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The Cat in Folklore and Mythology
HOW THE CAT.... STORIES.
Hebrew folklore says that the cat was created from the sneeze of a lion. When Noah asked the Lord for help in controlling the rats, which had overrun the ark, the Lord caused the lion to sneeze & out came the cat!
An early Christian folktale tells how, when the baby Jesus could not sleep, the Madonna asked the animals in the stable to help. None but a little tabby kitten succeeded. She curled up beside him in the manger, purring a lullaby, and he quickly fell asleep. All proper tabby cats have an "M", on their foreheads as a reminder of this kindness.
CAT LEGENDS.
A Muslim tale tells of the Prophet Muhammad & his cat Muezza. While Muhammad was meditating, his little cat fell asleep upon the sleeve of his coat. When the prophet had finished his meditation & noticed the sleeping cat, he cut off the sleeve so as not to disturb his cats slumber.
The Japanese have a tale about a tortiseshell & white cat, the Mi-ke-neko, which is symbolized by a cat with one paw raised. It is to this day a potent symbol of good luck. Legend says that such a cat brought great fortune to the poor temple of Gotoko-ji, in Tokyo. When a party of samurai saw a cat beckoning to them with its paw on the temple steps, they entered the temple & spent the night, avoiding a fierce storm. The warriors were very grateful to the cat and its master, and their master became patron of the temple. Thus the temple prospered.
CATS & ANCIENT CULTURES.
In Ancient Babylon, the cat was believed to be a host for certain holy human souls after death. The soul stayed in the cat as long as the cat lived & only in this way could the soul gain entry to Paradise.
Buddhists, Burmese & Siamese cultures had similar beliefs. In ancient Japan, certain cats were believed to hold the soul of an ancestor & were considered priceless.
Ancient Egyptians believed that the cat brought prosperity & health, long life & beautiful old age.Sacred cats kept in a sanctuary in ancient Egypt were carefully tended by priests who watched them day and night. The priests interpreted the cat's movements - twitch of a whisker, yawn or stretch - into a prediction of an event that would happen in the future.
Gnostic belief held that the cat sat in the Garden of Eden and guarded a certain tree with it's life, perhaps the tree known by Christians as the tree of life. This tree, known as the Persea tree, is also mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus, with the Egyptian Sun-God Ra proclaiming that : 'I am the Great Cat which fought hard by the Persea tree.' The depiction in the Bible of Satan as a snake suggests that the cat may have been guarding the tree from the serpent - a role that is reflected in Egyptian mythology. The cat was said to have knowledge of both good and evil without representing either. In this way, the cat represents balance and wisdom. The cats role as protector is a repeated motif in many myths and legends.
The cat was thought of by the ancient Egyptians as a protection against snakes, which were feared because of their poison. The cat goddess Mafdet, was thought to protect the Pharoh against serpents in the royal palace. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Ra (known as Mau) is depicted as a cat slaying a huge python, Apep, which represnts darkness. In this way, the cat and serpent represented the struggle between light and darkness, with the Sun-God Ra being victorious with the slaying of the serpent.
Although the cat and snake are often seen as adversaries in Egytptian mythology, both cat and serpent were seen to work together to carry out Ra's bidding and create balance, thus good and evil, light and darkness, the physical and spiritual aspects of the whole - coming toether in a state of balance and perfection. Both cat and snake also symbolise eternity, echoed in the cats curl and the snake holding it's tail in its mouth (as in Midgardsorm, the World Serpent of Norse legend), both describing a circle without end.
Bast, Bastet or Pasht was the Egyptian cat-headed goddess whose cult lasted for thousands of years. Her city was Bubastis and housed statutes and a sacred shrine admist a grove of trees. Worshippers came from afar to attend her annual festival in the city, during which time her image was transported upon a barge towards the city, accompanied by dancing, singing and drinking - ending in sacrifices being made when the destination was reached. Bast was the daughter of Isis and Ra, her colours were silver and purple and she represents the moon, fire, fertility, music and nurturing of children.
The cats link to witchcraft is evident in Classical Greece and its association to the goddess Hecate, guardian of the Underworld. Her symbol was the black cat and her followers left offerings at crossroads, which were thought to be guarded by black cats, in the hope that she would bestow good fortune upon them.
The Ancient Greeks believed that the Sun and Moon created all of the animals - whereby the Sun created the lion, it was the Moon that created the cat.
The Roman Moon-Goddess Diana became linked with the cat and the number nine and was believed to have endowed the cat with nine lives. Diana was a huntress, and associated with darkness, forests, fertility and was thought to protect women during childbirth. She later became linked with the goddess Hecate and so to witchcraft.
Later in Roman tradition, the cat was chosen as a symbol for liberty and was placed at the feet of the image of liberty in a carving at her temple. The cat was also linked to Venus, the goddess of love - with its long association with fertility, sex and the feminine.
Ireland has many legends of mystical cats, often in the form of a guardian of treasure. THey were believed to symbolise the underworld and were known as Cat-Kings. Cat-Kings were considered to be faerie beings.
The Medieval French, though generally distrustful of cats and linking them with the Christian Devil in the form of Lucifer, believed in a mystical cat called a matagot, or magician cat, who could bring great wealth to its master if treated with the utmost respect. Another such cat was the chat d'argent, a silver or money cat, thought to be able to bring wealth to nine masters.
In Norse mythology, the cat was closely linked to Freya, goddess of fertility, creation and death. Her followers were mainly female soothsayers or mystics and they used cats in their rituals. Freya owned a chariot which was drawn by two huge cats. The Norweigian Forest Cat, a large natural breed of the area, was said to be highly regarded by the Vikings and to be carried into battle upon the shoulders of their masters where they assisted by clawing at the faces of their enemies. A Finnish myth describes the cat as a guide through Hell to Paradise for the souls of men.
CATS & THE WEATHER.
Cats were believed to foretell or even influence the weather. Cats can sense an imminent earthquake 10-15 minutes before it strikes, due to its sensitivity to vibrations. Peasants who live on Mt. Etna keep cats as early warning devices. Cats have also been known to alert people to such things as air-raids and fires.
In mythology, the cat was believed to have great influence on the weather. Witches who rode on storms took the form of cats. The dog (wolf), an attendant of Odin, was a symbol of the wind. Cats came to symbolize down-pouring rain, and dogs to symbolize strong gusts of wind. This may be where the phrase "its raining cats and dogs" originated.
Cats can forecast the weather: they predict the wind by clawing at carpets and curtains; rain is highly likely when a cat busily washes its ears.
If a cat continually looks out of a window on any day, rain is on the way.
If a cat washes behind its ears, it will rain ( no doubt this superstition began in some very rainy country).
If early American cats sat with their backs to a fire, the owners knew it foretold a cold snap.
Sailors believed that if a cat licked its fur against the grain it meant a hailstorm was coming, if it sneezed, rain was on the way; and if it was frisky, the wind would soon blow.
A cat sleeping with all four paws tucked under means bad weather is coming.
CATS & SAILORS.
Sailors used cats to predict the voyages they were about to embark upon. Loudly mewing cats meant that it would be a difficult voyage. A playful cat meant that it would be a voyage with good and gusty winds.
It was a popular belief that cats could start storms through magic stored in their tails - so sailors always made sure that they were well-fed and contented.
CAT SENSES.
Some people believe that cats are able to see the human aura, the energy field that surrounds each of us.
Some people believe that cats may be able to see the spectre of Death.
CAT COLOURS.
In Europe, early America & China, the black cat was feared as an omen of sickness, poverty or bad luck. In the Middle Ages, however, it was considered lucky for any cat to cross your path, as long as it did you no harm. In Britian, a black cat was good luck & thought to be able to cure epilepsy.
Dream of a tortoiseshell cat and you will be lucky in love.
Dream of a black and white cat and you'll have luck with children.
Dream of a tabby and you will have luck with your home.
Dream of a multi-coloured cat and you will have luck making friends.
Tortoiseshell cats were believed to be able to see into the future and could give the gift to a lucky child in the household.
French peasants thought that black cats could find buried treasure, if they followed a specific ritual : find an intersection where five roads connected, then turn the cat loose and follow him.A tabby cat that resides with you of it's own accord is believed to bring wealth.
A Buddhist superstition was that a light-coloured cat brought silver, & a dark-coloured cat brought gold. A tri-coloured cat will protect a house from fire, & a double-clawed cat (those with extra claws), is the luckiest of all.
LUCK & PREDICTION.
If you find white hair on a black cat, you will have good luck.
One Roman dream interpretation was that dreaming of being badly scratched by a cat foretold sickness and trouble.
Some people believed that if a cat washes its face and paws in the parlour, company's coming.
LOVE, MARRIAGE & CHILDBIRTH.
French folklore tells us that a strange white cat mewing on a doorstep fortells a speedy marriage, but if a maiden steps on a cats tail,she will not marry that year.
If a bride hears a cat on her wedding day, or on the eve of her wedding, good luck is sure to follow.
The Pennsylvania Dutch placed a cat in an empty cradle of a newly-wed couple. The cat was supposed to grant their wish for children.
In Scandinavia, the cat stood for fertility.
St Martha of Sicily, patron saint of good housewives and household order has the domestic cat as her animal.
The Hindu believed the cat was the symbol for childbirthWhen a girl living in the Ozark Mountains received a proposal of marriage and was uncertain whether to accept, she folded and placed three hairs from a cats tail into a paper under the doorstep. the next morning, she would unfold the paper to see if the hairs had formed themselves into a Y or N before answering her suitor.
