Featured Discussions - Temple Illuminatus2024-03-28T15:27:21Zhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/forum/topic/list?groupUrl=youre-freaking-meowt&feed=yes&xn_auth=no&featured=1OSCAR the Feline Empathtag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2023-07-06:6363372:Topic:36365082023-07-06T05:22:50.613ZBill Walkerhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/BillWalker
<div class="x1e56ztr" style="text-align: center;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i><img alt="Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-RuKrqcoL._AC_UY218_.jpg"></img></i></b></span></div>
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<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i>A few years ago I read a book about this most amazing cat, “Oscar” and his ability to know when death is about to collect a…</i></b></span></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr" style="text-align: center;"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i><img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81-RuKrqcoL._AC_UY218_.jpg" alt="Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat"/></i></b></span></div>
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<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i>A few years ago I read a book about this most amazing cat, “Oscar” and his ability to know when death is about to collect a patient in a hospice in Rhode Island. The title, Making Rounds With Oscar, by David Dosa, M.D.</i></b></span></div>
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<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i> It seems that Oscar is able to sense, within twenty four hours, when a hospice patient is about to pass over. And the doctor, David Dosa, sets out to try and find out how Oscar comes by this knowledge. In the end, and this won’t ruin the book for anyone, he decides that it is through smell that Oscar comes by this gift, however, this is only his guess.</i></b></span></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i> After reading the book I am more interested in knowing why Oscar does this then how? Think about the intelligence that must go into this feat of incredible love and understanding being exhibited by a cat, and no disrespect is meant to cats. As a cat person I do not want to down play what a cat feels, but in this case Oscar sits with each dying patient in his or her last hours of life sharing with them thier final hours on earth, and somehow Oscar seems to know and feel empathy for them in advance not wanting them to die alone.</i></b></span></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i> </i></b></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i> </i></b></span><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i>It just makes me wonder if Oscar might have lived a previous life where there was no one with him who cared about him in the end? And now he has made it his life’s calling to see at least a handful of souls all the way threw the process and perhaps even waits with them until an angel or some other spiritual being comes to take them home?</i></b></span></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr"><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u" style="font-size: 14pt;"><b><i>I encourage anyone who is an empath, or otherwise, to read this extraordinary story. It is a gift for all to experience!</i></b></span></div>
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<div class="x1e56ztr"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><em><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u">by </span></em></strong></span></div>
<div class="x1e56ztr"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><em><span class="x193iq5w xeuugli x13faqbe x1vvkbs x1xmvt09 x6prxxf xvq8zen xo1l8bm xzsf02u">Bill Walker</span></em></strong></span></div> Cats in the Coven: Why Witches Have Animal Familiarstag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2020-10-28:6363372:Topic:35494522020-10-28T22:53:18.022ZCarmen Elsa Irarragorri Wylandhttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/CarmenElsaIrarragorriWyland
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>An aged crone with long gray tresses and a pointed black hat, stirring a bubbling cauldron with a cat curled up somewhere near her feet. In this popular modern image of a witch, that kitty, a.k.a. her familiar, is never far away. But why are witches so commonly depicted with felines and other animals? And what does it mean to have a familiar, anyway? Read on for the surprising history of the concept over the last 500-odd years.…</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span>An aged crone with long gray tresses and a pointed black hat, stirring a bubbling cauldron with a cat curled up somewhere near her feet. In this popular modern image of a witch, that kitty, a.k.a. her familiar, is never far away. But why are witches so commonly depicted with felines and other animals? And what does it mean to have a familiar, anyway? Read on for the surprising history of the concept over the last 500-odd years.</span></p>
<h2 id="familiars-on-trial" style="text-align: center;">Familiars on Trial</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/10/matthew-hopkins.jpg" alt="Matthew Hopkins Witch Funder Generall"/></p>
<div class="ArticleContent__htmlChunks"><p style="text-align: center;">Today, animal familiars are usually thought of as a witch’s companion and<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Weiser_Field_Guide_to_Witches.html?id=qdWOXc4jDs8C">partner in magic</a><span> </span>(think: Salem from<span> </span><em>Sabrina the Teenage Witch</em>). They may be a cat, dog, snake, or other relatively small creature who assists in divination, spells, and other magical workings. The creature is considered to be emotionally and psychically close to the witch, a little like an enchanted pet.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In centuries past, the idea of the familiar was different — and often darker.<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=pOp-9h-RXE4C&lpg=PA175&dq=snail%20familiars%20Jeffrey%2C%20Peter%2C&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q&f=false">Scholars</a><span> </span>say that our ideas about witches’ familiars likely draw on at least three sources: very old, shamanistic ideas about the powers of animals; folk beliefs around fairies and earth spirits; and the relatively common practice of keeping pets. But the idea of an animal as a witch’s familiar first<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Encyclopedia_of_Witchcraft.html?id=0ikZAQAAIAAJ">surfaces</a><span> </span>in the witchcraft trials of early modern England, when familiars were thought of less as pets and more as minor demons.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In the pamphlets recording these witch trials, people accused of being witches (usually but not always women) describe their familiars as dogs, cats, toads, mice, rabbits, flies, or fantastic hybrids of different species. In their confessions, they sometimes relate inheriting their familiar from another witch, often a relative, but the creature could also appear<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Cunning-Folk-Familiar-Spirits-Shamanistic-Traditions/dp/1845190793?tag=triviagenius-20">out of the blue</a>, often when a woman was lamenting her lot in life or cursing a neighbor. Usually, the creature would offer to help the accused in some way if they gave their soul to Satan. After such a bargain was struck, the familiar would carry out malevolent errands on the person’s behalf, whether small (like spoiling a neighbor’s milk) or large (harming an enemy). In return, their owner would provide a soft bed and food.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">While the food might be oats or milk, frequently it was blood that came directly from the accused witch. This vampiric concept shows up in the first witchcraft trial pamphlet, covering three women accused in Essex in 1566. One of the women,<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNtnUzN-Mc&feature=youtu.be">Elizabeth Francis</a>, confessed to having learned witchcraft from her grandmother, who gave her a white, spotted, talking cat named Sathan as a familiar. Francis said that she fed the cat bread and milk and kept it in a basket, sending it out to perform acts of<span> </span><em>maleficium</em><span> </span>(harmful magic). Before performing these errands, the cat demanded a drop of blood, which Francis provided by pricking her finger.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">From that first trial in Essex, familiars were frequently mentioned in English and Scottish witch trial texts. (They were also sometimes referred to as imps.) As the trials progressed, the idea that a witch fed their familiar from a specific spot on their body evolved into a hallmark of witch-hood, and suspected witches would be searched for skin tags or moles that might be “proof” of such clandestine feedings.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The 1604 witchcraft statute in England cemented the idea of familiars even further in the popular imagination, Though not the first to outlaw witchcraft, it added the death penalty for those who “employ, feed or reward any evil and wicked spirit to or for any intent or purpose” — a prohibition clearly directed at keeping familiars. After that, women were sometimes indicted as witches simply for keeping small animals around.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Some witches were said to have many familiars at once. Elizabeth Clark, the first target of self-appointed “Witch Finder Generall" of England<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Matthew-Hopkins">Matthew Hopkins</a>, was said to have five. During a trial in the 1640s, she named her familiars as Holt, a white cat; Jarmara, a fat, legless Spaniel; Vinegar Tom, a long-legged greyhound with the head of an ox; Sack and Sugar, a black rabbit; and Newes, a polecat. She also named other familiars, including Elemanzer, Pyewacket, Peckin the Crown, Grizzel, Greedigut, and more, the names of “which no mortall could invent,”<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14015/14015-h/14015-h.htm">according</a><span> </span>to Hopkins. (Indeed, some scholars think Hopkins did invent them himself.)</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Familiars could also take the form of less-expected creatures. A witch named<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNtnUzN-Mc&feature=youtu.be">Joan Prentice</a>, accused in 1589, had a familiar that appeared to her as a grayish ferret with glowing eyes. One male witch accused in 1648,<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284507231_Guardian_Spirits_or_Demonic_Pets_The_Concept_of_the_Witch's_Familiar_in_Early_Modern_England_1530-1712">John Bysack</a>, had six snail familiars: Sydrake, Jeffrey, Peter, Aylewood, Sacar, and Pyman. They each specialized in attacking a different type of target, from cattle to Christians.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Interestingly, familiars don’t feature much in continental European witch trials. While the Devil might appear to witches as an animal, and it was thought that witches could shape-shift into animals, scholars say the idea of a pet-like demon running errands for a witch started out as peculiarly British and Scottish.</p>
<h2 id="familiars-on-the-move" style="text-align: center;">Familiars on the Move</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/10/toad.jpg" alt="A green toad resting on a green leaf"/></p>
<div class="ArticleContent__htmlChunks"><p style="text-align: center;">The idea of familiars didn’t stay put in Britain, however. It followed the colonists to America. In fact, in 1642 the Connecticut colonists made having a familiar part of the very definition of being a witch when they passed a law that said “If any man or woman be a witch — that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit — they shall be put to death.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">In New Hampshire, a poor, elderly woman named<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nhpr.org/post/you-asked-we-answered-who-are-real-witches-nh-part-1#stream/0">Eunice Cole</a><span> </span>who ran afoul of her neighbors was accused of being a witch in the 1650s based in part on the fact that while neighbors were discussing her possible crimes they "heard something scrape against the boards of the windows.” They couldn’t find any source for the noise, but it sounded loud enough to be a dog or cat — proof, if their minds, of a familiar’s activity.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">During the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s, an enslaved woman of color named<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.history.com/news/salem-witch-trials-first-accused-woman-slave">Tituba</a>, who belonged to the town’s Puritan minister, Reverend Samuel Parris, confessed (under significant duress) to witchcraft. In her<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unraveling-mysteries-tituba-salem-witch-trials-180956960/">vivid testimony</a>, she described “two rats, a red rat and a black rat” that served her, as well as a large black dog, cats, birds, a hairy creature that walked on two legs, and a strange winged being she could barely describe. Her confession, including the description of these creatures, helped set Salem aflame.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Even once the era of witch trials ended, belief in familiars persisted. In England, folklorists conducting research in the<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Witchcraft-volumes-Western-Tradition/dp/1576072436?tag=triviagenius-20">19th century</a><span> </span>found that ideas about familiars (particularly mice and toads) were a prominent part of beliefs about witchcraft in many parts of the country. In interviews, people told researchers that familiars were passed down among witches from generation to generation — just as their ancestors had believed 400 years earlier. Some interviewees also believed that a witch couldn’t die unless she found someone to “inherit” her familiars, and that if the animals were harmed, the witch would be harmed too. These beliefs persisted into the 1920s and '30s.</p>
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<div class="ArticleContent__adContainer"><div class="PrebidAdPairedMR"><div class="PrebidAd__container PrebidAd__container--MR"><div class="PrebidAd"><div class="PrebidAd__unit PrebidAd__unit--labeled"><h2 id="modern-magic" style="text-align: center;">Modern Magic</h2>
<p><img src="https://blog.assets.triviagenius.com/2020/10/witchy-cat.jpg" alt="Gray cat (or familiar) on a wooden table with witchy items"/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">The idea of the familiar is now a not-uncommon motif in popular culture. One of the most famous examples from the 20th century comes from the prominent witch, astrologer, and author<a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/29/obituaries/sybil-leek-ordinary-witch-from-new-forest-dies-at-65.html"><span> </span>Sybil Leek</a>, who kept a jackdaw called Mr. Hotfoot Jackson first in England, and then in Florida. The spirited Mr. Jackson was featured in her<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/sybil-leek/the-jackdaw-and-the-witch-a-true-fable/">1966 memoir</a>,<span> </span><em>The Jackdaw and the Witch</em>, as well as in<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mandragoramagika.com/post/2016/02/21/the-witch-and-mr-hotfoot-jackson-remembering-sybil-leek">BBC interviews</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Another notable 20th century familiar had 17th-century echoes. In the 1958 romantic comedy<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBbmP2TctE">film</a><span> </span><em>Bell, Book and Candle</em><span> </span>(based on a play of the same name), Kim Novak plays a fetching witch in Greenwich Village who keeps a Siamese cat named Pyewacket as a familiar. The cat plays an important part in the plot, helping Novak’s character cast love spells on the hapless Jimmy Stewart. The film<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62374/6-cats-who-made-mark-silver-screen">reportedly required</a><span> </span>a nationwide search to find the right cat for the role; the producers said they were looking for “a cat with an Ava Gardner personality.” The cat (or cats — it’s unclear if several felines played the role) even earned an acting award from the Humane Society in 1958.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">More recent fictional familiars have included<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://sabrinatheteenagewitch.fandom.com/wiki/Salem_Saberhagen">Salem Saberhagen</a>, a cat who appeared in various<span> </span><em>Sabrina the Teenage Witch</em><span> </span>properties, as well as<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://charmed.fandom.com/wiki/Kit#:~:text=Kit%20was%20a%20familiar%2C%20an,Halliwell%20sisters%20discovered%20their%20powers">Kit</a>, a Siamese familiar on the show<span> </span><em>Charmed</em>. In a marked change from centuries past, these familiars are seen as trusted helpers or advisors, not malevolent creatures.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Of course, for<span> </span><a rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" href="https://www.learnreligions.com/what-is-an-animal-familiar-2562343">modern neo-pagans</a><span> </span>and Wiccans, animal familiars can be a cherished part of their religious beliefs. Instead of being a minor demon, these familiars are real animals with whom the practitioner has a close, magical bond.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Fortunately, times have changed enough that keeping small, beloved, named animals around is no longer seen as a sign of demonic activity in England and America. We’re now free to lavish as much care and affection on pets as we desire — without our neighbors accusing them of having spoiled the milk.</p>
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</div> Weather Forecasting – Feline Styletag:templeilluminatus.ning.com,2019-06-20:6363372:Topic:34702652019-06-20T23:29:23.621ZSunKathttps://templeilluminatus.ning.com/profile/SunKat
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2999882371?profile=RESIZE_710x" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2999882371?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="475"></img></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>In almost every country where they were known, cats were believed to have mystical powers, and among other things, to be able to foretell and control the weather. Here is a list of what can be expected weather-wise based on cat behavior and actions:…</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2999882371?profile=RESIZE_710x" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="align-center" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2999882371?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="475"/></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>In almost every country where they were known, cats were believed to have mystical powers, and among other things, to be able to foretell and control the weather. Here is a list of what can be expected weather-wise based on cat behavior and actions:</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When cats run about wildly, or claw at carpets and cushions, wind is coming.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A cat sleeping with all four paws tucked under means bad weather is coming.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the pupil of a cat’s eye broadens, there will be rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A cat washing itself is believed to be a forecast of rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To throw a cat overboard causes an immediate storm at sea.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a cat sneezes it will rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If the cat turns its tail to a fire or any substituting heat source, it foretells a possible change in weather, particularly the coming of heavy rain or hard frost.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a cat sits with its back to the fire, it is a sure sign of frost.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a cat curls up with its forehead touching the ground, it indicates that storms will happen in the near future.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a cat continually looks out a window on any day, rain is on the way.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sailors believed that if a cat licked its fur against the grain it meant a hailstorm was coming; if it sneezed, rain was on the way; and if it was frisky, the wind would soon blow.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A German belief says that mistreating a cat can cause a rainstorm to occur on the clothes you’ve hung out to dry.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was a popular belief that cats could start storms through magic stored in their tails – so sailors always made sure that they were well-fed and contented.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If a cat licks its fur in the opposite way that it naturally lies, there will be significant rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Alternatively, if the cat calmly and smoothly washes itself, expect fair weather.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Forgetting to feed your cat on your wedding day is an invitation to the rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To see a cat eating grass foretells rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Anyone who makes cats his enemy is certain to be accompanied to the grave with wind and rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If the cat tears of the cushions or carpet with its claws, it is a sign that wind is coming, as we say,<em> “the cat is raising the wind“</em>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If cats are playing in the house and an unusually lively way, windy or stormy weather is approaching.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If the cat while washing its face draws its paw over its forehead it is a sign of good weather. If not, it means speedy rain.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Indonesians and Malays believe that if you wash your cat it will bring rain.</span></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><em><a href="https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/divination/weather-forecasting-feline-style/">https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/divination/weather-forecasting-feline-style/</a></em></span></p>
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