At the Breast of Bast

"The door is open now, wide open. The moon is bright.                            I see you, I see you now, safe at the warm breast of Bast." The Egyptians loved their cats, and mummified felines protected by BAST have been found buried with their human companions. BAST, cat-headed Goddess of ancient Egypt, was playful, graceful, mysterious, inspiring and protective, a  guardian against evil influences with Her ability to see in the dark. Yesterday I had to put my old friend, Sweet Pea, to sleep.  She has been with me, and travelled through many hard times, for 15 years, and she lived with cancer for 3 of them.  But when she got to the point where she couldn't eat or even stand, I knew it was time to let her go home to the breast of Bast, mother of all cats.  I think it will be strange to see her empty bowl for a long time, our conversations silent now, no Sweet Pea on the end of my bed.   Life, especially when you get older, is full of loss, but the loss of my animal friends is no less hard than the loss of human friends. Bast, bring her home. I found a story on my old website of another cat, Shiloh, who also travelled with me for years, back when I had a nomad's life.  Felt like sharing it.  I still feel the loss of my friend Sweet Pea too closely to write of her.............except that she taught me a lot about love.  And she was a Russian Blue.  I miss her. SHILOH'S STORY (1998) When I left my home in New York, my former husband and I sat at our usual restaurant having breakfast together for the last time. I remember saying that I wished I had a cat to travel with me. Within minutes, among the magenta cosmos blooming in the flowerbox outside that old New York diner, I noticed two kittens chasing each other. One of them, a white kitten, paused and looked directly at me through the glass; rearing on his hind legs, he scratched his paws on the window before leaping off. Needless to say, I asked the cook about this feline visitation. Within minutes, he returned with a terrified, half-siamese feral kitten in a box; the very one I had seen, one of many they fed from scraps at the restaurant. And when I left my home that day, I was accompanied by a small being in a box who was also leaving home. As I drove South, I passed the civil war battlefield at Shiloh. It was a strange, white, fog-shrouded day, a landscape with no visibility, adrift with spirits. My new companion became Shiloh, the Ghost Cat. Because, as I passed through that place of unquiet memory, I found myself passing through my own no-man's land, a transitional border world that also seemed inhabited by ghosts. The years that followed were wandering years, seeking a new home and new self, having many adventures in my van. And Shiloh was always with me, riding with his friendly little cat paws on my shoulder as he sat on the back of my seat. Shortly after I settled in California Shiloh was hit by a car. I have many, many times missed his wise animal love. Now I have a back door that faces an empty lot, inhabited by a nocturnal tribe of feral cats. As they always run away from me, several weeks ago I was surprised when a sickly kitten stood meowing before the door. When I opened it, he walked in, and even briefly let me touch him as I placed a bowl of food before him. I hoped he or she would come back. As I write this, I'm making a mask for Bast, the Cat Goddess of ancient Egypt. Because this morning, as I opened the door, the kitten lay barely breathing on my doorstep. The vet told me he was too ill to survive, and so I was forced to put him to sleep. I do not know why he came to me to die. I feel saddened, yet also honored. I think of him, and I think of Shiloh, as I make this mask, as I bury this little life. Not all Goddesses wear human forms. "The door is open now, wide open. The moon is bright. I see you, I see you now, safe at the warm breast of Bast."

Lucy Contemplating a Crime.......

Lucy as Feline Bodhissatva Contemplating Enlightenment and Other  Delicious Birds

(photos thanks to Madeleine Charron)

The Difference between Dogs and Cats

There's a big difference between the intelligent  existentialism of a cat like, say, Henri below, and the mysterious minds of dogs.  I'm definately a cat person, but I have to admit, Jesse the Jack Russell Terrier would come in handy.  Jesse lives to serve.  Henri, on the other hand, would consider  running for office, were he not so disillusioned by life.

Another "Odd Eyed" Cat

Here are some wonderful photos that I was recently turned on to, by a Japanese photographer who documented the relationship between her 88 year old Grandmother and her cat.

Since I have two "Van Cats" myself, I couldn't help but love these photos.


http://www.viralforest.com/misao-fukumaru/

Cats...........

Lucy and Lulu demonstrate symmetry

Walking Dogs...........

Walking Cats........

Dogs making friends

Cats making friends

And of course, Henri the Existentialist Cat's thoughts about the approach of Halloween:

Van Kedisi and "spirit of place"

Lulu and Lucy

I've had a lot of synchronicities for several years around Turkey, and last year  I was given two kittens, both white and each with odd eyes, one blue and one yellow.  Lulu and Lucy became my Muses, sometimes following me around the house talking to me in a mysterious cat language.  Then a well travelled friend of mine,  said  "Oh, Van Kedisi!".   Lulu and Lucy were Van Cats!
  And it turns out that's rather special - for  many people in the ancient land of Turkey or Anatolia,  they are very much the "spirit of place".

Lake Van (Turkish: Van Gölü, Armenian: Վանա լիճ Vana lich or Vana Lij, Kurdish: Gola Wanê ) is the largest lake in Turkey, located in the far east of the country in Van district. It seems that Van cats have a very ancient lineage indeed, as does the region, and are very much loved by Turks, Armenians, and Kurds, so much so that there are all kinds of legends about them, they are mascots for teams, there is a Van Kedisi research center in the capital of the Lake Van region, and even the government protects them. 

Not far from Lake Van is the excavation of Gobekli Tepe, a Neolithic site that is 12,000 years old, which I've been fascinated with.  Göbekli Tepe  means, literally, "Belly" or "Navel Mountain", and is composed of some 22 megalithic stone circles (only two have been excavated) which were intentionally buried 8,000 years ago, located 2500 feet above sea level at the top of a mountain ridge in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. Artist and scholar Lydia Ruhle writes:

"Gobekli Tepe means "navel mountain" in Turkish.  It is on top of a hill that is the highest point on the windswept Urfa Plain, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This is the area where emmer wheat was domesticated and hunter gatherer cultures settled into agricultural communities. As early as 12,000 years ago, humans spent much time and effort to cut stone and create circular structures with twelve foot tall pillars with carvings of animals, vultures, snakes holding up a roof..........In 2006, I created a Goddess Icon Banner of  (a Sheela-na-gig image from the site) and named her Gobekli Tepe. She has been flying around the world ever since. My banner description states:

"Gobekli Tepe is a Neolithic Sheela-na-gig incised into stone on the floor of a rock cut temple which appeared to have ritual purposes.Two standing pillars with lions sculpted in relief protect one of the earliest known Sheelas. Gobekli Tepe, which means navel mountain, is in eastern Turkey near the source of the Euphrates River. Emmer wheat was domesticated in the area. All life comes from and returns to the mother".

 "Navel mountain and navel of the world" indeed.  I wrote  an article about Gobekli Tepe .........and I felt blessed to be given two magical cats, with such ancient origins, from that ancient part of the world where agriculture began, the "belly of the Goddess". 

Akdamar Island and the Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Mount Süphan  is in background.

It's interesting to look for information about Van cats on the internet, and learn of all the peoples who claim them.....almost like living "numina", they truly belong to a Place, and are loved because they are magical, living embodiments of that Place by the peoples who call it home or homeland.  Perhaps for me too, my magical "muses" give me a bit of a sense of belonging to the Homeland of the Goddess, that place of ancient origins;  when I see their topaz and sky blue eyes looking at me, I  remember. 

And Lake Van...........how wonderful it would be to go there and see the Van Kedisi, along with everything else. 

Apparently Van Kedisi are related to, and sometimes confused with, "Turkish Angora" (or Ankara) cats.  A great site with lots of information about Van cats was Turkish Angora Cat (from which I also borrowed some of the photographs here).  http://www.turkishangoracat.org/arastirma.aspx?arastirmaId=2


It's been really interesting  to see how passionate different groups in the area are about the cats.  For example, from the Turkish Angora Cat website:

"About 2 years ago, a disagreement between municipalities of Van and Ankara occurred. And it still continues.  Ankara city proudly displayed their logo with odd-eyes “a smiling Turkish Angora’’. This was very insulting for Van municipality and Van cat lovers, as every folk knows that odd eyed cat is a Van, not Angora! Certainly, a problem arose because both of cities see ‘’their’’ cats in very identical ways. Maybe white odd-eyed cat has deep roots in Turkish culture in general? Although both Van and Angora are thought to be odd-eyed white cats, Van municipality feels that Ankara city has no right to claim different eyes for ‘’their’’ Angoras."  

What Lucy thinks about it all.......

Lulu and Lucy

Back in March I was talking to myself about the lack of love in my life.  The universe is ever generous, I have found, and so in April a litter of 4 kittens was more or less dumped on me, and I found myself with 4 furry bundles of love following me, purring, everywhere I went.  Garbanzo and Mr. Bean now have good homes, and Lulu and Lucy have taken up their professions as artist's muses.

Henri....An Existentialist Cat

Following in the footsteps of Sartre and Camus......