Cats have been connected with religion in many countries from ancient times. The true cat goddess, Bast, signified to the Egyptians the fruitful powers of the sun, and was worshipped as “the soul of Osiris”, with an annual festival at the city of Bubastis.

The cat was sometimes thought to be entrusted with the souls of the dead, leading them to Paradise. There was however some confusion between Bast and the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, who symbolised the suns destructive power, as a result the nature of the cat was seen to be ambivalent.

Perhaps because of its sinuous shape, its changing eyes and its tendancy for independance, plus the fact that in Hebrew and early Christian beliefs it was regarded as part of a devil or idol worship, the cat became man’s enemy for a period of time instead of his friend.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 am and is filed under Cat Facts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.