Full Transcript for 14. Sounds Familiar

my favourite television cats, Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, as well as exploring Binx from Hocus Pocus and Black Philip from The Witch. 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:18.000 We'll also be looking at the animal companions of His Dark Materials and Brother Bear and considering the difference between a familiar, a pet, and a spirit guide. 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:29.840 We'll explore why black cats became linked to witchcraft in the first place, what historical witch trials actually tell us about animal companions, and how those beliefs have changed. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:40.560 And this week I'll be sharing something particularly personal, because my own familiar, Oscar, has been part of Hex position from the very beginning, even if you haven't realised it. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:49.439 And as always, there will be a hidden hex, something hiding in plain sight that might just change the way you look at witches on screen. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:59.439 A quick warning before we begin, we'll be discussing plot details from the films and television programmes featured in today's episode, so there may be spoilers. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:06.960 Now, before my own cats decide that recording a podcast is far less important than feeding them, let's get started. 00:04:16.124 --> 00:04:24.684 If you grew up watching television in the 1990s, there's a very good chance that the first familiar you fell in love with was Salem Saberhagen. 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:31.600 Salem is, of course, the black cat who lives with Sabrina Spellman and her aunts, Hilda and Zelda. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.000 In Sabrina the Teenage Witch. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:43.680 He's sarcastic, dramatic, endlessly hungry, and convinced that he deserves a far more impressive life than the one he's been given. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.959 And there's a rather important reason for that. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:49.519 Salem isn't actually a cat. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:57.680 He's a witch who was sentenced to spend 100 years in the body of a cat after attempting to take over the world. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:02.319 Which, when you think about it, is a wonderfully strange punishment. 00:05:02.560 --> 00:05:09.920 Imagine being so ambitious that you try to conquer humanity only to spend the next century begging someone to open a tin. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:16.639 What makes Salem particularly interesting is that he doesn't fit the traditional idea of a familiar. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:20.720 He isn't an animal spirit sent to help Sabrina perform magic. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:27.199 He doesn't provide her with supernatural powers, and he certainly isn't an obedient servant. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:29.920 Instead, he's a member of the household. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.839 He gives advice, although it's not always very good advice. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:42.879 He gets involved in Sabrina's problems, frequently makes them worse, and spends an impressive amount of time thinking about only himself. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:53.360 In the very first episode, when Sabrina is discovering that she is a witch, Salem is introduced as another part of this extraordinary household that she must learn to accept. 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:56.720 Like I don't have anything better to do than spy on her. 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:58.319 Wait, I don't. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:02.000 The talking cat isn't treated as a frightening creature. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:07.279 He's simply another member of the family with a rather unusual history of his own. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:15.279 And that's important because Sabrina takes something that was once considered deeply sinister and makes it completely ordinary. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:20.720 The black cat, once associated with the devil, is now a source of comedy. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:23.040 I need a little fresh air and a latte. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:28.480 Salem is also given a personality that goes well beyond his relationship with Sabrina. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:33.519 He has his own ambitions, regrets, friendships, and romantic interests. 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.079 He's not just there to help the main character. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.000 He has a story of his own. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:47.519 In fact, much of the humour comes from the contrast between his former life as a powerful witch and his present existence as a household pet. 00:06:47.920 --> 00:06:50.480 Hey, and I'm dump on your lifestyle. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:53.040 There's something really fitting about that. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:58.319 Cats have always had a reputation for behaving as though they want to rule the world. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:03.199 And Salem is one of the few who can genuinely claim to have tried. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.240 But there's another side to his character. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:13.519 Despite his selfishness and constant complaints, Salem genuinely cares about Sabrina and her aunts. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:21.759 When the family is in danger, his loyalty becomes clear, even if he would rather pretend that he's only helping because it benefits him. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:32.399 He might not be a familiar in the historical sense, but he represents something that has become central to the modern image of the witch, the animal companion as family. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.720 And Sabrina isn't the only witch story to explore that idea. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:43.120 In Disney's Hocus Pocus, we meet another black cat who is considerably more tragic than Salem. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:56.480 Thackeray Binks begins the film as a young boy in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts, desperately trying to save his little sister Emily from the Sanderson sisters. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:05.839 When he attempts to stop them, Winifred transforms him into a black cat and curses him with immortality, so his suffering lasts forever. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.160 Twist the bones and then the back. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:12.160 Turn him

of his baby. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:19.279 Just like this. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:29.199 He's forced to spend centuries living with the knowledge that he couldn't save his sister, unable to return to his family or find peace. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:39.919 When we meet him again in 1993, Binks has become the guardian of the Sanderson sisters' cottage, watching over it in the hope of preventing their return. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.759 Now, Binks isn't technically a familiar either. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.200 He's not working for the witches, quite the opposite. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:50.720 His entire existence is devoted to stopping them. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:55.200 But his appearance deliberately draws on the familiar black cat image. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:00.080 When the children encounter him, we already recognise the visual language. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:07.440 It's Halloween, there's a witch's cottage, and there's a mysterious black cat who seems to know far more than he should. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:09.200 And he can talk. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:16.480 The film uses our expectations of witchcraft to introduce a character who turns out to be one of the heroes. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.279 And there's something else worth noticing. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:24.720 Binx is transformed into a cat as a punishment, just as Salem is. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:31.039 But while Salem's punishment is played for comedy, Binx is a source of grief. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:39.120 Both characters are trapped in animal bodies because of magic, yet their stories ask us to respond in completely different ways. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.600 For Salem, being a cat is an inconvenience. 00:09:43.840 --> 00:09:46.080 For Binx, it's a prison. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:53.600 And when the Sanderson sisters are finally defeated, Binx is released from the curse and reunited with his sister. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:10:05.440 It's one of the film's most emotional moments, and it gives the black cat something that witch folklore rarely offered him: a chance to be understood as a victim rather than a threat. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:19.759 Of course, not every familiar on screen has been transformed into a lovable companion, and one of the most unsettling examples takes us again to Robert Egger's 2015 film, The Witch. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:30.639 Set in 17th century New England, the film follows a deeply religious family whose lives begin to fall apart after they're forced to live on the edge of an isolated forest. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:39.679 Among their animals is a black goat called Black Philip, who seems to have a particular strained relationship with the family's youngest twins. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:47.440 Throughout the film, the children claim that Black Philip speaks to them, something the adults initially dismiss. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:54.799 But as the family's fear and suspicions grow, the goat becomes increasingly unsettling. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.639 And towards the end of the film, we discover why. 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:09.200 Black Philip is revealed to be the devil himself, appearing in animal form before offering Thomason a new life in exchange for signing his book. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:18.639 Now, this is particularly interesting because Black Philip isn't simply a familiar the way we might understand the term today. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:25.200 He's the very figure that historical witch hunters feared was hiding behind the familiar spirit. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:30.559 The devil, disguised as an animal, offering temptation and power. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:40.720 And Eggers draws heavily on the language and beliefs surrounding early modern witchcraft, including the idea that witches entered into agreements with the devil. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:49.679 Where Salem makes the familiar funny and Binks makes him sympathetic, Black Philip returns him to the world of religious fear. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:59.759 He's not a pet, he's not a friend, he's a reminder of what people once believed might be hiding behind the eyes of an ordinary animal. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.720 And that's what makes him so frightening. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:06.320 For most of the film, he's simply a goat. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:08.480 Until he isn't. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:18.480 I want to move away from cats and goats for a moment and talk about a world where almost everyone has an animal companion. 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:27.759 In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, which has been adapted for both film and television, people are accompanied by creatures known as demons. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:32.879 These animals are not pets and they're not familiars in the traditional sense. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:36.399 They are the physical form of a person's soul. 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:46.559 A child's demon can change shape, reflecting the possibilities of childhood, but as the child grows older, it eventually settles into one form. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:56.480 Lyra's demon, pantalaiman, frequently changes between different animals while she's young, responding to her feelings and the dangers around her. 00:12:56.720 --> 00:13:02.720 In the television adaptation, we see how closely their emotions and physical experiences are linked. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:06.879 When one is frightened or hurt, the other feels it physically. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:14.320 And this gives us a very different way of thinking about the relationship between humans and animals in fantasy. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:22.000 A familiar is often described as a separate being who chooses, serves, or forms a bond with a witch. 00:13:22.240 --> 00:13:26.639 A demon, on the other hand, is part of the person themselves. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:33.679 One of the most disturbing ideas in his dark materials is the attempt to separate children from their demons. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:43.279 The horror comes from the understanding that this isn't simply

taking away an animal companion, it's an attack on the child's very identity. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:56.639 And while these creatures aren't familiars, they draw on a similar idea, that the bond between a human and an animal might represent something spiritual that cannot easily be explained. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.399 It's a relationship that goes far beyond ownership. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:07.679 Which brings us to another film that approaches animal companionship through a very different cultural lens. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:14.399 In Disney's Brother Bear, Kenai is transformed into a bear after killing one in anger. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:22.639 His transformation becomes part of a journey in which he must learn to understand the world through the eyes of the creature he once feared. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:35.279 The film draws on ideas of animal guides, ancestors, and spiritual connections, although it presents them through a fictional story rather than an accurate account of any single indigenous tradition. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:47.519 There are many cultures in which animals hold spiritual meaning, but their beliefs are not all interchangeable, and they shouldn't automatically be grouped together under the European idea of witchcraft. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:15:04.240 The familiar of English witch trial records is not the same thing as an animal guide in an indigenous spiritual tradition, is a broader human desire to understand our relationship with animals and the possibility that they might teach us something about ourselves. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:10.159 Kenai's journey is about learning compassion by becoming the animal he once misunderstood. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:15.360 And when we compare that with the history of witch familiars, the contrast is striking. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.240 One story asks us to learn from the animal. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.639 The other, historically, often asked us to fear it. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:40.000 So, where did the idea of the witch's familiar actually come from? 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:48.399 The word familiar comes from the idea of something belonging to a household or being closely connected to a person. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:55.679 And that gives us a useful starting point, because the familiar was not always understood as simply a magical pet. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:06.320 In English witch trial records, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries, familiars were often described as spirits that appeared in animal form. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:16.240 They might look like cats, dogs, toads, mice, or other small creatures, and were believed to assist witches in carrying out harmful magic. 00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:24.000 According to some accusations, these spirits could be given tasks, sent to harm neighbours, or used to gather information. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:30.559 In return, the witch was believed to feed or care for them, sometimes even offering them blood. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:38.000 Now, before anyone starts looking suspiciously at their cat's dinner bowl, we need to remember something important about these accounts. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:47.039 They come largely from the accusers, confessions made under pressure, and the writings of people who believed witchcraft was a threat. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:55.919 They are evidence of what people feared and believed, not proof that witches were keeping demons disguised as household pets. 00:16:56.240 --> 00:17:06.880 One of the most famous examples comes from the English witch trials of 1645, when witchfinder general Matthew Hopkins was working in East Anglia. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:15.200 During these trials, women were accused of keeping familiar spirits, and some of the descriptions were remarkably detailed. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:30.880 In the case of Elizabeth Clarke, one of the women accused during the Essex Witch Trials, witnesses claimed that she had several familiars with unusual names, including Holt, Jamara, Vinegar Tom, and Sack and Sugar. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:44.319 Vinegar Tom was described in different accounts as a strange animal-like creature, and an illustration published in 1647 helped make these supposed familiars part of the visual history of witchcraft. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:53.920 The picture shows the accused women alongside their alleged spirits, giving the public a clear image of what a witch and her familiars were supposed to look like. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:18:03.039 And this is where we begin to see how an accusation becomes an image and how that image becomes something people begin to recognize. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:11.039 Because once you've been taught that witches keep strange animals, an ordinary animal behaving strangely can suddenly look like evidence. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.680 Cat that visits the same woman every night might be considered suspicious. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:20.000 A toad living near her doorway could become a sign of something sinister. 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:29.279 And if that woman was already disliked, poor, elderly, or living alone, those ordinary details could be used against her. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:36.319 The animal itself has done nothing wrong, but it became part of the story people told about its owner. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.559 Which brings us to black cats. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:43.440 Black cats have a particularly complicated place in European folklore. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:48.960 In some traditions, they're associated with bad luck, danger, and witchcraft. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.000 In others, they're considered signs of good fortune. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:53.839 Ours certainly is. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:19:03.359 In parts of Britain, black cats have long been regarded as lucky, particularly in certain traditions connected with homes, marriage, and sailors. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:13.200 Scottish folklore also includes the cat Sith, a mysterious fairy cat often described as a large

black creature with a white patch on its chest. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:22.400 Stories about the cat Sith vary, but some describe it as a fairy being, while others suggest that witches could take the form of cats. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:25.680 This brings us to an important distinction. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:32.960 In folklore, a witch's familiar and a witch transformed into an animal are not necessarily the same thing. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:39.359 A familiar is generally understood as a separate spirit or creature associated with a witch. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:44.559 A witch who changes into an animal is using a form of transformation. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.519 But over time, these ideas became mixed together. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:58.000 And that confusion helps explain why black cats are so often treated as magical creatures in film and television. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.960 Sometimes they're the witch's companion, sometimes they're the witch herself. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:09.440 Sometimes, as with Salem and Binks, they're human beings who have been transformed against their will. 00:20:09.839 --> 00:20:14.319 The image remains familiar even when the explanation changes. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:23.200 For many modern witches, the idea of a familiar is quite different from the frightening descriptions found in historical witch trials. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:31.039 Some practitioners use the word familiar to describe an animal with whom they feel a particularly strong spiritual connection. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:39.680 Others believe that a familiar is a spirit rather than a living animal, and that an ordinary pet, however loved, is not automatically a familiar. 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:42.799 And plenty of witches don't have familiars at all. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:47.279 There is no single rule shared by every modern witchcraft tradition. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:21:02.480 However, speaking from my own practice as an eclectic witch, I find the relationship between animals and the people who care for them fascinating because I've been fortunate enough to experience what I consider a genuine bond with a familiar. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:08.960 My Oscar, whose pagan name was Jinx, was my familiar for 18 years. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:15.039 He was a beautiful black cat, my soul cat, and one of the most important companions I've ever had. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:21.039 And when I say he was my familiar, I don't simply mean that he was a cat who happened to live with a witch. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:23.680 Oscar was part of my practice. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:29.279 Whenever I prepared my salt circle to perform rites, Oscar would come and sit with me. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:34.799 He would settle himself inside the circle, completely still, and remain there throughout. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:42.400 He never seemed interested in interrupting or playing with anything, especially the flames, or demanding attention. 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:46.960 He would simply sit, stoically, keeping vigil while I worked. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:57.519 And I know that there are plenty of perfectly ordinary explanations for why a cat might choose to sit quietly beside someone, but for me, that was part of our connection. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759 I never needed to call him into the circle. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.200 He simply came. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:06.400 Oscar passed away in 2023, and I still miss him terribly. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.519 But he's never really left my life or my work. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:17.519 If you've seen the Familiar Footsteps Productions logo, you've already seen Oscar, because he's the cat who sits in the middle. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:21.039 If you've listened to the end of an episode, you've heard him too. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:24.160 That purring you hear in the outro is Oscar. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:31.519 So in a rather lovely way, he's still sitting with me while I practice my craft, and now while I share it with all of you. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:40.240 I believe that souls can find their way back to us, and I live in hope that one day Oscar's soul will find me again, in whatever form that might take. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:45.279 Until then, he's still very much my familiar, just in a slightly different way. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:49.039 And Oscar isn't the only familiar to have found his way into our family. 00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:53.599 Tonks, our other black cat, is actually my husband Scott's familiar. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:23:02.880 She came into our lives as a stray, and somewhere along the way she decided that we were her people, or perhaps more accurately, that Scott was her person. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:07.920 And then there's Rufio, our silver tabby, who completes our little feline family. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:14.079 And if you've ever listened carefully to the sound bite at the end of Hexposition, you've actually heard all three of them. 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:20.400 The first meow belongs to Tonks, the second to Rufio, and that lovely gentle purring you hear is Oscar. 00:23:20.559 --> 00:23:26.799 So in a way, every episode ends with our little family of cats, past and present, making themselves heard. 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:29.759 And I find something rather comforting about that. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:37.759 Oscar may no longer be physically beside me, keeping watch over my salt circle, but his purr is still part of everything I create. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:41.039 Perhaps that's one of the most beautiful things about familiars. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:44.720 The relationship doesn't necessarily end when we say goodbye. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.720 And I think that illustrates something important about the way many modern witches understand familiars. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:58.079 It's not necessarily about an animal performing magic or carrying messages or doing anything extraordinary. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:01.440 Sometimes it's just

about the bond itself. 00:24:13.173 --> 00:24:21.012 Now it's time for today's hidden hex, the detail hiding in plain sight that might change how you understand witches on screen. 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:30.160 And this week I want to return to Salem Saberhagen, because there's something rather interesting about the way Sabrina the Teenage Witch presents him. 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:32.880 Salem is a black cat. 00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:35.359 He's connected to a household of witches. 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:41.519 He speaks, understands magic, and frequently encourages Sabrina to do things she probably shouldn't. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:46.720 On the surface, he has almost everything we associate with a traditional familiar. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:50.160 But think about his relationship with the Spellman family. 00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:52.240 Salem isn't a servant. 00:24:52.400 --> 00:24:58.559 He's not a creature that Sabrina controls through magic, and he certainly doesn't behave as though he belongs to her. 00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:03.200 Hey, dogs guard, cats watch, and judge. 00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:06.480 And he certainly doesn't behave as though he belongs to her. 00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:13.839 He's a witch himself, and that means the program has quietly reversed the traditional relationship between witch and familiar. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:25.119 In historical accusations, the familiar was often imagined as a spirit that tempted the witch into wrongdoing, offering power in return for obedience or some kind of bargain. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.039 Salem, however, has already committed his great offence. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:33.440 His ambition to take over the world is what resulted in his punishment. 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:35.759 He doesn't turn Sabrina into a witch. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.200 She was already born one. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.000 He doesn't give her magic, she already has it. 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:48.079 And rather than being a sign that Sabrina has made some dangerous agreement, Salem is simply part of the family she's learning to understand. 00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:51.599 The black cat is no longer evidence of evil. 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:56.720 He's evidence that even witches have relatives who make questionable decisions. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:25:59.519 And there's another detail worth thinking about. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:05.440 Salem's punishment takes away his human form, but it doesn't take away his personality. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:12.720 He's still ambitious, jealous, affectionate, selfish, and occasionally surprisingly wise. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:18.480 In other words, the series asks us to recognize the person inside the animal. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:21.839 Hocus Pocus does something similar with Binx. 00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:31.279 When Max, Danny, and Alison meet him, they don't initially understand who he is, but once they learn his story, he becomes a companion they can trust. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:40.000

Both programs take a creature historically associated with danger and reveal that there's someone inside who deserves our sympathy. 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:42.880 And perhaps that's the real hidden hex. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:45.200 The black cat hasn't changed. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:49.279 What has changed is the way the story asks us to look at him. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:53.359 Once a witch's cat might have been used to prove that she was dangerous. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:57.359 Now the same cat might be the character who makes us love her. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:02.240 And yet, statistically, they are still the least adopted breed of cat. 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:13.200 So what have we learned? 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:21.359 Well, perhaps the most important thing is that the familiar has never been quite as simple as the black cat sitting beside the cauldron. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.200 Historically, the familiar was often a figure of fear. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:36.400 In English witch trials, accusations about animal spirits helped turn ordinary relationships between people and animals into supposed evidence of witchcraft. 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:48.240 The idea that a woman might share her home with a cat, feed a toad, or speak affectionately to an animal could become something dangerous when viewed through the fears of the time. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:53.759 But in modern witchcraft, the familiar can represent something entirely different. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:56.640 For some, it's a spiritual companion. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:00.559 For others, it's a way of describing a deep bond with an animal. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:06.079 And for many people, the animals in their lives are simply beloved members of the family. 00:28:06.400 --> 00:28:10.960 Film and television have played an enormous part in changing how we see them. 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:14.559 Salem makes us laugh, Binx makes us cry. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:19.920 Black Philip reminds us of the darker beliefs that once surrounded familiar spirits. 00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:28.799 The demons of his dark materials ask us to imagine a world in which our relationship with animals is part of our very identity. 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:40.559 And Brother Bear reminds us that stories about animals and spiritual connections can come from very different cultural traditions, each deserving to be understood in its own context. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:47.039 What interests me most is how these stories reflect changing attitudes towards witches themselves. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:53.920 When the witch was imagined as a dangerous outsider, her animal companion was another reason to fear her. 00:28:54.720 --> 00:29:04.400 But as witches became heroes, mothers, teenagers, friends, and members of ordinary families, their animal companions changed too. 00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.039 The familiar became someone we could love. 00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:10.799 And I think that's interesting when we consider the black cat. 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:24.400 An animal once associated with dark magic is now one of the most recognizable symbols of witchcraft, appearing on everything from Halloween decorations to the logos of modern witchcraft businesses. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:28.559 The image survives, even when its meaning has changed. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:34.000 And perhaps that's why the familiar remains such an important part of the witch's journey. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:40.160 Because it reminds us that witchcraft on screen has never been shaped by magic alone. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:50.319 It's also been shaped by our relationships, our fears, our affection for animals, and the stories we tell about the things we don't fully understand. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:56.640 And sometimes the most magical creature in the room is simply the one curled up beside you on the sofa. 00:29:56.960 --> 00:30:02.640 Although in my house, they're more likely to be sitting directly on whatever I'm trying to read. 00:30:11.674 --> 00:30:16.795 And that brings us to the end of today's episode of Hex Position Witches on Screen. 00:30:17.035 --> 00:30:31.115 We followed the familiar from the accusations of the English witch trials to the black cats of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Hocus Pocus, and explored how our understanding of animal companions has changed alongside our understanding of witches. 00:30:31.279 --> 00:30:33.279 But I'd love to know what you think. 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.240 Do you have an animal you consider your familiar? 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:41.119 Did you grow up loving Salem, or was Binx the black cat who captured your heart? 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:46.799 Perhaps there's another animal companion from film or television that you think deserves a little more attention. 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:51.920 Hexposition now has its very own coven, and I'd love you to be part of it. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:31:02.640 You can write to me at Hexpositionpodcast at gmail.com or get in touch through the website at hexpositionpodcast.co.uk or find us on social media. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:12.240 Share your thoughts, your questions, your own experiences of witchcraft, or even something you've spotted in a film or television programme that you'd like me to explore. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:16.799 And if you'd rather not be mentioned, please let me know when you write in. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:22.559 Because usually I tell you how we made the witch, but I'd love to hear how you see her. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:29.359 Next time, we're turning our attention to one of the most recognizable objects in the witch's collection. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:43.839 From the evil queen, demanding to know who's the fairest of them all, to crystal balls, visions of the future, and the dangerous business of believing what you're shown, we'll be asking whether magic can really reveal what's yet to come. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:48.240 And before I go, I want to leave you with one final thought about familiars. 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:53.279 Now you know who the voices belong to and the animal sounds at the end. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:32:02.480 First you'll hear Tonks, Scott's Familiar, followed by Rufio, familiar in training, and finally that gentle purring that belongs to my Oscar. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:08.960 My familiar, my soul cat, and the little black cat who sat beside me through 18 years of life and magic. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:16.160 He might no longer be here to sit in my salt circle, but every time an episode ends, he's still here keeping me company. 00:32:16.400 --> 00:32:20.079 And I like to think that somewhere, somehow, he's listening. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:25.920 Until then, keep watching The Witch and keep questioning who taught you what you were looking at. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:31.200 I'm Millie Hardy Ashton, and this has been Hexposition Witch is on screen. 00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:35.519 Our theme music is Holderfolk, Hidden People by Jamie Sims. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:39.119 And Hexposition is a familiar footsteps production. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:48.160 Love and light.