The Gayer-Anderson Cat, British Museum

Marie-Louise von Franz, on the Mythology and Symbolism of Cats

In Egypt, from very early on, the cat was considered to be sacred to Isis.

But it was at the daughter of Isis and her husband Osiris, that the great cat goddess Bastet emerged in the 22nd dynasty and took president president over all other goddesses, she was known as the lady of, her temple stood at the center of the city, surrounded by water, although conceived as a female, Bastet was often identified with her father, Ra.

Here, Osiris, Ra and Horus very often merge, as the gods do in to engage every night in a struggle of cosmic proportions with Apophis, the serpent of darkness.

Thus the cat takes its place among the solar heroes of mythology who fight the devil in various forms….

The cat is closely linked with consciousness and all creative processes.

The sexual orgies of Bastet were believed to increase vegetable, animal, and human fertility.

On the other hand, the black cat orgies practiced on moonless nights, were virtually sterility rites.

Intercourse with the devil who often took the form of a cat, bore no fruit, produced hail, rain, storms, destruction of crops, death of animals, and sterility or impotence and humans…

Because of its unlinking eyes, and due to the fact that it sees in the dark, the cat is also a seer.

It possesses foresight and insight.

On the negative side, the cats eyes suggest the power of fascination they can paralyze their victims.

Because of its independence and freedom, the cat has been linked to the Virgin, but also, as we’ve seen, to the witch.

The cat is a healer and servant of men.

It protects the houses and crops and rodents and snakes, and also has been seen as a curser, a bewitcher and a vampire.…

We now have to consider another aspect of the cat which places it between the extreme polarities which we seen so far — the cat as medium.

It formed a bridge between good and evil with knowledge of both.

It is mediator between them as well as between interior and exterior life, God and supernatural forces and man.

Because it has access to and is at home in both spheres, it has much prophetic wisdom to part and teach us how to hold conflicting values and balance

As a symbol of consciousness, it is a psychic unity that knows the way provided we can learn to trust it and obeying and following whatever it leads.