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Black Cats
Are So Boo-tiful at Halloween


"TO-CAT-TA"
Music: On/Off

Every October articles are published concerning the abuse of black cats (and other animals) at Halloween, but thankfully every year more and more of the good animal protectionists are actually getting it right. Cats were - and still are - regarded as magical creatures throughout the ages. Cats are an image of wholeness - a merging of the physical and spiritual, the psychic and the sensual. For a cat, these are not separate worlds, but one. They have been tagged with a variety of traits, including curiosity, nine lives, independence, cleverness, unpredictability, and healing. During the thousands of years in which the cat has lived among human beings it has been venerated at one period as a deity, and at other times cursed as a demon.

Cats have long been held sacred and linked to images of power. Egyptians named the Goddess Bast as the divine mother of cats. The cat was sacred, and to kill one might be punishable by death. Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian, described how a Roman who killed a cat was murdered by a mob despite the pleadings of high Egyptian officials. If a cat died, from any cause whatever, its owner went into mourning, shaving his eyebrows and performing elaborate funeral rites. Cat cemeteries were established on the banks of the Nile, where the sacred animals were mummified and then laid to rest, together with vast quantities of cat mascots and bronze cat effigies. The Egyptian term for cat was Mau, an imitation of a cats cry and a mother-syllable. Cat worship began in Egypt, where the first domesticated cats descended from a wild ancestor, felis libyca.

To the Greeks, Bast's equivalent was Artemis, and to the Romans she was Diana. Cats are at home after dark, and because darkness is the home of fears and those things humans do not want to see and cannot see, the cat has come to be associated with magic and mystery. By the Middle Ages Diana was the name of the Queen of the Witches. The cat was then becoming linked with witchcraft and goddess worship. It was said any witch could assume a cat's shape nine times in her life. (She could also assume the shape of a hare, which were moon goddess totems. When cats were brought to England, they were confused with hares as symbols of the moon goddess. To the Scots, the Goddess of Witches was Mither o' the Mawkins. (Mawkin or malkin was either a hare or a cat.) As the cat became the primary lunar animal, the traditional witch's familiar was Greymalkin or Grimalkin, a "gray cat". The Goddess Freya was pictured in a chariot drawn by cats - recalling earlier images of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, with her chariot drawn by two lions.

One supernatural skill attributed to cats is the ability to forecast the weather. When cats scamper wildly it means wind; when they wash their ears, rain; and when they sit with their backs to the fire, frost or storms. The Indonesians believe that it is possible to produce rain by pouring water over a cat. A single sneeze may portend rain. Seamen were invariably kind to a cat, believing that it brought luck to any ship it boarded. In addition cats were infallible weather guides and were thought to be invaluable when a ship was becalmed, as a wind could be raised by placing a cat under a pot on the deck. To throw a cat overboard, particularly if it were black and without a single white hair, was unthinkable since this could cause a storm. In modern times although the cat has not yet recovered its lost status as a goddess, it still remains serene, civilized, god-like and utterly mysterious.

Possibly because of their decidedly nocturnal habits, felines have become associated with the night, stealth and mystery. Who knows where the supposedly domesticated cat wanders in the night, what he/she is up to and why they seem to look so satisfied when they stroll back into the house in the morning? Quite frankly, they have steadfastly refused to answer any questions posed to them on the subject. This code of silence has caused the cat some historical hard knocks. During the Inquisitions or "Burning Times' of the witchcraft trials and persecutions, cats were often tortured and killed along with the accused "witches." It was thought that witches could change into (shape-shift) cats or that cats could be possessed by evil spirits. The howl of a cat on the prowl has undoubtedly frightened more than one nocturnal traveler on a darkened footpath and the fact that cats seem to delight in sneaking up on folks hasn't helped their public relations image one bit either.

The most prevalent fallacy connecting witches, cats and Halloween is, of course, the 'animal sacrifice' myth-namely that it is the witches that use cats for sacrifices or other abusive rituals. The truth lies in the opposite direction. It was the superstitious clerics and witch-hunters of the past - and present - that would toss a cat into the same fire as the witch. It was the very real working and affectionate bond between cat and witch that drew the suspicions of those who sought 'devils' everywhere and so could find them anywhere.

Are there people out there who really do abuse cats and other animals? The larger professionally run animal shelters know that is the "thrill seeker," the wanna-be 'satanist'- ala-Hollywood -movie- scripts or the emotionally disturbed individual who perpetuates such crimes against animaldom. Let's hope Poe's fiction really was fiction. Because around this time of year, bad things can happen to good cats. Especially if they're black. The myths, the mystery and the moment can propel people to do things around Halloween that wouldn't occur to them otherwise, and that's when your cats are in danger, even in your yard. To keep pets safe, cat owners (and dog owners too) should keep their furry friends indoors as Halloween approaches.

We join with the animal protection agents in the hope that the people who abuse cats and other animals will be caught and then prosecuted for their heinous and cruel acts. The shelters incur extra costs to keep animals that normally would be released during the month of October. Why not help them out? If you have a local group, consider a fundraising event for your local animal shelter. Collect pet supplies and donate them at the beginning/end of October. By donating to animal shelters, we can help insure that felines and other animals will have the chance to find a good home where they will be loved and well cared for.

Reprinted from www.LikeACat.com & www.WitchVox.com

Protect Your Pets on Halloween

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