Might have inherited a familiar- what do I do?
Should probably start with introducing myself. I am by no means a wiccan, I am a Christian, and while I do somewhat believe in the occult, and y'all're free to do as you please, I'm not sure I'm necessarily willing to practice it myself, depending on exactly how it works.
So, one day, I noticed something rather conspicuous. Everywhere I went, I noticed a very specific shape, everywhere, almost as it it was following me- that is, a circle with three lines across it. I've taken the time to document several situations in which this happened- other people's t-shirts, logos for hotels near me, television shows (namely the logo for Allsafe Cybersecurity on Mr. Robot), video games (the logo for 50 Blessings in Hotline Miami, for example), and even more inexplicable cases, such as when I bit into a hard-boiled egg, and the yolk separated into three clear, parallel sections across the middle, or when we moved, and found a trampoline frame underneath our porch while we were tearing it out, and my father decided to assemble it, and lay three boards across it, even according to himself, for no reason. This symbol, and minor variations off of it, seems to be everywhere. I've researched this symbol, and it doesn't seem to have any sort of meaning. The closest I could find was something along the lines of a native american religion that used symbols of a circle, a circle with one line across it, and a circle with two lines across it, but not three.
Then, one day, around Halloween, I was in a spooky mood, and bought a cool fake crow, to have around. At one point I joked to a friend that it was my familiar. Later, I realized I should probably look up what a familiar actually is, just in case I was mistaken and it meant like 'bestial consort' or something I don't intend to say. The source I found said something about the fact that familiars are summoned and called using a specific symbol or sigil, and can be inherited from ancestors. It was then that I recalled this circle sigil that has been present in my life, and the fact that I have an ancestor who was burned as a witch. (side note- this ancestor was a great grand-aunt, around the 1500's, in the netherlands. She was deemed a witch because, after she borrowed a goat, it stopped giving milk. She might not have been a witch, but who knows, maybe that was the first thing they could really pin on her, and everyone already knew she was a witch.) Is it possible that I have inherited a familiar from this ancestor, and if so, what does that mean? I've read that a familiar will always help their witch or 'clever fellow' (the term they used, I think?) or whatever with anything they are doing, and are an imp sent by the devil- how inclusive is 'everything'? as I've mentioned before, I am a Christian, and while I do believe in the occult, I do intend to live my life according to Christian values. If a familiar could help me in this, that would be great, but if not, and their allegiance it first to the devil that sent it, or something, how would I go about dismissing it, or sending it back to its devil, or whatever? And how exactly does inheriting a familiar work- has it already happened, or do I need to formally accept it somehow? can I command it, and if so, how, and what are the restrictions of this? this year, I held a small Walpurgisnacht party, just to be Halloweeny, and shortly after midnight, a large black cat appeared in my yard, made direct eye contact with me, and walked into the woods near my house shortly afterwards- I know Walpurgisnacht is a pretty witchy holiday, could this have been my familiar, or something to do with it?
Any information or help is welcome, thank you in advance!
Edit: neglected to add, I do have an album of photographed sigils on my phone, and I could post it somewhere, if you would like, or if that could help, or anything. There aren't many, just 27, and I'd probably have to cut it down so as to avoid revealing personal information about me or those near me. There have been many more I haven't had the chance to photograph, such as while driving, or on a stranger's clothing, or the like.
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Did you read the page about familiars on this site?
Yes, just did. It didn't seem to mention the symbols or sigils to contact spirit-form familiars, is that not a thing after all? If so, should I look elsewhere for an explanation to this symbol's constant appearance, or is there another name for sigil-related spirits/entities/whatever, or…?
Spirit Sigils are used to summon and control spirits/demons/angels/djinn. This is Abrahamic Ceremonial magick, not traditional witchcraft. I don't want to say "witches don't use binding sigils and coerce spirits to their will" because witches do what works, but if you're doing that, you're really studying it hard, because it's very specialized magick and witches don't tend to be that focused (not that that some aren't) and much of the community would really look down on that sort of practice, so we wouldn't be talking about it in mixed company. You can create a sigil to do just about any sort of spell, using Spare's Technique (there are articles for these too), but when you are using a specific sigil for a specific spirit, this is a control mechanism. That's not the sort of relationship witches usually have with familiars.
Also, witches don't generally believe in the devil (There are Christian witches who would, I imagine, and some Satanic witches do, though some Satanic witches actually don't. Most of us are Pagan and we've got our fair share of atheists and no devil there.), so you're coming here and asking us how to send a spirit back to a devil we don't believe it came from in the first place is awkward. But you can do a banishing. And there are articles about that too.
As for your specific symbol, it isn't one that is common in witchcraft. It's not to say that it isn't a spirit's sigil, though they are usually more complicated. It isn't related to any alchemical, planetary or elemental energies that I'm aware of. I am not in the business of binding spirits, so I can't say much more than that. There are hundreds of thousands of spirits with established sigils. There are lots of old grimoires with sigils in them. Goetia deals with demons and djinn and Enochian is angels, I think. sacred-texts.com might have a grimoire with binding sigils in it.
alright, thank you, I'll look into that! Sorry for my misunderstandings.