In A.D. 840 Meinrad, a monk from the Benedictine abbey of Reichenau went into the mountains to become a hermit. He took with him a statue, the Black Madonna (a gift from the abbess of Zurich), and settled in a remote cave overlooking Lake Sihl…Meinrad lived in this simple cell for more than 20 years. Legend says that he befriended two ravens, so loyal they would bring the holy man food to eat.

A ‘familiar’ or as it should be known a ‘familiar spirit’, was believed to be a form of spirit which either took the form of an animal of inhabited the body of an animal. Familiars were said to be given to the witches by the devil or by other witches. They were believed to help assist witches in their activities. People even believed that the familiar was the source of the witches power.