Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-13
THE CAT AND THE MOON.
Supposed Relation offered as Expla-
nation of Egyptian Alteration.

From the Gentleman's Magazine
Visitors to the British Museum, inspect
ing the antiquities in the Egyptian rooms,
are much interested in the array Of cat
mummieS in one of the wall cases. Wonder
is often expressed why cats and crocodiles
should have been embalmed, and why the
gods of Egypt should have various ami
NAL heads, such as the lion, the jackal, the
ibis and the hawk. 1t seems so incredibly
stupid as well as so superstitiouS consider
ing how advanced the Egyptians were in
civilization and culture. They could build
temples. erect massive obelisks and carry
out great engineering works. There are
Sculptured figures in the museum which
date from $500 b. c. There are manufac-
tured articles and specimens of writing
probably thousand years older than that.
This ancient people possessed an ingenious
form of hieroglyphiC writing in which a
feather the letter A. and d lion the
letter l.. But feather was also the en-
hlem of truth; and all the letters had been
emblemS or symbols of things and qualities.
Does 1t not occur to us that perhaps the
animal heads were symbolic also, aud the
cats and crocodiles We're embalmed because
of their sacred significance? The Egyptians
We're not fools; and we must not laugh at
their worship of the cat without seeking to
understand it. Perhaps they did not really
worship it, any more than devout Chris
tian Worships the crucitiN. Trees and ser
penis and many other things had place in
the religious symbolism of the Egyptians.
The persea tree seems to mark the place of
Sunrising on midsummer day; and curiously
there was a great cat connected with
this tree. In the XVIIth chapter of the
Book of the Dead the cat is explained to
be Ra himself. the chief god. a serpent
was often carried in long mystical process
sion, and in some of the pictures eat is
represented in the act of cutting off it's
head. Along with the ass, the cat is called
a sayer of great words in the Hall of the
Two Truths These instances are enough
to show that the cat had place in the
ligious symbolism of the Egyptians. The
lion, the serpent the crocodile the bull and
other animals each had its special signifi-
canoe. The bull was so important that
sacred bull, called the Apis, was kept at
Memphis and treated with great respect.
But he was not allowed to live more than
twenty-five years; and the most likely
reason is that he represented 4 lunar cycle
of twenty-five years, which must terminate
punctually When he was taken through
the city in annual procession people would
ask and tell how old he was, and he would
thus be a walking almanac If he did not
die naturally he was drowned at the age of
twenty-five, because the new cycle had to
begin, and a new divine Apis must be
found. But he was honored by being en-
balmed and buried in a granite SarcOpha-
gus, in the ncighbOrhOod of the Pyramids.
The burial place Of the sacred bulls was
discovered by Marietta in 1851, and every
visitor to Egypt goes to see these tOm3S.
Each Of the stone collins had it's memorial
inscription. For example: In the ,wen-
tieth year, the month Mesori, the twentieth
day, under the reign of King Psametik /,
the Majesty of the living Apis departed to
heaven. This god was carried in peace ito
his buriaD to the beautiful land of the
West"
Now, there was a burial place for sacred
cats as well as sacred bulls; and the reason
was no doubt the same-namely, that they
had a place in the symbolic worship. \
cemetery of cats existed near Bubastis,
which is the modern Tel Basta, not far
from Zaz-a-zig Junction, on the railway.
Buried in the mound. NJ. Navillc a few
years ago found the ruined temple of BaSt
or Pasht, the cat goddess, who gave her
name to the city. The foundation of Ru-
bastis carries us back to the beginning of
the historical times of Egypt, and is con-
temporary with the Pyramids the Oldest
monuments. Herodotus says: THE temple
stands in the middle of the city, and is ViSi-
BILE on all sides one walks round 1t; for
as the city has been raised up by an en-
bankment, while the temple has been left
untouched in it's original condition, You
look down upon it wherever you are A
low wall runs around the Enclosure, having
figures engraved upon it, and inside there
is a grove of beautiful tall trees growing
round the shrine, which contains the image.
of the goddess And concerning the god
deSs herself he says: THE Bubastis of the
Egyptians is the same as the Artemis of
the Greeks" To this we may add that the
Artemis Of the Greeks is generally said to
be the same the Diana of the Romans
a goddess of light, representing the moon
Thus see that Bast or Pasht was
connected with the cat on the one hand
and the moon on the other So it is quite
feasible that puss. when she figures as
symbol in the Egyptian worship, represents
something in the domain of astronomy and
the calendar Ovid calls the cat the sister
of the moon. and says that Pasht took the
form of cat to avoid Typhon. According
to Plutarch, a cat placed in 4 luStrum de-
noted the moon. 1t is a night animal. and
it's eyes glisten in the dark. Hyde Clarke
remarks that there are phenomena of re
riodicity in the cat which are supposed TO
have given rise to it's relationship to the
moon What | think | have discoverad-or
at least made clearer than it was before
is, that the cat was an intercalary MONTH
added in the 120th year, to rectify the cal
endar.
The st. Paul, Mimi. Masonic bodies are
going to build temple.