Théophile Steinlen's advertisement for the tour of the Chat Noir cabaret

Historically, black cats were symbolically associated with witchcraft and evil. In Hebrew and Babylonian folklore, cats are compared to serpents, coiled on a hearth. Black cats, because of their ability to remain unseen in dark places or at night, were considered especially desirable partners for witches in European traditions. Some witches purportedly had  the ability to shape-shift into a cat nine times, hence the archaic belief that cats have "nine lives". Black cats were sometimes used in magical rituals, sometimes as participants, other times as sacrifices. In witch trials, ownership of a cat was often taken as "evidence" of Satanic association and witchcraft. Cats, believed to be evil in their own right, were often punished or burned alive along with humans during these trials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cat).

Both historically and today, some religious and spiritual groups engage in ritualistic sacrifice of cats, though studies have mainly found that such reports belong squarely in the province of urban legend. Many modern witches keep black cats as pets, and view them as sacred (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cat).

In the African American hoodoo tradition, black cats are considered to be good luck in matters of sports and gambling, particularly with card games and playing the lottery. The black cat mojo bag is filled with a number of luck-bringing roots and herbs, including John the Conqueror root, and adorned with a small black cat charm on the outside and carried on the person for good luck.

Fortunately, the archaic associations of black cats with bad luck or evil that once flourished in North American popular culture are no longer widely held..

The Black Cat Bone Spell

"The Love Potion" by Evelyn de Morgan: a witch with a black cat familiar at her feet

Probably the most disturbing practice involving the black cat is that of the Black Cat Bone Spell. Although it is European in origin, it is commonly associated with hoodoo and Voodoo.  Supposedly, every black cat has one special bone in its body that will either grant the owner invisibility or can be used to bring back a lost lover (http://www.luckymojo.com/blackcat.html).

There are several ways in which the special black cat bone can be procured. Here is a version from the Book of Saint Cyprian, the patron saint of the occult:

"Cook the body of a black cat in boiling water with white seeds and wood from the willow until the meat is loosened from the bones. Strain the bones in a linen cloth and, in front of the mirror, place the bones, one by one in your mouth, until you find that you have the magic to make you become invisible. Keep the bone with the magic property and, if you want to go somewhere without being seen, place the bone in your mouth."

http://www.portcult.com/SAINT_CYPRIAN.05.MAGIC.SPELLS.htm

According to accounts by Nora Zeale Hurston and Harry Middleton Hyatt, both of whom studied hoodoo extensively, this is how the bone is procured (as cited by Cat Yronwode http://www.luckymojo.com/blackcat.html)

"To secure this bone, they said, a black cat must be thrown alive into a cauldron of boiling water at midnight. The animal dies in agony, and the heartless practitioner boils the carcass until the meat falls off the bones. Some say that the special bone will be the top one left when the water boils away, others say it can only be found by placing each bone in turn beneath the tongue while an assistant stands by to notify the practitioner that he has become invisible, and still others swear that if all the bones are thrown into a stream that runs north (uncommon in most of North America), the desired bone will be one that floats on the water and heads south." (http://www.luckymojo.com/blackcat.html)

Once the bone is obtained, it is carried in a mojo bag and dressed with Van Van oil to bring back a lost lover.

The "Love Potion" and Chat Noir" images are in the public domain because their copyrights have expired. This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.

A black cat near Roman ruins in Tarragona

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this photo under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Bombay Black Cat

Photo of a Bombay cat taken in the west midlands in a town called Redditch

The term Bombay cat is used to refer to two different breeds of cat: the British Bombay and the American Bombay.

The British Bombay cat is the name given to black cats of the Asian group. It is a cat of Burmese type with a black coat, toes, nose, and copper to greenish eyes.

The American breed called Bombay was created in 1958 in Louisville, Kentucky, when Nikki Horner of Shawnee Cattery deliberately bred an American Shorthair with a Burmese for the purpose of creating a domesticated cat that resembled a wild panther (also known as baby panther). The offspring of this breeding did indeed resemble the black leopard of India. The name came from the Indian city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Horner called her creation the "patent leather kid with the new penny eyes."

Characteristics

The Bombay is a muscular yet agile cat with a black coat. The heads of Bombay cats are rounded and wide with a short tapered muzzle. The eyes, which are of golden or copper color, are rounded and set wide, and their ears are broad, slightly rounded and medium sized and, like the eyes, set wide. The Bombay has a coat that is short, satiny and tight to the body. Bombay cats do not require grooming.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this photo under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Black Cat Superstitions

• In Scotland, a strange black cat on your porch is a sign of upcoming prosperity.

• In Ireland,when a black cat crosses your path in the moonlight, it means there is going to be an epidemic illness.

• In Italy hundreds of years ago, it was believed that if a black cat lay on the bed of a sick person, that person would die.

• Many years ago in England, fishermen's wives kept black cats in their homes while their husbands went away to sea in their fishing boats. They believed that the black cats would prevent danger from occurring to their husbands while they were away. Superstitions centering around the black cat are some of the most widely known and popular superstitions.

• In places which saw few witch hunts, black cats retained their status as good luck, and are still considered as such in Britain and Ireland.

• In Romanian and Indian culture, especially in the historical region of Moldavia in Romania and everywhere in India, one of the strongest superstitions still feared by many people is that black cats crossing their path represents bad luck, despite the fact that these regions were never affected by witch hunts or anti-paganism. An identical superstition survives also in Central Europe, such as the Czech Republic.

• Every black cat has one special bone in its body that will either grant the owner invisibility or can be used to bring back a lost lover (hoodoo).

• It is said that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, but letting one in your house is good luck.

• In other folklore, if a cat jumps over a dead body, the corpse will become a vampire. To stop this, the cat has to be killed.

• During the 17th century, a cat boiled in oil was believed to be excellent for dressing wounds. Illnesses could be tranferred to felines, which were then driven from homes. Diseases could also be created with cats. In order to cause the plague, a powder made from the body of a cat stuffed with fruit, herbs, and grain is hurled down from mountaintops (Russell, 1972).

• As a fertility charm, "a cat buried in a field will ensure a bountiful crop" (Guiley ,1989, p. 53).

• To destroy crops, some accused witches were said to have filled the skin of a cat with assorted vegetable matter, put it in a spring for a period of three days, and then to dry and grind the mixture. "On a windy day they go up a mountain and scatter the powder across the land as a sacrifice to the Devil, who in return for their offering will destroy the crops" (Kieckhefer , 1989, pp.195-196).

• In India it is thought that a reincarnated soul may be "liberated" by throwing a black cat into a fire.

• In Bengali folklore women could change their soul into a black cat and that any harm brought to the cat would be suffered by the women.

• The Celts thought black cats were reincarnated beings able to divine the future.

• German folklore believed that if a black cat jumped on the bed of a sick person it meant death was near.

• In Finland it was thought that black cats were thought to carry the souls of the dead to the other world.

• In China it is thought the presence of a black cat foretold of poverty.

• During the catholic inquisition when millions were killed, innocent people were tied to a stake and set aflame with often a black cat was thrown into the fire with them.

   

References

http://www.paralumun.com/catblack.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cat#_note-2

The Curse of the Black Cat

The infamous black cat curse in action. Photo from http://www.reversethecurse.com/curse_history.htm.

It was the 1969 season, and looked like it would at long last be the year of the Cubs. Fate took a strange twist on September 9, 1969, however, when during an incredible series at Shea Stadium a black cat ran onto the field and circled around Ron Santo. Suffice it to say that the Cubs ended up losing that year. Read more about the black cat curse and the curse of the Billy Goat here.

Kitty Deities

Cats played a large role in ancient Egyptian society. Beginning as a wild, untamed species, cats were useful for keeping down vermin populations in the Egyptians' crops and harvests; through exposure to humans, the cat population became domesticated over time and learned to coexist with the human population. The people inhabiting the area which would later become unified and known as Upper and Lower Egypt had a religion centering around the worship of animals, of which the cat became one.The earliest evidence of cats as deities comes from a 3100 BCE crystal cup decorated with an image of the lion-headed goddess Mafdet

 The Egyptians viewed their gods not as simple spirits but as intelligences that could be personified in a body. A revered animal in Egyptian society and religion, the cat was afforded the same mummification after death as humans were. For example, mummified cats were given in offering to Bast. In 1888, an Egyptian farmer accidentally uncovered a large tomb containing approximately eighty thousand mummified cats and kittens. This discovery outside the town of Beni Hasan dated back to 1000-2000 BC.

Mummified Egyptian Cat

The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that in the event of a fire men would guard the fire to make certain that no cats ran into the flame. Herodotus also wrote that when a cat died, the household would go into mourning as if for a human relative, and would often shave their eyebrows to signify their loss.

Such was the strength of feeling towards cats that killing one, even accidentally, incurred the death penalty. Another Greek historian, Diodorus Siculus, describes an interesting example of swift justice imposed upon the killer of a cat: about 60 BCE, he witnessed the chariot of a Roman soldier accidentally run over an Egyptian cat. An outraged mob gathered and, despite pleas from pharaoh Ptolemy XII, killed the soldier.

Below is a description of some of the Egyptian cat deities.

  This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its author, Greudin at the French Wikipedia project. This applies worldwide.

Mafdet, Goddess of Justice and Execution

Picture of wall painting from the tomb of Sennedjem. Anubis attending the mummy of the deceased.

Mafdet (also spelled Maftet), was the Egyptian feline goddess of justice and execution, depicted as a woman with the head of a cheetah. Her name means she who runs swiftly. She is present in the Egyptian pantheon as early as the First Dynasty. Mafdet was associated with the protection of the king's chambers and other sacred places, and with protection against venomous animals, which were seen as transgressors against Ma'at.

Since venomous animals such as scorpions and snakes are killed by felines, Mafdet was seen as a feline goddess, although it is uncertain whether alternately, she also was meant to be a cat, a mongoose, or a leopard. In reflection of the manner in which these animals kill snakes and she was given titles such as, slayer of serpents.

In art, Mafdet was shown as a feline, a woman with a feline head, or a feline with the head of a woman, sometimes with braided hair which ended in the tails of scorpions. At times she was shown with a headdress of snakes. She also was depicted as a feline running up the side of an executioner's staff. It was said that Mafdet ripped out the hearts of wrong-doers, delivering them to the pharaoh's feet, in a similar manner as domestic cats who present people with rodents or birds that they have killed or maimed.

During the New Kingdom, Mafdet was seen as ruling over the judgment hall in Duat where the enemies of the pharaoh were decapitated with Mafdet's claw. She is depicted in the Pyramid Texts, which are hieroglyphs of spells and rites written on the walls of Old Kingdom tombs.

Her cult was eventually replaced by that of Bast, another cat-goddess, a lioness warrior who was seen as the pharaoh's protector, but her cheetah imagery continued in association with the pharaohs including personal items and the bed upon which their mummies were placed.

Bast , Perfumed Protector and Goddess of Fertility and Motherhood

A bronze statue of the cat goddess Bastet

Bast was the Egyptian cat goddess that replaced the cult of Mafdet. Originally depicted as a lion, she eventually transformed into a gentle deity of protection, fertility,  motherhood, and the benevolent aspects of the sun. A significant religious movement, the chief center of worship for  the cult of Bast was in Bubastis.  Bubastis became a marketplace for merchants of all sorts; artisans came forth with thousands of bronze sculptures and amulets depicting cats to worshippers of Bast. These amulets commonly featured an image of a cat and its kittens and were often used by women trying to have children, praying to Bast that they be granted the same number of children as kittens depicted on the amulet. The cult of Bast was officially banned by imperial decree in 390 AD. Egypt has since experienced a decline in the respect once held for cats and although they are still kept as pets and tolerated elsewhere because they catch pests, the cat has lost all religious significance in modern Egypt.

Maahes

Maahes (also spelled Mihos, Miysis, Mios, Maihes, and Mahes) was an ancient Egyptian lion-headed god of war, whose name means "he who is true beside her". He was seen as a lion prince, the son of the goddess Bast in Lower Egypt and of Sekhmet in Upper Egypt and shared their natures. His father varied according to the current chief male deity of the time and region. He was a deity associated with war and weather, and was considered the protector of matrilineality and of the high priests of Ammon, as well as that of knives, lotuses, and devouring captives. His cult was centred in Taremu and Per-Bast.

As a lion-god and patron, Maahes was considered the son of Rê and Bast,^[3] the lioness war goddess and patron of Lower Egypt, or of Sekhmet, the lioness war goddess and patron of Upper Egypt. Since his cult was centred in Per-Bast (Bubastis in Greek) or in Taremu (Leontopolis in Greek), he was more usually the son of Bast. As he became a tutelary deity of Egypt, his father was said to be the chief male deity at the time - either Ptah, or Ra who had by this time already merged with Atum into Atum-Ra. In his role of son of Ra, Maahes fought the serpent Apep during Ra's daily night voyage.

Considered to have powerful attributes, feline deities were associated with the pharaohs, and became patrons of Egypt. The male lion hieroglyphic was used in words such as "prince", "strength", and "power".

   He was pictured as a man with the head of a male lion, occasionally holding a knife and wearing the double crown of Egypt, or the atef crown. Sometimes Maahes was identified with Nefertem and was shown with a bouquet of lotuses near him, but he also was depicted as a lion devouring a captive.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maahes