Familiars: Animal Powers of Britain
Anna Franklin
Capall Bann, 2001
400 pages
This is an exploration of familiars (the British term for totems/power animals). Franklin weaves in a variety of mythology–mostly British and Irish Celtic, but a bit of other areas as well–and includes biological information, superstitions, totemic info, and for some, guided meditations. Each section is very thorough.
She also has a wonderful writing style, very easy to read, and she has a good variety of animals that are particularly relevant to the U.K. There’s a good variety, and it’s apparent that Franklin has really enjoyed this area of study and practice.
I do have a few complaints. Occasionally she repeats herself, which gets old after a while. The book not only has no citations, but completely lacks a bibliography! That takes it down a few points in my opinion, because how are readers supposed to know where she gets information that isn’t her own? And where can newbies find more reading material?
Still, overall, I’m keeping my copy, and using it as a reference guide for my totemism classes.
Three and three quarters pawprints out of five.
Pagan Book Reviews 
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