Halloween Cat

Cats have long been associated with Halloween -- for better and for worse reasons.

Black cats are most often linked to the holiday. But why?

The ancient Druids may have started this symbolic association, if it's true they taught that black cats were reincarnated human souls with extra-serious karmic issues. Most likely, any such teaching would have included hidden, profounder levels of meaning, as well (meant to be picked up by listeners capable of subtler understandings).

But, black doesn't symbolize badness or evil in most earth-centered traditions. Furthermore, Halloween began as the kick-off evening of a days-long holiday feast for remembering and honoring famous, infamous and little-known ancestors.

After harvesting, this beginning of the dark half of the year naturally shifted life inwards. Boundaries between past and present wavered in minds and hearts. Whoever lived before and whatever happened before might return to haunt. Fears stirred and churned in guts.

Shamans would help any lost souls troubling the community to move along during this period, for the health and wellness of all. Others attempted to frighten unwelcome "ghosts" away by donning even scarier guises, another type of shamanic re-balancing act that allowed those energies to play themselves out creatively.

In truth, black goes just as well with death as the fertile, nurturing soil for new life, and with Mystery...and with longer, deeper periods of wondering, dreaming and storying during the darker months of the year. Orange, of course, goes with fires, candles and coals glowing through lingering, icy winter nights.

Bright orange autumn leaves can seem to transform a whole neighborhood or countryside into a giant, purifying bonfire.
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Now, returning to the topic of Halloween cats -- why not add possibilities? Orange cats could symbolize Halloween, too.

Tortoiseshell cats, with their mottled black and orange paint jobs might be the purrfect Halloween cats, according to my Tortoise Cat colleague.

I have opened this lens to express this whim a while, while celebrating Halloween as a holiday of honoring past, present and future cats of all kinds.

For more about me, visit my Giant Lensography or Lensography 2!



Photo: By me, ECP, a.k.a. @ShamanicShift on Twitter and Shamanic-Shift on Flickr.com