Pye, Pye, Pyewacket

Bell Book and Candle (1959)

Gillian and Pyewacket

Gillian is a modern-day witch, destined to be without love because "witches can't fall in love", or so they say. Gillian, played by Kim Novak, sets her sites on neighbor Shep Henderson, played by Jimmy Stewart. Casting a spell to turn the direction of Shep's affection from his fiancee to herself, Gillian employs her familiar Pyewacket, a finicky siamese, in her spell... only to fall in love with Shep for real.  

 

Familiar spirits are supernatural entities believed to assist witches in their practice of magic. They would appear in numerous guises, but most often as feline. The main purpose of familiars is to serve the witch or young witch, providing protection for him/her as they come into their new powers. 

Familiars are a Miller family tradition, on our mother's side of course. 

 

Mom & Stinky.                         Mom and "The Muff"

But Mom didn't stop at felines. She enlisted canines as well. 

Patches and Roger- looking like mythological gods.

Psychopomps are Guides of Souls, Ushers of the Dead, particular spirits, angels, animals or deities whose responsibility is is to escort the newly-deceased souls to the afterlife. Psychopomps appear in many and diverse forms, but no form is more impressionable than the hound. 

• Early Sumerian people paid homage to the dog-headed goddess Bau, the principal goddess of the Lagash area, associated with healing. Bau's alter ego was a dog. 
• In ancient Egypt, Anubis was portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal-like animal. 
• Hades' guard dog, Cerberus, was carried up from the Underworld by Heracles in one his Labours.
• The similarly-named Cerbura is the three-headed infernal dog of the Krishna legend.

Black dogs are said to be friendly guides and protectors to travelers.

Today we lost a family member, a warrior and a guardian- Caesar. A friendly guide and protector of our family.

We love you Caesar.