Were cats and witches really negative?

Created by - Hemant Pareek

The witch - evil sorceress, seductive enchantress flying in the moonlight. What do we know of her mysterious origin?Who were the real women behind the myth of witches?

The witch,enchantress, the devil's consort, a fierce some being of myth and fairy tale, she has haunted human consciousness for thousands of years. The witch remains a chilling specter that captures human imagination and baffles us with mysteries.

What is a witch? When exactly did the belief in witches originate? Do they exist or are they merely bizarre creation of human imagination? Over centuries the image of a witch has undergone several transformations. perhaps no figure in myth or legend has been so despised as the witch. In their earliest beginnings magical female beings who possessed supernatural powers were not seen as a source of evil.
Witches have been around as long as since human community has been trying to fight disease.It may be that they developed from early goddess cults that these are the women who served the goddess.

The goddess figures dating back around 20,000 years were believed for their magical abilities to enhance fertility and nurture the land. All powerful creation deities, they held sway over the forces of universe.For thousand years, creation goddess was honored as the all powerful divine force. She was known by names.
In ancient Mesopotamian she was called Inanna, the queen of heaven. In Egypt, the predominant civilization of the ancient world, she was known as Isis. In the land of Canaan, she was Asherah. All of them were supreme goddesses who presided over the sacred forces of life and death, worshiped by those who relied on earth's fertility for their survival.
Not only did the ancients worshiped powerful female deities, but throughout middle east often those who practiced the holiest rituals were women. could these priestesses, trained in sacred art have been the antecedents of witch. Over the centuries, these ancient priestesses came to be known as wise women.

From the early rituals prying to sacred ceremonies which would later be known as witchcraft,what magical power did these so called 'ancient wise women' posses? Accounts from Turkey describe how the ancient wise women would sit inside a circle drawn with salt to reside their magical implantation.
Their ritual objects were simple, but they were believed to posses awesome powers of healing and protection.
They were so positively viewed by the society they lived in. No king could be without their consult, no army could recover from a defeat without their ritual activities, no baby could be born without their presence!


Source :
Documentary on Incredible History of Witches, 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG4EH3FQjnI

How cats and witches become a perfect Pair

A witch with black cat performing some ritual.

HOW BLACK CATS AND WITCHES BECOME A PERFECT PAIR

                 Black Cats                                                              Witches

·         Ancient gods took the forms of, and were occasionally personified by black cats, specifically the Egyptian Goddesses Bast and Isis.  The Greco-Roman GoddessDiana Triformis and Tergemina — Selena/Luna (full moon, mother), Artemis/Diana (waxing moon, virgin), Hecate (dark moon, crone) — especially Diana often appeared in the form of a black cat.  Black cats, being the representatives of the goddess, get spoiled by the priestesses.	·         People revered the Sun and Moon and considered them gods.  Later the followers of lunar and solar divinities associated specific animals with them.  The cat, particularly the black cat, represented the Moon.  People domesticated cats not just because they were good at keeping vermin away, but they made great companions.  Roman goddess Diana transformed into a black cat several times, becoming her priestesses’ favorite temple consort.
·         Associated with goddess Diana and many goddesses associated with the Moon, including a few gods who ruled the Sun, all cats became symbolic of fertility and women.  The Daughters of Diana, her priestesses, dressed in black robes, some made from the skins/fur of black cats for their powerful association with the goddess.	·          The ancient Dianic Cult (possibly ones like it) spreads throughout the known world, going as far north as the British Isles.  Goddesses from other cultures could be easily identified with the Virgin Diana.  Her priestesses wear robes of black, black representing the color of the earth, womb, and the night sky.  Black cats were revered for this holy association.
·         Black cats symbolic of magic and darkness after the goddess Diana, who later would be known as Queen of the Witches, when her cult went underground and eventually faded from history.	·         Diana’s religion went against patriarchal rule because its chief leaders were women.  The Daughters of Diana go underground and worship in secret.
·         Before the Dianic cult is dead in the north, Rome became Christian and soon anything having to do with the pagan gods must be done away with.  The Black Cat, symbol and companion, often personification of the goddesses of fertility and magic, soon gained a bad reputation.  No longer a symbol of life, the black cat became harbinger of bad luck and death.	·         Celtic version of Hecate (Diana’s crone form) known asNicneven was worshiped when a multi-cultural intermixing of Celt, Goth, and Roman faiths were accepted.  The Diana/Hecate cult survived “with considerable vigour” in Scotland until the 18th century, but was fading before the Medieval persecutions.  Hecate/Nicneven could transform into creatures — a black cat come to visit could be the dark goddess come as a warning of death to come.
·         Domesticated and no longer revered as gods in fur coats, cats had a job: to get rid of vermin.  This gave them the power to protect the homes of humans from parasites and disease-carrying rats.  They also had another job: provide companionship to the lonely, becoming the favorites of the widows and elderly.  Women especially loved their cats, so cats became known as “house cats” just as wives are “housewives.”	·         After ancient pagan mystery cults fade into obscurity, and/or their followers wiped out by invading cultures, some evidence suggests that their healing and magical ways were passed down between women.  The cures and spells were called Witchcraft by the Saxons who had a distaste for it, considering it treason and a sin.  It wasn’t punishable by death until the 13th century.
·         Black cats were accused of being Witches because; they had black fur,  they had strange sexual lives, they howled, they were scary, their growl was otherworldly, women kept them as pets, women talked to them.	·         Women were accused of being Witches because; they had sex, they gave birth, they lived longer than men, they seemed to love animals — especially their cats — more than they did their husbands.
·         Black cats are thought to be Witches in animal form and are hunted down and destroyed by the thousands.	·         Women are accused of being Witches mostly because they are women.  They are said to take the forms of black cats nine times in their lifetime.
·         Black cats are thought to be the personification of the Devil.	·         Witches are thought to commune with the Devil who takes the form of a black cat.
·         Black cats hunted by gypsies and sorcerers for their magical properties.  It was believed that they had psychic power and were the preferred form that demons and other spirits liked to possess when called upon to complete a task for a magician.	·         It was believed that every Witch was supposed to have a black cat present with them at all times.  A spirit assumed the body of the black cat to perform the Witches’ tasks of maleficia against their neighbors.

Resource:
Black cat power-Part I, By Valentina

valentinathewitch.wordpress.com 

Image from https://www.pinterest.com