A Cat So Clever: Honoring Bastet
to Welcome a New Cat in the Family
Anyone who has ever “owned” a cat knows just how incongruous that notion is. Perhaps even the entirely cat-less would agree, cats select and (in turn) own their people. Not the other way around.
“With Cats, some say, one rule is true: Don’t speak till you are spoken to.”
- T.S. Eliot
More eloquent writers than myself unarguably describe cats on the same level as royalty, and their humans as mere subjects. This reigns true in the modern house-hold. We wake when the cat wants us to, we refresh food supplies on demand, and allow for 10lbs of fur to bed down on the desktop keyboard instead of working… why?
Because the cat chose us. Their favoritism is worth the folly, and turns us into militant special servants.
Metaphor in mind, we’re being “drafted” once again. Seeking a fur baby for our family. Having lost the most precious creature ever placed on this earth, it has taken 598 days to get me used to the idea of another/new cat. I feel my heart is ready, and I want to make my intentions known to the universe so the right kitty might select me as their “faux-ma.”
Cats are not interchangeable, and we beleive that adoption is for life. Not all cats vibe equally. So I created the following potion to honor Bastet and attract the cat that’s right for us, and us for them.
Social media dedicates a day of the week to #caturday in a manner of worship our ancestors probably would approve of. Origin cultures on our planet worshipped various animals. The most common amongst them are cats. The earliest of hieroglyphs include images of cats carved into stone thousands of years ago.
Egyptians believed cats were magical creatures, capable of bringing luck to those who housed them. To honor these treasured pets, wealthy families dressed them in jewels and fed them treats fit for kings. (#guilty) When their cats died, they were mummified. To honor their passing, cat owners shaved off their eyebrows, and mourned until their eyebrows grew back.
Legend says that Egyptian gods and goddesses could transform themselves into different animals, but only one deity, the goddess named Bast, had the power to become a cat. Bastet is her name when she is in full cat form.
The various names is similar to T.S. Eliot’s piece “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” which he decerned that cats in fact have THREE names. The first is their “sensible everyday name,” his examples: Plato, Admetus, Demeter.
The second name is a type of nickname “unique to only one cat.” Like Mr. Mistoffelees, the name Eliot gave “a conjuring cat” so clever, no one could match him, “never.”
Cat lovers unite in knowing this uniqueness that is the clever cat. Our clever, was a 19yr old, orange, tabby named Spencer Tracey. We liked to call him Mr. Bo-bo-lobes. Wrote a song about living on “Bo-bo-lobe Lane.” (#NoShame)
The third name, according to Eliot, is one the Universe gives that “only the cat knows.” Makes perfect sense! Gifted with such keen sensibilities, why shouldn’t cats be given a third name? We’re certain the dogs had their own name for Spencer. He was undeniably their leader. Why shouldn’t the stars have a name for that magnificent beast as well?
Relating to the goddess and her cosmic connections, Bast is commonly shown in black or gold, like the night sky and stars. She rules over physical and spiritual domains including: protection of home, women, children, marriage, cats (of course), she wards off illness, promotes fertility, and aids childbirth. Her worship dates as early as 3500 BC and the city of Per-Bast, in the Nile Delta, houses a temple to the goddess where cats run freely as sacred animals.
Celebrations align Bast with song, dance, and the arts. Sexuality, reverie, perfume, beauty, and war are also her domain. The daughter of the sun god Ra, she is associated with the Sun and the Eye of Ra. Due to the nature of a cat’s nocturnal instincts, Bast is also associated with the moon, sometimes helping guide the dead to the afterlife.
Divination creatures, cats, co-mingle between the realms without assistance of tarot cards, pendulums, or boards, regardless of the thickening veil. They see, communicate with, and even chase things humans do not. Hence, the perfect partner for a practicing witch.
Though the feast of Bast is celebrated on October 31st, the goddess is also honored with the months of March and April due to her fertility and can be celebrated during Ostara. Her day of the week is Monday.
Because of her association with darkness, I chose the new moon to create a potion to call on Bast for guidance. DO NOT INGEST POTION.
Combine ingredients in a simmer pot:
Vervain root
Cinnamon bark
Lemon grass
Violet leaves
Willow bark
Cucumber seeds
Sage leaf
Mint leaf
Catnip
Cover ingredients with spring water.
Allowing the pot to simmer on low heat, as the moon creates a smile similar to the Cheshire cat brightening the sky. Stirring periodically, always clockwise in three full circles; once for her name, Bast, once for her cat-name, Bastet, and once for the name given by the universe that only she knows.
When the liquid has cooked down, I remove the mixture from the heat. Allow to cool and strain potion with a cheese cloth.
I intend to use this potion ritually in my simmer pot and silently await response throughout the Imbolc/Ostara season. One could use the postion to dress candles too. I meditate on my fur babies in the spiritual realm, and keep myself open for a cat to choose me …one so clever, no one will match her, ever.