVR finalist Wicca: A Year and a Day (Llewellyn Publications, 2005), and Small Press Award Winner Dark Moon Mysteries (Llewellyn Publications, 1996), which was also a Time-Warner Book of the Month Club selection. He has also been featured in The Witches' Calendar, Llewellyn's Magical Almanac, The Encyclopedia of Wicca and Witchcraft (Llewellyn, 2000), and A Witch Like Me (New Page Books, 2001). Timothy's fictional works have received critical acclaim and a broad readership. His works include the folk horror novel Cornbones (2024), the paranormal/psychological thriller Nine Zero One Three (2023), the psychological thriller One Crooked Thing (2020), and the young adult fantasy, Briar Blackwood’s Grimmest of Fairytales (Lodestone, 2015).

Reviews

[RunningRed NightBringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doing a re-read of this book, got it back in the 90s.
It's a book for identifying and working with either a physical familiar or animal spirit. The chapters cover identifying or drawing the animal to you, getting into a mental connection with the spirit, trance work, and working with a physical familiar. I think the author did a good job with this. He provides a context for for the rituals with shamanistic practices around the world and in history. He details ritual and meditative practices and there's appendixes with attributes for various animals and recipes for incense.

I didn't find much in here that was of use to me, as I already have a good working relation with my animal guides, but I'd recommend this highly to someone starting out, both for magickal worker or newly awakened therian who's struggling to understand themselves and find their path.
The rituals and meditations in each chapter come with a journaling section and questions to help the reader on a self-guided journey.

This is a Llewellyn book from the 90s so it assumed the reader is Wiccan or part of an adjacent Craft.

One of the appendixes includes a list of various animals with traits and powers. Amusingly I shared some of these entries in a therian group and several folks commented on how close the book's description skewed with their own perceptions of their animal sides.

[Necalli Calavera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a while to finish but I really liked this book!
While it is part journaling which the author gives you space, they provide a lot of information with shaman meditation, symbolism, and many other ideas to enhance your magical self.

[Sandy Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference. Our advanced magic group used this as one of our references for fetch/familiar study and pathworking.