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Animals and Witchcraft(The Witches Familiar)Rabbits & Hares
By
Patricia J. Martin
Time
to hop into Spring! And who better to do it with than those adorable long-eared
and short fluffy-tailed creatures, the Rabbit and his cousin, the Hare
- both of whom are well associated with fertility, Spring, creativity and new
beginnings. The
Rabbit and Hare have also long been associated with the Goddess and
were the totem of several - the hare to Artemis and Hecate,
the sacred rabbit to Aphrodite, to Holda who was accompanied by several
torch-bearing hares, to Cerridwen and Freyja who both had hare
attendants, and, of course, to Eostre who was said to have taken the
shape of a hare at each full moon and whose Anglo-Saxon counterpart,
Ostara, was often depicted with a white hare by her side. There are many
more goddesses associated with or attended to by both rabbits and hares and, in
such, these gentle creatures can assist us in becoming more
attuned to the lunar cycle. All rabbits in general are associated with the
Moon, magick, luck, love, creativity, success, sensitivity, agility, spontaneity,
abundance, rebirth and, of course, fertility. There
is something to be said about the "March Hare" who is typically seen
this month darting around at all hours of the day and night when
normally they are nocturnal creatures, and there stands reason behind the
old saying "mad as a March Hare," for March is the beginning of
their mating season. The males will be seen acting strangely and appear
quite "mad" in their antics, especially if rebuffed by the female. Rabbits
are also out and about at this time of year, and are there to teach us that
fertility has returned to the land and to us too, in all respects. Ostara
is the time to rejoice in the return of the Goddess in her maiden form, and in
the growth and early maturity of the God who is youthful and now
coming into his own. It is a time to awaken and continue welcoming
the return of the Sun, as we cast off the cloak of winter and are now ready
to begin to put into play all that we have thought about and mulled over during
our own internal musings during the slow, cold months we've been delivered from.
And it is a time to give thanks for the resurrection of life, once dormant, but
now once again alive and fertile. The Rabbit and Hare are most happy to attend
to the season and to welcome it in. And with this Totem, our own
lives and endeavors are assured to grow in leaps and bounds. There are striking differences between rabbits and hares. Newborn rabbits are called kittens, while newborn hares are called leverets. And while baby rabbits are born naked, helpless and blind, baby hares are fully furred at birth and are able to move independently and able to immediately see. Hares can actually live on their own very soon after birth. As each matures, the common Cottontail Rabbit will be smaller than the Hare (who has much larger ears, back legs and overall mass), and will have a year-round lighter brown color fur, whereas hares usually have splotches of black in their coat, and the overall color will change from grayish-brown in summer to white in winter. But even with their slight differences, both will Since rabbits are often prey for many larger animals, they are usually on guard and can be quite timid or leery of the slightest movement in their surroundings. Their ears are large and will stand straight up when they detect danger. They keep their eyes trained on both land and sky. Luckily, rabbits are also quick thinkers and quick movers. In a protective move, they are known to double back to elude a predator. Those with Rabbit Totem will find themselves more quickly capable of seeing all sides of an issue, having an increase in clairvoyance and especially clairaudience, and becoming much more acutely aware of their surroundings - all making for clearer visions and rapid, auspicious decisions. This Totem teaches us how to never again box ourselves into any corner, and thus frees us from limitation.
While
teaching of freedom, Rabbit will also teach us the value of
knowing when to speed up, when to slow down, and when to double back to
revisit something we may have missed or need to set right. This includes
all species of Rabbit, including the Cottontail, Snowshoe Rabbit, Hare,
Jackrabbit, and even all varieties of domestic rabbits. In watching
this animal, we see that it is not uncommon for it to stand stone-still while,
ever on the alert, it assesses its situation. Alternately, we can also
see that it knows when to dart away from danger or to run like the wind
whenever it needs to. For this, rabbits are often associated with
fear. Even in the story we see the White Rabbit (white symbolic of the purest
essence of one's Self) showing his fear of being late and yet leading
Alice into a fantastic world of adventure. Fear has its place in
situations of survival, as it attempts to show us how to be careful
and mindful as we go after our new goals. But by having this Totem,
we will also be reminded to not let fear hinder nor keep us from
moving forward toward where we want or need to be. They also teach
us that how we think, will often manifest. So we must dispel old
fears that are not serving any purpose other than to thwart our movements.
But with increased intuition coming into play with this Totem, we are
assured of success and for good fortune to follow if we stay mindful
and alert during all our new adventures. Like Rabbit, we must rely
on finely-tuned senses, agility and wit. This
quick-witted animal, who expects us to view and confront our own
fears, is known as a "trickster" in more than one ancient
tradition. Certain Native American tribes credit the creation of the
earth to the "Great Hare" and view him as a hero, while others
see him as more the trickster clown. Either way, Hare
or Rabbit's style of trickery, while gently teaching a lesson, is
always soft and simply wise. In Chinese myth, it is said that the
Buddha called forth all animals to his side before he was to leave
this world, but only 12 came - the rabbit being the fourth to come bid him
farewell. Buddha rewarded the 12 animals by naming a year after
each, and the Rabbit came to rule every fourth year of every twelve in the
Chinese Zodiac. In Indian legend, it was said that Buddha was a hare
in one of his earlier incarnations. Within the Christian adaptation we
have the Easter Bunny. In Greco-Roman myth, the hare is symbolic of
romantic love, abundance, sexuality and tremendous fertility. In fact,
Pliny the Elder wrote that eating hare meat would increase sexual attraction for nine
days, and that it could be a cure for sterility. And in Egyptian
lore, the rabbit is connected to the very essence of being. These
mystical creatures, known throughout the world in legend, lore and
literature, are gentle leaders, pushing us toward fertile grounds,
physically, mentally and spiritually. Rabbits
are vegetarians, eating soft bark, leaves, herbs and fruit. As a
Totem, they will encourage us to start eating more lightly too.
Fresh salads with baby greens, new early Spring vegetables, and a lighter menu
in general will be most beneficial as we head into the more active time of
year. Gone are the heavier and more substantial Winter meals. Rabbit
shows it is time to be light on our feet, more active and more playful. Rabbits
and Hares have long been associated with magick and the ability to walk
between the worlds and commune with the faeries. This is because both are
most often seen at those magickal 'tween times of dusk and dawn when it is
safer for them to be out and about. During the day they stick close to
home, which is usually a hidden burrow or, as with the North American
Cottontail, in thickets or dense brush. Their ability to dart quickly amidst
the shadows as they walk between the earthly realm and the spirit realm,
often disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye, makes them privy
to hidden knowledge and wisdom. It is no wonder rabbits and
hares have often been witches' familiars. And it is no wonder that
throughout the centuries it has been thought of as lucky to carry a
rabbit's foot in one's pocket, for they are a quite magickal Totem. Even
in the stars we can see the mysticism of Rabbit. Across the night sky, the
constellation Lepus is the Hare that forever eludes Orion's hunting dogs. In
the black furror of a field
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