After much sadness and grief this past month a most wonderful surprise greeted me several days before the New Year. My dear brother and his fiance took me to the local Animal Shelter to help me find a companion cat as I wait for the rebirth of my familiar.

First let me explain about the rebirth of my familiar: my cat Mick who recently passed away was my familiar for almost 19 years. He was a most extraordinary cat and a superb familiar. This was his second incarnation with me. The first time I was a little girl and he came to my as my cat Guy (named actually for Guy Williams of Lost in Space fame, my favorite re-run as a little girl), a white and black polydactyl kitty that was born at my old babysitters who happened to live across the street.

At first I didn’t know which kitten to take but Guy picked me! I didn’t know at the time what a familiar was; I had heard the term but was still too young to understand what it meant. Unfortunately Guy was a barn kitty and though I often snuck him into the house, he still had to go back outside to our barn. Heartbreakingly he was bitten by a poisonous snake and died rather young. I was so devastated that it would be another decade before I would have a cat again.

I adopted Mick from an animal shelter when he was four months old. I was 20 and had my own college apartment where after a couple of roomie experiments I decided it was best to live alone. I got Mick for my birthday and named him after Mick Jagger.

Mick had also picked me. I didn’t realize until many years later that Mick had found me again when the time was right. I realized also that he truly was my familiar and I would need to educate myself in order to make sure that I could find him again when the time came for him to pass on.

A familiar means different things to different witches. In my belief system a familiar is a part of the soul. Mick had his own feline soul but also a part of my human soul that links us forever through incarnations and lifetimes. A part of your soul fused with the soul of an animal will always return to you, if you so desire.

At the local Animal Shelter my soon to be sister in law picked out two fluff-ball grey striped kittens (2 months old) for her new family with my brother (twin sisters!) and I made the rounds of the lovely facility. The kitties were all beautiful and loving and if I could have I would have taken them all! In fact it was getting extremely difficult to consider actually picking one!

And then I walked up to a cage where a one year old young cat mewed at me, calling me to her. I knew I wanted a female because my Mom already has a neutered 11 year old male in our house (a wonderful kitty, too); I felt guided toward a female. I dearly loved my only girl kitty, Jerry. She had been my best little girlfriend.

So this mewling tuxedo kitty (who was almost picture perfect of my Mom’s previous companion cat Blackie) little girl put her paw out and tapped the cage so I would pay attention to her. I took her out and she immediately began grooming my face with sweet little kisses and licks and nuzzled her shiny black head into the crook of my arm as if to say - ok I am ready to go home.

I turned to the gentle volunteer caretaker and smiled and said words I had said once almost 19 years ago when I had found my familiar: “I’ll take this one.” But the truth is she had me at mew-llo.

She is named Lucy Brown (after a character in the song “Mack the Knife”) and is a Sagittarian just like my brother. She is still very much a kitten and likes to play so much that I am heading out to Petsmart tomorrow for more toys. She keeps me going - night and day but the joy I feel after so much sadness makes my heart soar.

I will give you updates and let you see more photos as she grows up.