The Cult of the Cat
Part III Towards Tolerance
"If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape,
then a cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air."Doris Lessing
The cat is a creature of ever-changing fortunes. From being worshipped as a goddess, the cat was persecuted by the Catholic church. What is it about the cat that has made it a god in some societies and a demon in others?
The cat is still basically a mystery to us and we are attracted or repelled by that depending on our own natures. There is much that is elusive about a cat: its inscrutable gaze, its sensitivity to changes in air pressure and mood and its great understand ing of body language, its ability to know when its owner is returning home, to hear sounds that human ears can not detect, to spend so much time asleep yet remain athletic, to survive and walk nonchalantly away from a fall from a great height. It seems to hint at the existence of another world from where it receives its influences. Symbol of the night and of the moon and just as changeable; creature of the shadows, wise beyond telling, the cat did not weep at the death of the Buddha for the cat knew the Buddha had simply passed on to a higher, better life.
There are two sides to a cat and this was recognized by the cultures that revered it. On one side is the symbol of the hearth, domesticity and motherhood and on the other the night stalker with the moon in its eyes, sharp clawed and aggressive. The cat's apparant preference for activity during the hours after sundown, sway-hipped promiscuity, caterwauling, and the sparks of static that fly from its coat when stroked in the dark have all helped to build its sinister reputation. Bast the protector. Sekhmet the predator.
Women have long admired and desired the grace and beauty of cats. Men have viewed them with suspicion and distrust. Cats are more closely identified with women and female traits than with men. 'Cattiness' is a trait ascribed to women rather than men. Men who like cats tend to have artistic leanings. Brothels in North America are known as cat-houses.
Cats and women have a particularly close affinity. Both have long been misunderstood and both persecuted at times though they have also enjoyed positions of power together. Thousands of women and cats were put to death by a paranoid church in a wave of horror and cruelty.
The church did not trust cats and it did not trust women either. The cat is independent and makes its own choices so is not accepted in authoritarian so cieties where absolute obedience is demanded. More tolerant societies admire these very attributes.
The moon, women and cats are linked. Plutarch said that the pupils of the cat's eyes dilated and contracted with the waxing and waning of the moon. This has added to the cat' s reputation as moon goddess controlling the tides, weather and fertility. The moon is connected with women through the menstrual cycle.
If you click on the image of the witch and cat you can see some pictures of the cat's relationship with the moon.
Paganism is for the most part goddess worship. Christianity was and still is to a large extent male-dominated with little room or understanding for women.
The cat' s visual powers are strengthened by the ancient Egyptian word ' mau' meaning both cat and ' to see' . Cats were therefore capable of second sight. Cats appear to cast a spell on their prey immobilising them with a stare. The cat's unblinking gaze can be disturbing. Maybe the cat sees through us to the hidden truth. The Celts believed on the other hand that if they gazed into the cat's eyes they would see through into the spirit world.
Now paganism is becoming gradually more acceptable and cats have adopted humans again and are outstripping dogs in number as the most popular pet.
Cats are also being recognized as healers. Stroking a cat reduces blood pressure and stress and cats are being introduced into hospices and homes for that very reason.
Don't forget the bigger cats and the unforgivably cruel and still continuing trade in cat fur. Please help to put an end to it by supporting Respect for Animals.
And don't forget the many animals of all kinds subjected to terrible suffering through unnecessary, unreliable, unethical scientific and medical experimentation. Visit the National Anti-Vivisection Society's site
and also their Animal Defenders' pages to find out how you can help end cruelty to animals in circuses, factory farming and the worldwide trade in endangered species.
Gradually over the last couple of hundred years, we have begun to accept the cat again and now there are more cats than dogs living as pets .
1999 is the Year of the Cat so watch out.
"But the wildest of all the wild animals was the Cat.
He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him."Rudyard Kipling
Read some poems inspired by the nature of cats
