Black cats and witches

[Natalie O. Kononenko]

Dear Seelangysty and Mr. Eagan,
        Russian and Ukrainian (with which I am more familiar --
pardon the pun) is very different from Western witchcraft.
There is no notion of an animal familiar.  A witch may
shape-shift into an animal, but does not regularly have a
companion animal -- the familiar of Western witchcraft.  You
might want to see Russell Zguta's article on witchcraft.  Mine
on Ukrainian witches should be coming out soon in Canadian
Folklore/Folklore Canadien.  It has an actual tally of animal
transformations.  Also, I hear Christine Worobec's book on
witchcraft accusations should be out soon.

Natalie Kononenko

PS -- In the meantime, you might try such traditional sources
as Maksimov, Zabylin, Zelenin, Pomerantseva, i t.d.  If you are
not familiar with these, contact me off list and I will start
you on some readings.