DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAT
CULT OUTSIDE EGYPT

This is a very delicate section. The development of the cat cult implies the
notion of a cultural change, and these are often so subtle as not to be
documented. However there is a certain trend just the same in the spread of the
cat and the spread of its legends.

For instance, most of the European legends associated with cats include the
notion of fertility. This probably started off
in Ancient Egypt with Bast and spread over
the world. Thus Freyja, the Norwegian cat
goddess was the goddess of fertility, the
Witches were known to make fertility spells
with the aid of their cats and so on. The
quality of Bast as a preserver of life
appeared in physical form in the cats who
killed the rats and thus avoided the plague.
When mass cat killings took place, Bubonic
plague was sure to follow.

Now the Medieval Christian Church had the
presumption that anything not Christian
must be Satanic. Thus what remained as an
offshoot of the fertility cult of Bast was now
termed Witchcraft, and what were physical manifestations of goddesses were now termed Satanic creatures. The Templars,
who were accused of being heretics, were made to confess that they denounced
Christ and worshipped cats. This obviously shows nothing of what the
Templars did as much as they show what the people thought about them, and
their cats if they had any. In the Witches legends one can also trace the cat’s
association with the moon and compare that to the Witch’s association with
the moon.

Though in the East the fertility associations were lost, there still was a certain
amount of association with the preservation of life, shown best in the
manekineko (beckoning cat) legend of Japan, where a cat saves a King’s life.

Modern Wiccans, especially cat lovers have included Bast in a lot of their
rituals, chants, prayers etc. However these should not be trusted fully, as they
are a Western 20^th century interpretation of Ancient Egyptian religion not
Ancient Egyptian itself. Perhaps most interesting though of these modern
re-interpretations are Aliester Crowley’s. In his 777 he associates Bast (as well
as Sekhmet, Mau (Ra as a cat), and Ra-Horakthy) with the Path 19 of Kaballah.
Thus the main correspondences would be these:

Hebrew letter – Teth (literally meaning serpent, cats killed serpents)
Zodiacal sign – Leo (Bast was also a lion goddess)
Planet – Sun (Bast as a sun goddess)
Major Arcanum – XI Strength (This depicts a woman with a lion)
Hindu deity – Vishnu (like Bast, a preserver of life)
Greek deity - Demeter (depicted as being borne by lions)
Animal – lion (again the lion aspect of Bast and Sekhmet)
Plant – sunflower (reminiscent of the solar qualities of Bast)
Precious stone – Cat’s eye (!!! No comment !!!)

Very appropriate correspondences, but surely they are NOT Ancient Egyptian.
Without sounding too dogmatic, do not take those correspondences too
seriously if what is desired is an Ancient Egyptian connection.

This section is included simply to give an idea of how the Bast legends have
influenced other legends and how they have been re-interpreted, and not to
give out dogmas of faith. It is a very interesting, though very tricky exercise, to
try and trace the evolution of an idea, through lack of evidence.

The picture on the left shows Freyja, the Norwegian fertility goddess, in her
cat-drawn chariot. The ones on the right show a witch and her "familiar", a
cat, and the manekineko of Japan, also known as the Beckoning Cat