Cats and Witches
Happy Halloween / Samhain blessings !
As my kids delved into their fancy dress box this week, out came the classic cat ears and witches’ hats. Any excuse for a cat costume, one of the less imaginative creations but always cute (and easy for knackered parents).
It got me wondering about the link between cats and witches so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole (cat hole?) researching in these excellent books (FU AI)
Cats as demonic companions
Cats’ association with evil can be traced back to 1233 with the publication of Pope Gregory IX’s Vox in Rama, where he identified cats (specifically black cats) with Satan.
While cats had been worshipped as divine protectors in ancient Egypt, to the Christian church in medieval Europe they were now seen as the devils disciples, associated with magic, sorcery and witchcraft.
Both cats and witches embody the archetype of the feminine, occupying the spaces of intuition and the natural world.
A rejection of paganism was key to the church’s advancement. Masculine order and systems / Christianity was seen as ‘good’ and feminine wildness / paganism was seen as ‘bad’.
Niko enikoeniko
Witchcraft trials
The first trial for witchcraft was in England in 1566. Agnes Waterhouse and her daughter were executed for being linked in witchcraft with a cat they were reported to ‘feed… with breade and mikye… and call it by the name of Sathan’.
Edward Topsell in The Historie of Foure Footed Beastes (1607) reported ‘The familiars of witches do most ordinary appear in the shape of cats… the beast is dangerous to soul and body.’
Whether feeding a cat with their third nipple, or shape shifting into a cat, all sorts of crazy accusations were made in the witchcraft trials throughout Europe and America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The last official execution for witchcraft took place in 1684, and during this 118 year period the cat was progressively feared as the most common witch’s ‘familiar’.
Throughout this time cats were subject to torments and mistreatments under the guise of searching out the devil. It was even customary to throw them into bonfires at Lent.
Woodcut of three witches and their cats from a 17th century broadsheet reporting their trial
‘Alewives’ and the witch archetype.
Many historians believe that the caricature of a witch that we see today can be traced back to female brewers, or ‘alewives’.
From the 1300s, records show that producing ale was a female endeavour. Alewives would brew in their homes, often making ale for their family, then selling the excess.
When larger scale male owned businesses started, brewing was seen to be more of a professional trade. New laws decreed that women between the age of 14 and 40 were to be banned from selling ale, due to the fear that female ale sellers would use their sexual desirability to spread immorality.
By the 1400s almost all women were gone from the brewing trade, except for a handful of widows who had inherited their husbands brewing business or were unable to make money any other way.
David Shrigley (2021)
Many witchy motifs can be linked to alewives. To show that ale was available to buy women would display a broomstick (or ale stake) outside her home. Alewives wore tall black hats to stand out in public marketplaces, and they kept cats to stop mice from feeding on their grain supplies.
In the 15th century alewives were blamed for a host of social and moral problems. The alewive was a popular caricature of the period and a source of condemnation, particularly by the church. By the 16th century widespread misogyny meant that alewives faced extreme hostility.
Image - Louis Wain (1916)
Our favourite familiars
The last official execution for witchcraft was in 1684. The hysteria eventually faded, but the imagery stuck. Authors, artists and folklore kept the pairing alive, cementing the cat as a symbol of the occult.
Today cats still have their magical status. Cats and witches both represent the independent and untameable feminine, keeping a degree of autonomy that is a threat to the patriarchy. The image of the ‘mad cat lady’ still stands today.
Whether you’re dressing up or staying in with your favourite familiar, it’s the perfect season to celebrate the cat and our inner witch ✨
Cher, Vogue (1975)
Sister Luna CAT ring
Sources
Clutton-Brock, Juliet (1994) The British Museum Book of Cats. The British Museum Press.
Bradshaw, John. (2013) Cat Sense. Penguin
https://museumofoxford.org/alewives-in-oxford-a-history-of-female-brewing