My Cats bring me Heaven

"How far to heaven? Just open your eyes and look. You are in heaven" ~Shankar~

Sometimes we see a glimpse of our future through art and when I saw this picture, I got a little sad and felt comforted at the same time. That could be me in twenty years if I'm blessed enough to live that long. For I have two cats who bring me heaven each time I look at them, even when they're being the most naughty. When I read the above quote (one of the writing prompts from Mama Kat this week) I knew I had to redefine for myself what Heaven is because it's changed throughout my whole life except for the one constant joy and well of soul-love, my cats.

When I'm sitting quietly watching a movie or reading a book, one of my cats, Bella or Sele will softly jump on my lap and settle down as if I'm the safest place in the world to be. I'll be petting them and feel the soft rumble of their purring and know, this is heaven...and I'm their Mother Goddess.

It's one thing to look for an external source to help us through rough times and I often call on the Angels when I'm experiencing a dark night of the soul. There's another element to heaven when I can be the one to bring that comfort, joy and love to another sentient being. My son once gazed at me as if I was the Mother Goddess but now, I'm just "mom" which still means something important to him, but I'm not the all-being nurturer which is as it should be. But for my cats, I'm their refuge.

I was watching a fascinating documentary on where the first domesticated cat originated from. Years of research was put into this. The first domestic cat which I'm sure some of you have guessed was from Egypt. They called their cats "Mau" which meant "all-seeing" because the moon and sun were reflected in their eyes, to them that was a view of heaven.  Bastet one of their major deities was a goddess with the head of a cat and a body of a woman, who blessed all women, the home and family as well as being the goddess of major protector of cats.

The documentary made a point of saying, unlike the dog who needs a pack to live, cats are independent creatures, they can hunt for themselves, often are solitary and really don't need humans for our love. They have chosen through thousands of years to be our companions blessing us with their presence because they want to be with us. And believe me, most cats think that they're doing us a favor by hanging around us, rather than the other way around.

 I have a huge altar dedicated to Bastet and every day as my cats go outside for their twenty minute jaunt, I ask Bast for her blessings and to please protect and watch over my babies at all times. I feel a reverence and peace when I meditate at the altar and I feel heaven then and there. But when my cats are before me, that is when I see heaven the clearest.

 What is your vision of heaven and when do you see it most?

A Familiar by any other Name

I've always had at least one cat familiar in my life and vow I will never live without one. Yes, even when I was a little girl and my peers were playing with "Barbie" dolls, I played with my cats, who were my kindred spirits and confidants. I've blogged before about how my mother "introduced" me to magic, not on any formal level, but she was a witch and had an intelligence and love for animals that I inherited from her. Like most other childhoods, I had nightmares, terrors and anxieties, I couldn't trust any adult or other child with my secrets, so I turned to my cats. We always had at least one cat and a few dogs for our family. I loved my dogs and would play with them for hours outside, but it was my cats, I turned to, for my inner-world of thoughts and feelings. In archetypal language, the cat represents the feminine, intuitive, secretive and magical. Before anyone objects that dogs or other animals can't represent the feminine or there aren't cats who are more like dogs, I agree. My son has a cat who is completely opposite of what a "typical" cat is supposed to act like. He likes to hang out with dogs if there are any, he comes up to greet anyone he meets with a loud, demanding voice, and I doubt he'd have any patience for the workings of magic. In my life, cats represent the feminine spirit. I'm not the only one who matches cats with the feminine.

 During the Burning Times, cats, especially black ones, were associated with the witch as her or his counterpart. The black cat could slip through the night unseen, when one looked at it's eyes, you can see the moon and a cat holds secrets that we can only guess about. I can understand why so many fearful, ignorant people who were terrified of the Goddess in her many forms. Notice, I didn't say, that the cats were owned because everyone who owns a cat agrees with the saying, "Dogs have Masters, Cats have Staff," and isn't that true? 

There are of course many different animals besides a cat that can be a witch's familiar. In the play "Macbeth" the Wyrd Sisters had "Paddock" a toad, "Harpier" an owl, and "Grimalkin" a cat. In the book and movies of "Harry Potter" all the students as well as the faculty have familiars, cats, rats, owls, bees, dogs, bees even.The black cat just seems to personify a witch. So don't feel too badly if you don't have a cat familiar. Really any animal "companion" as Mother Moon so beautifully wrote can be your magical partner in crime. However, not every animal is destined to be a familiar. 

I live with two very beloved cats who are sisters, Bella and Sele. Bella looks exactly like Mother Moon's Jimbo, right down to the exact size of the white diamond on the chest. She's elegant, leggy, athletic and extremely moody, like her mother. She would love to venture out under the moonlight if I let her outside, which I don't. She sits in the window communing with the moon and then whispers into my ear mysteries and dreams. Sele is a tuxedo kitty (black and white patches) and is Bella's opposite. All she wants to do is play, eat and sleep. In that order. If I tried to perform any magic with her, she'd run under the bed in fright. I love how Lynelle wrote about her cat "Cici" who can always put a smile on her face, that's Sele!

It's strange how often I wake up from a horrible nightmare choking, gasping for air and burning hot. I have a continual dream about how my cats and I have been burned in my house. Knock on wood, I have never had or never will have that happen to me. I can't watch or read anything about any animal being harmed, especially a cat. That's when the real witch in me comes out as I chant a curse aloud to those perpetrators. Animal familiars were also known as "imps" because they were believed to be one of the devil's minions send to a witch as a messenger.One of the most famous names for a familiar is,  "Pyewackett." This name has been used for cat familiars in fiction throughout the ages and continues to be one. One of my favorite Pyewackett familiars is from the movie, "Bell, Book and Candle." The television series "Bewitched" was based upon this movie. The infamous, witch hunter, Matthew Hunter said that, "Pyewackett, was a name no mortal could invent."


The plagues that happened in the fourteenth century killing over 25 million people, 1/3 of Europe's population was believed to have come from fleas that lived on black rats which then infected everyone. I believe in karma, not as a principle to bring about vengeance or an event to justify the means, but I can't help but think that after all those seven million and plus who were killed as witches along with their animals that a horrible justice was served.
 

I always keep in mind with any type of magic I perform one of the oldest witch's credes, "Three by Three by Three." This means that whatever thought or action either positive or negative projected onto another can come back to you in threefold strength. Please know, I am not saying in any way that what happened to all those victims of the plague was deserved or justifiable. Most of the victims were the youngest children or the oldest citizens. Not the most likely to have been part of the witch hunt. In fact, the greatest population of people who were persecuted as witch's were the elders. Magic is powerful and the responsibility of working with a familiar is not to be taken lightly. They are able to access worlds which most humans can't. They stir the inner-cauldron of an instinctive animal realm which must be used with great consciousness and care. But most of all, our familiars bring out the best in us...Patience, humour, humility and a wisdom that is a sacred gift. I don't know where I would be if it weren't for the familiars I have loved. Blessings upon you and your familiar in whatever form they take.


How to Name Your Familiar 
When the devil brings him, like a Christmas puppy, examine his downy fur and smell his small paws for the scent of sulphur. 
 Is he a child of hell? O clearly those soft brown eyes speak volumes of deviltry.
O surely those small pink teats could suckle witches.  O those floppy ears hear only the devils hissing.
O that small pink tongue will lick at your heart until only Satan may slip in.
A fuzzy white dog? Name him Catch.
A little black kitten? She is Jamara. 
A tiny brown rabbit? Call her Pyewackett. 
Beware, beware-the soft, the innocent, the kingdom of cuddly ones-All these expose you to the jealous tongues of neighbor's flames, all these are the devil's snares!
~Erica Jong~

My Life as a Changeling

I'm sure you knew those children, the one's that seemed somehow "different" and lost. They would often have a wild look in their eyes, appearing unkempt and uncomfortable in their own skin. When other children would be playing typical childrens games in the schoolyard, these other children would be alone having conversations with invisible friends. I was one of those children. Have you ever heard of Faery "Changeling"? The story is that the Fae don't have many babies who grow and thrive and so they steal a human baby raising it as a faery, so their race can survive. The faery baby would then replace the stolen child to live among the humans, while often times the mother would never suspect the difference.

My mother knew though. She would always call me her "changeling child". She never would refer to me as her little girl, and so I never considered myself other than a "changeling," whatever that meant. I just  thought it was a term of endearment. As I grew older I learned about these changelings. A changeling baby would cry more than other babies and squirm in their mother's arms rejecting her love. Instead of laughing and cooing as "normal" babies do, they would fret and never seem satisfied no matter how much they were loved. As they grew to be children their fae qualities became more apparent. I never liked playing with Barbie dolls or any other types of games "normal" little girls would. Instead I wanted to make faery houses out of flowers and then invite the faeries in for tea parties. Once in a while I would meet another little girl who would play "faeries" with me, only to tell their friends later how strange I was and to stay away from me. I was saved from complete misery and loneliness by my pets, especially my cats, who loved me unconditionally and never questioned who I was.

The fairies break their dances
And leave the printed lawn.
~A.E. Housman~

One day I noticed that some mushrooms were growing in a circle on our lawn. My mother told me that they were called "faery circles" and that late at night under the moonlight, the faeries would come out to play and dance. I asked her if humans were ever allowed to join them but she warned me, telling me it was dangerous for a human to even see the fae, as they would often be stolen away to live in "Tir Na Nog" the land of eternal youth. I knew this was my chance then, to reunite with the family I really belonged to and go home to Tir Na Nog. I did my best to stay awake every night when my family was asleep so I could slip out and meet the fae. I was convinced they were waiting for me. Somehow, I was never able to stay awake late enough to meet the fae. Eventually the faery circle disappeared and I sadly grew to accept that I wasn't meant to live among the fae again. 

I don't feel so alone and alienated anymore now, because I have met other changelings. They too have experienced a sad and beautiful life similar to mine. And we know one day, we will return to Tir Na Nog. Are you one of us, a changeling too?

"This is a work of fiction.  All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence.  Or lack thereof." 
~Neil Gaiman~