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Siikala writes about moving the demon from someone to another. In finnish folklore it is
usuall to remove a disease from patient to an animal or some idol, like wooden puppet.
This is common between Middle- and East-Siperia shaman too. She remind, that even
Jesus removed demon from a man to some pigs. (page 187)
There is information about this kind of "removing" in German and Estonia too. In
Finland this was usually done by soothsaying, but this was not common in
Middle-Europe or Scandinavia.
Siikala guesses, that this habit has very old shamanistic roots and that the churhes
middle-age tradition has forced this old religion.(pages 188-189)
In these cases animals are shamans helpers and they carry the evil demon away. Shamans
(spiritual) animal helpers are also spyes, Shaman can send them far away to collect
information what is happening. Helpres also carry the information from here to the
"heaven". "Because shamans helper animal do not only to take the disease to themselves,
but carry it to "heaven" (or "to the other side" as shamans say), they are not usually (real)
animals"(page 191).
Siikkala says, that middle age church adopted these old ideas and they used the idea to
their rituals (to carry out demons).
Shamans used to call their helpers for instance by singing (and using the drum). In my
opinion it is surely understandable that shaman was all the time demonstrating to the
audience, that he has very important helpers.
The shaman uses his helpers to fight agains other shamans helpers, too. So when shaman
is healing a patent, he first find's out where the disease has become, and then force it to
go back. If the disease is caused by demon, you have to fight against demon. If it is
caused by other shaman with his helpers, so the helpers must fight together.(as Carlo
Ginzburg's "benandati" did).
The idea about shamans fighting together is old and it is common in Northern-Asia, too.
In Siperia tradition the fighning shamans could take a shape of animals.
But I could not find any reason to believe that the helper animals were real animals in
Siikalas book either.
According to Joan's Witch Pages they executed a dog in Salem Witch trials. This is
something I had not pointed out earlier. If they really executed the dog, so I'll have to
reuse my argument: why they did not executed other suspected "pets" too (if the "pet
theory" is right)?
THE TRIALS OF FAMILIARS
One reason why they may not have executed pets is because the law assumed that these
creatures were supernatural beings - by definition. If the animals had been captured,
brought to court, examined by authorities, etc., it would have been difficult to avoid the
conclusion that the witch's cat or dog was, in fact, no different from any other cat or dog.
In addition, according to folklore, these animals could not be killed by ordinary means
because they were spirits. We have found one account, for example, of a suspected
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