Sunday, June 11, 2006

The Magick of Cats

I have cats. Have had for over thirty years. My cat Khan passed on at the fine old age of 25. Now we have two Japanese bob-tails, and two dogs; Schipperke's.
Of them I will blog about later.

For now we are discussing cats. I came across these two interesting tales of cats, witches and politics.

First to Saudi Arabia, again.

Arrest That Cat! Man’s Cruelty to Animals!
Roger Harrison, Arab News

JEDDAH, 4 June 2006 — It took five police cars, a limousine and a man pretending to have a firearm to arrest Ms. Eva — who was suspected of witchcraft — and the cat. Ms. Eva was released six hours later after questioning; the cat was detained overnight for inquiries.

It reads like an April 1 article in one of the more lurid European tabloids. It is true, however, and it happened in Jeddah. Only the name has been changed.

No dewy-eyed animal rights campaigner, Ms. Eva is the soul of practicality. “Cats breed prolifically,” she says. “Neuter them and return them to the streets and, because they are very territorial, the population in that area will quickly come down to controllable levels.”

On the night in question, she was trundling her trolley, laden with cat food and water, along one of north Jeddah’s busy main streets.

Not only were feline eyes upon her. A Saudi man, pointing what looked like a pistol at her, approached her and demanded to know what she was doing. Not accepting her simple explanation that she was feeding cats, he summoned the police and accused Eva of witchcraft. He had spotted that the cat had been recently sutured after spaying and contended that, “She had opened the cat and taken things out for witchcraft.”

Eva is not alone in her passion. There is a group of remarkable women whose passion is animal welfare and who devote a good deal of time and money to healing the discarded and cruelly-treated animals they find in the streets or, if the animals are in extremis, having them humanely put down. The women’s stories are many and harrowing.



And this tail errr tale may be of some import to our Mr. Harper who also is a cat lover and an internationalist.Perhaps he should send his Minister of Foreign Affairs to Jeddah to look into this cat injustice.

Fostering pets

8 June 2006
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Harper with two foster cats at 24 Sussex Drive.
All too often, family pets such as dogs and cats find themselves in shelters as a result of being abandoned or rescued. The Harpers are proud to support and participate in the Ottawa Humane Society’s Foster Program, which provides temporary homes for pets in the community who are not yet ready for adoption.

And some clever blogger has posted this very funny article on Harper and his cats


Advice to Harper: Beware of cats!


Still there are other more serious aspects to cat symbolism that may be more detrimental to Harper's strategy.

Yep cats represent anarchists and witches points out our friendly blogger Furgaia.

Montague Summers in his turgid tome The History of Witchcraft entitles the first chapter in his book; The Witch Heretic and Anarchist. I know that had an influence on me. So beware of the spell of the cat Mr. Harper.


And lets not forget cats are bravehearted, unlike the Kings who named themselves that and the politician who hides out in the PMO.
N.J. cat chases a bear up a tree


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments: