Ob

FAMILIAR SPIRITS: Sorcerers using occult powers to call up answers, facilitate or induce spells, or garner assist from planes other than the conventional were said to have a "familiar spirit," a spiritual servant in obeisance from other realms (Deut. 18:11; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chr. 33:6; Lev. 19:31; 20:6; Isa. 8:19; 29:4). Such a person with such a familiar was called by the Hebrews an OB which properly means a leather bottle; for sorcerers were regarded as vessels containing the inspiring demon. This Hebrew word was equivalent to the pytho of the Greeks, and was used to denote both the person and the spirit which possessed him (Lev. 20:27; 1 Sam. 28:8; compare Acts 16:16). The word "familiar" is from the Latin familiaris, meaning a "household servant," and was intended to express the idea that sorcerers had spirits as their servants ready to obey their commands. The witch of Endor whom King Solomon consulted was originally a ba’alath ob, "mistress of a talisman;" in the Latin she was a mulierem habentem pythonem, "a woman possessing an oracular spirit;" but in the King James version she appears as a sinister witch. Also "obic," forbidden knowledge. Thus Hebrew sorcery was transformed to fit the prejudices of Christian demonology

This from Carlos Castaneda: A sorcerer's power, Castaneda insists, is "unimaginable," but the extent to which a sorcerer's apprentice can hope to use it is determined by, among other things, the degree of his commitment. The full use of power can only be acquired with the help of what Castaneda calls an Ally, that he describes as a spirit entity (questionable) that attaches itself to the student as a guide. The ally challenges the apprentice when he learns to "see," as Castaneda did in the earlier books. The apprentice may duck this battle. For if he wrestles with the ally - like Jacob with the Angel or the Buddha with Mara - and loses, he will, in Don Juan's slightly enigmatic terms, "be snuffed out." But if he wins, his reward is "true power the final acquisition of sorcery membership, when all interpretation ceases." (Copyright March 5th, 1973 Time Magazine)