4
A great many deities around the world and in various cultures have been connected in one way or another with the feline family. Perhaps the best known are the Egyptian goddesses Bast and Sekhmet and the Norse goddess Freyja. But the spiritual importance of all cats and their connection to deities reaches back much further than ancient Egypt.
It is in their eyes that their magic resides.
—Arthur Symons
Paleolithic art tells us that the lion once roamed over much of Europe. Sacred caves are decorated with detailed paintings of the slaying of lions. The very fact that these paintings are in such detail and in such sacred places hints that the slaying was more than a mere hunt, possibly of great religious significance.33 We know that such caves were symbolic of the body of the Great Goddess,34 the resting place between death and rebirth.
In the huge cave of Pech Merle in France is a painting of a red human-lion figure, wearing a crown; called the Lion Queen,35 this has been the only one of its kind found thus far. In the foothills of the Pyrenees is a cave (Les Trois Freres) containing the Chapel of the Lioness; on a stone altar is carved a lioness and her cub. This lioness has been termed the Guardian of Initiation.36
From a later date (1800 BCE) in Iran, we find a golden bowl engraved with the Mother Goddess and Her lions. Wearing two necklaces (symbol of fertility), She rides a lion, while holding a mirror (the Sun) in one hand and a mace (thunderbolt) in the other. On the lion’s flank is a swastika, an ancient sacred fertility symbol before it was perverted by Hitler.
The Hittites of the Middle East, of whom we know little, also connected the Great Goddess and the lion. On a high plateau in Turkey are the ruins of the Hittite capital Yasilakaya; it was destroyed in c. 1200 BCE by invaders from the Black Sea region.37
It wasn’t until the nineteenth century CE that a French traveler discovered a hidden sacred sanctuary in a rocky gorge about two miles from the ancient ruins. Inside, in a series of rock chambers, are almost seventy huge human and divine figures. In the center of this group of sculptures are seven deities on their respective sacred animals. The most important of this grouping is the Storm and Weather God, standing on the shoulders of two retainers, and the Great Goddess, who rides a lion. These statues likely represent the well-documented Sumerian-Babylonian Sacred Marriage, considered so very important for the welfare of the realm.
A lion architectural ornament from Nineveh and Persepolis.
Several representations of lions with the Goddess have been found in the ancient ruins of Crete and Mycenae. For example, a seal ring from Crete shows a Great Goddess figure standing between two guardian lions as She gestures with a wand. At the entrance to the acropolis of Mycenae (1250 BCE) is the famous Lion Gate; here, two lions, carved in deep relief, guard a Goddess pillar.
A bronze relief from 500 BCE was discovered in the Etruscan area of Italy. On it is the Gorgon Medusa, shown in the birth position and flanked by two lionesses, which she holds by the throats. This depiction is reminiscent of those found at Catal Huyuk in Turkey.
The goddess Cybele, who was worshipped in Phrygia, Thrace, Lydia, Phoenicia, and many other places, first is shown standing between two lions; later, in Spartan art, she stands on a lion or holds one by the throat. Much later, the Roman Goddess Fortuna sits in a chariot pulled by lions, while in India and Tibet, the goddess Tara rides on a lion. The Homeric hymn to Aphrodite says that this deity was accompanied by grim-eyed lions and fleet leopards.
Bronze lion guarding the Gate of Supreme Harmony in Beijing, China.
In China, the lion (called Shih) was one of the four animals of power.38 It was said to watch over and protect the living and the dead, as well as magickally call forth rain. Even today in the USA, many Chinese perform lion dances before their homes to the accompaniment of drums and firecrackers.39
However, lions were not the only member of the feline family to have ancient spiritual significance. At the ancient ruins of the matriarchal Turkish city of Catal Huyuk (7100–6300 BCE) is a three-dimensional sculpture of a goddess dressed in spotted leopard skins and riding a leopard.40 Another discovery from Catal Huyuk is a terra cotta figure of a Mother Goddess sitting on a birth throne; between Her ample thighs is the head of the partially born child.41 Her hands rest on the heads of leopards. Thousands of similar terra cottas are now in the Ankara Architectural Museum in Turkey. Among these figures are also statues of men wearing leopard skins and dancing in rituals.
In the neighboring ruins of Halicar (c. 6000 BCE) there is archaeological evidence that similar religious practices were used. Among the clay figures is one of the Mother Goddess, less ample than those of Catal Huyuk, with elongated eyes; She sits on a throne with a leopard as guard, while She nurses a leopard cub.42
In the far north in the Scandinavian countries, we find a few representations of the goddess Freyja and her two cats, who were said to pull her chariot. Her priestesses were known to wear cat-skin capes and gloves during rituals.
Dionysus receiving his cat-skin.
These are just a few of the numerous archaeological, historical, and written examples of ancient spiritual connections between felines and deities, particularly goddesses. Although the connection between felines and deities is wide spread, present-day readers are mainly familiar with the Egyptian connections, particularly the goddesses Bast and Sekhmet.
Certain Egyptian deities have long been associated with the feline family and its powers. A crystal cup from 3100 BCE is engraved with a picture of the lion headed goddess Mafdet. Papyri from later times portray the Sun god Ra in giant cat form, a knife in one paw, beheading the serpent Apep. The Egyptians named the cat after its own speech: Mau.43 Several of the royal tombs of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties of Thebes are decorated with the words of the Seventy-Five Praises of Ra; one of these Praises calls Ra the Great Cat, the Judge of Words.44 However, the goddess Bast was frequently called “the Eye of Ra,” a clue that she alone was originally the Great Cat and that this title was later given to the god.
The principal Egyptian goddesses associated with the domestic cat were Bast and Pasht.45 They both were pictured with a human female body and the head of a cat. Bast represented the gentler aspects of the cat, while Pasht symbolized the aggressive aspects.
The idea of the cat and its nine lives may have come from an Egyptian belief that the goddess Pasht had nine lives; the Egyptian Ennead was also made up of nine deities. The number nine has been associated with the Moon in many ancient cultures since the earliest of times. The Greek/Roman goddess Artemis/Diana, who was identified with Bast, was also associated with the number nine (the nine Muses), the Moon, and the cat; the priestesses of Diana were often masked and robed to resemble cats.
One of the oldest human-headed lion statues is the famous Sphinx; this photo depicts one in Karnak, Egypt.
The Egyptians who were educated and initiated into the Mysteries never actually worshipped any animal as an animal. Instead, they honored the animal as an incarnation or representation of a divine presence or deity.46
Bast, or Bastet or Ubastet, was a goddess greatly loved by the ancient Egyptians. Her name may have come from the Egyptian word bes, which means “fire.” Called the Cat Mother and the Little Cat, she was connected primarily with the Moon (as well as the Sun) and domesticated cats, and often called the “Eye of the Moon.”47
Her most famous temple was at Bubastis-Aboo-Pahst,48 in the Delta region. At Thebes and Heliopolis, Bast also held a greatly honored position. She is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts but only occasionally in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The worship of Bast was already very old when the name of Pepi I of the Fifth Dynasty was entered in her temple at Bubastis.
Priestesses and women honored Bast with music, dance, merrymaking, and sexual rites. Sistra49 used by her priestesses and worshippers were decorated with the head or image of a cat at the top. Known as the “Lady of Sept” (the Star of Sothis), Bast was called the bringer of good fortune.
However, the seventeenth chapter of the Egyptian Book of the Dead hints that Bast had much more serious duties than revelry; she knew certain powerful words that would banish the powers of all darkness.
The black cat, associated with both Bast and Pasht, was thought to be especially lucky and was the emblem used by physicians to advertise their services.
A similar goddess to Bast, and with many of the same aspects, was Hathor, called the Lioness. The connection between these two goddesses is shown by an inscription of Ramses IV that said that hunting lions was forbidden on the festival of Bast. Hathor, in her aspect of the Eye of Ra, was frequently accompanied by Bast and Sekhmet.
In the tale of Isis and the child Horus, found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Isis herself says that Horus is nursed by the cat who dwells in the House of Neith (Neith was a goddess).
Although desert and red-colored animals were ordinarily considered sacred to the god Set, this did not apply to lions, cheetahs, cats, and other members of the feline family. Most Egyptian deities associated with the lion (a solar animal) were goddesses. Gateways to temples, palaces, and tombs, as well as the royal throne itself, were guarded by images of the lion.50 The head of the funeral bier was carved in the shape of a lion’s head, a symbolic reminder that lion-headed deities guarded certain halls of the Underworld. One of the oldest human headed lion statues is the famous Sphinx at Gizeh.51
Ancient records tell us that lions were kept as sacred animals in many temples and palaces throughout Egypt, particularly in the temple at Heliopolis. Ramses II and III both had a tame lion who attacked the enemy during battle.
Freyja and her cat-drawn chariot.
The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, was associated with the lioness, and was worshipped at Beni Hasan. Called “the night huntress with the sharp claws,” she was portrayed with a lioness head, representing the devouring heat of the Sun. As a deity of fertility, she protected the young; she was also associated with fate, because she ruled over the Tablets of Destiny, and also with war and destruction.
Sekhmet’s name, which means “the mighty one; the strong, violent; the tearer and devourer of men,” seems to be derived from the root sekhem. She was also known as the Great Cat.52 As a powerful goddess who protected the good and destroyed the evil, she could defeat the powers of Set and the serpent Apophis. Her festival day commemorated the massacre of humans by Sekhmet as the Great Cat. Both Bast and the goddess Sekhmet were considered to be protectors of the Sun god and destroyers of his enemies.
Another of her lesser-known symbols was the fire-spitting uraeus (cobra). Statues of Sekhmet often wore a crown of the uraeus and Sun disk, while the goddess herself was draped in a red garment.
The Egyptians called Sekhmet “the one great of magick,” a goddess who had access to knowledge of all sorcery. With her husband Ptah and her son NeferTem, Sekhmet made up the deity triad of Memphis. The Greeks knew this goddess as Sakhmis.
Eros riding a lion.
When the Egyptian people wanted a goddess to protect them, they called upon Sekhmet. When they wanted more personal, gentle aid, they called upon Bast.
Bast was also shown on occasion with a lioness head. This makes Bast look very much like Sekhmet and makes it difficult to distinguish between the two. However, Neville Langton, an Egyptologist, studied these two goddesses and discovered a way to tell them apart when Bast wore her lioness form. Sekhmet almost always wore both the solar disk and uraeus, while Bast wore only the cobra-crown. Bast also carried the sistrum and had engraved between her ears the sign of the scarab. The sacred eye of Horus often was found somewhere on statues of Bast.
Like Sekhmet, the goddess Mehit was connected with the lioness. She was also identified with the fire-spitting uraeus (cobra), called the eye of Ra.
Other Egyptian lioness-goddesses were Pakheth, Menat, Renenet, Sebqet, Urt-Hekau, Asthertet, and a form of Hathor and Nekhebet.53 Even the south wind was said to be ruled over by a lion-headed god called Shehbui.
The goddess Mafdet was associated with both the lynx54 and the leopard or panther. Mafdet’s claws were said to be like the spear of the god Horus; one of her sacred emblems was the execution pole, a device with a projecting blade at the top. Although she wreaked terror on evildoers, she also helped the dead in the Judgment Hall. The priests who officiated in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony for the dead wore panther skins. Mafdet was also called on for protection against snakes.
The worship of Bast had its followers throughout the Mediterranean area until the end of the fourth century CE, when the Christian-backed emperor Theodosius I outlawed all Paganism.
After the frenzied paranoia of the witch hunts faded away, the church conveniently began to include the cat in its religious paintings. Unfortunately, the cat was usually portrayed in a negative sense, such as sitting at the feet of Judas in paintings of the Last Supper.
Greek legend says that the goddess Artemis (Diana) turned herself into a cat when fleeing from the evil god Typhon; in this same flight, the goddess Hecate also assumed a cat form. Because Hecate was associated with cats, the pussy willow, which bears “catkins” in the spring, was one of her plants.55
Cats are companion figures in many sculptures of the Roman Moon goddess Diana. The Roman goddess Liberty also was portrayed with a cat at her feet.
The black cat is especially associated with Underworld goddesses, such as the Norse Hel, the Germanic Holda, and the Greek Hecate. This may be the reason that some people consider the black cat to be an omen of death.
The Greek Sun god Apollo Chrysocomes (He of the Golden Locks) was sometimes identified with the lion and its flowing mane. In Greek art, the tiger is some times substituted for the leopard in depictions of the god Dionysus. Legend isn’t very clear about whether the newborn Dionysus was placed by Hermes on the skin of a leopard, a tiger, or a fawn.
In Mediterranean cultures, the goddess Cybele and her son/lover Attis rode in a lion-drawn chariot. Early Arabs had a deity called Yaghuth, a lion god, and considered the lion a protector against evil.
The goddess Ishtar of Babylon was often shown standing on a lion or with two lions. For Marduk, a Sumerian god, the lion symbolized sovereignty and strength. In Chaldea, Nergal, the god of war and death, was often pictured as a lion. Among the Hittites, their weather god’s chariot was pulled by lions and their Great Mother rode a lioness. At different times in Babylon and Assyria, the lion was connected with Ningirsu, Ninlil, Ninurta, Ishtar, Inanna, Astarte, and Damkina.
The most important goddess of the Norse cultures was Freyja, daughter of the sea god Njord and sister of Freyr. Her place in Asgard was called Folkvangr and her hall Sessrumnir. Freyja’s chariot was pulled by two cats;56 when the god Balder was cremated, she rode to the event in her cat-drawn chariot. This goddess liked love songs and helped in finding love; however, she was not associated with marriage.57
The northern European Corn Cat, a deity called on to protect the crops, could well be a form of Freyja. In some parts of Europe today, country people still dress up as cats to celebrate the end of the harvest.
After the people converted to Christianity, Freyja became a witch and her cats became black horses possessed by the devil. This new legend said that after seven years the cat-horses earned the right to become witches disguised as black cats. This rewrite of the Norse goddess story may be the origin of the unlucky black cat superstition. Those who accepted the idea of the Christian devil could also be persuaded to fear black cats.
Even the Celtic peoples, who viewed any cat as dangerous, had goddesses who could temporarily assume the form of a cat. Black Annis, a Crone aspect of the Great Goddess, was said to be able to shapeshift into a cat when she wanted to. When she was in this form, Black Annis had huge, sharp teeth and long nails or claws. She roamed the land at night, terrifying and killing people. In Scotland, the Cailleach Bheur (Blue Hag of Winter) could also become a cat. Reborn each year on October 31 (Halloween) and turned to stone on April 30, the Cailleach Bheur brought the freezing winter and snow.
In India, the Hindu goddess Shasti, deity of birth, either rode or was pictured with a cat, symbolizing the power of fertility and procreation. The goddess Durga was represented by a lion in her capacity of destroyer of demons; Durga also rode a tiger. The Hindu god Shiva, in his destructive aspect, wears a tiger skin.
Pan with one of his cats.
The Chinese said that the cat was a yin animal connected with evil, the night, and shapeshifting. They believed that the appearance of a strange cat portended a change in fortune and that a black cat meant sickness and misfortune.
Tsai Shen, the Chinese god of wealth, rides a tiger who guards the money chests. In this aspect, the tiger becomes an emblem of gamblers. The goddess of wind also rides upon a tiger.
Unless otherwise stated, the designation of “cats” means cats in general.
Deities with Feline Associations
|
Ahriman (Persia; god) |
cats |
|
Anait (Phoenicia, Canaan, Ur; goddess) |
lion |
|
Apollo (Greece; god) |
lion |
|
Artemis (Greece; goddess) |
cats |
|
Attis (Middle East; god) |
lion |
|
Bacchus (Rome; god) |
panther |
|
Bast (Egypt; goddess) |
cats, lynx |
|
Cybele (Greece, Phrygia; goddess) |
lion |
|
Damkina/Damgalnuna (Mesopotamia; goddess) |
lion |
|
Diana (Rome; goddess) |
cats |
|
Dionysus (Greece; god) |
cheetah, lion, leopard, panther, tiger |
|
Durga (India; goddess) |
lion, tiger |
|
Enki (Middle East; god) |
lion |
|
Freyja (Norse; goddess) |
cats |
|
Hathor (Egypt; goddess) |
cat, lion |
|
Horus (Egypt; god) |
cats |
|
Inanna (Canaan, Phoenicia, Sumeria, Uruk, Babylon; goddess) |
lion |
|
Ishtar (Mesopotamia, Babylon, Assyria, Sumeria, Arabia, Phoenicia, Canaan; goddess) |
lion |
|
Isis (Egypt; goddess) |
cats |
|
Liberty (Rome; goddess) |
cats |
|
Maat (Egypt; goddess) |
lynx |
|
Marduk (Mesopotamia; god) |
lion |
|
Mithras (Persia; god) |
lion |
|
Mut (Egypt; goddess) |
lioness, cats |
|
Nekhebet (Egypt; goddess) |
lion |
|
Nergal (Middle East, Babylon; god) |
lion |
|
Ningirsu (Middle East; god) |
lion |
|
Ninlil/Belitis (Mesopotamia; goddess) |
lion |
|
Ninurta (Mesopotamia; god) |
lion |
|
Osiris (Egypt; god) |
leopard |
|
Ovinnik (Slavonic; god) |
black cats |
|
Pan (Greece; god) |
leopard, panther |
|
Pasht (Egypt; goddess) |
cats |
|
Ra (Egypt; god) |
cats |
|
Renenet (Egypt; goddess) |
lion |
|
Sakkan (Mesopotamia; god) |
lion, cheetah, lynx, leopard |
|
Sekhmet (Egypt; goddess) |
lion, lioness |
|
Set (Egypt; god) |
cats |
|
Shadrafa (Phoenicia; god) |
lion |
|
Shasti (India; goddess) |
cats |
|
Shiva (India; god) |
tiger |
33. Buffie Johnson, Lady of the Beasts.
34. Erich Neumann, The Great Mother.
35. Siegfried Giedion, The Eternal Present.
36. Ibid.
37. Gertrude R. Levy, The Sword from the Rock.
38. Alfred Salmony, Antler & Tongue.
39. After lions became extinct in China, the Pekingese dog was specially bred to resemble the lion. These same animals became guardians.
40. James Mellaart, Catal Huyuk.
41. Ibid.
42. James Mellaart, Excavations at Hacilar.
43. Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians.
44. Ibid.
45. A few writers believe that the cat was connected with the dark god Set, but this isn’t consistent with Egyptian records.
46. Budge, Egyptian Magic.
47. Lurker, The Gods & Symbols of Ancient Egypt.
48. Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, and M. Oldfield Howey, The Cat in Magic. Herodotus wrote that this temple was specifically built to honor Bast.
49. Sistrum is the singular; sistra is the plural.
50. Originally, the home of the Egyptian lion was the Delta and the jungles of the Blue Nile river. It was also found in the deserts on both sides of the Nile between Khartum and the Mediterranean Sea, although not in great numbers.
51. Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians.
52. Patricia Dale-Green, Cult of the Cat.
53. Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians.
54. The Egyptian word for lynx was Mafet; Ibid. The lynx attacked and killed snakes, a common danger in Egypt.
55. Robert Graves, The Greek Myths.
56. Turville-Petre, Myth & Religion of the North. Branston, Gods of the North.
57. Like Diana and other goddesses associated with the Moon and cats, the patriarchal Christians said that Freyja was the mistress of evil, a cohort of their devil. Since the followers of Moon goddesses often celebrated joyous sexual rites, the church felt obligated to persecute them; to them, sex was sinful, especially if women were free to indulge in it whenever they wanted.