Psychic History of Cats
Their Power Through the Ages
Through the use of cutting edge technology GuruCat harnesses the psychic abilities of cats, enabling them to help us live our best lives. But we are far from being the first to know of the precognitive powers of cats or to use these mystical animals to help guide our future.
Since the dawn of history cats have played an enormous, some say pivotal role in human affairs. Gods such as Inanna and Nergal were depicted as cats in the civilisations of Ancient Babylon and Sumer and were worshipped by millions. Rulers of these kingdoms were said to have relied on their advice to make decisions that affected the fate of their empires.
But it was in Ancient Egypt, land of the Pharaohs, pyramids and the Sphinx and their devotion to the cat goddess Bastet, that reverence for the animal reached its height.
Bastet was believed to be the possessor of the ‘Eye of Ra’ which not only enabled her to see past, present and future, but allowed her to travel between the lands of the dead and the living. Bastet’s devotees believed by worshipping her and cats themselves they could gain a glimpse of their own destiny.
As avatars of her spirit, cats were sacred in Ancient Egypt and killing one, even accidentally, was punishable by death. A city, Bubastis, was built by the river Nile and dedicated to her worship. Inside the city, beside gigantic statures of the cat goddess, lay a sacred temple with an oracle where those wishing to know their future could visit and learn their fate. Millions did so annually.
Despite efforts by the Romans to crush the Egyptian religion it continued up until early pre-modern times and even today cats are treated reverently in Egypt and hold a special place in society as observers of the future.
In the Norse mythology of the Scandinavian Vikings cats also played a sacred, precognitive role. Felines were often depicted as spirit guides who could help the devout divine the future and guide them through life.
The Goddess Freya, who was associated with clairvoyance and the shaping of destiny was always accompanied by cats and it was considered extremely bad luck to harm or kill a cat. Viking seafarers would consult with cats before expeditions and the animals were often taken along to ensure good fortune.
In early modern Europe cats, especially black ones, become associated with ‘Wise Women’ and others who practiced traditional cures and remedies. From the 13th Century onwards religious authorities clamped down on these practices, labelling the women ‘Witches’ and ‘Sorcerers’ who were in league with the devil.
Cats, because they were intimately identifiable with the persecuted women, were seen as their ‘Familiars’ and were denounced as evil. Across Europe, while there were mass witch hangings and burnings, there were also mass cat killings. It was believed if a cat was killed there would be less evil in the world – it was even claimed in places such as Brittany, France that eating a cat’s brain could ward off malevolent forces.
Authorities instituted organised cat massacres such as the festival of Kattenstoet, in Ypres, Belgium to demonstrate the power of the Church over the forces of Satan. Ironically, it’s believed that these cat killings did much to spread the Black Death. Less cats meant more rats which in turn led to the death of millions across Europe.
Other commentators believe that it was the very nature of cats which enraged the religious authorities and led to the viciousness of the persecution. The church believed that the bible allowed humans ‘dominion’ or control over all animals. As anyone who has ever owned a cat will know, cats will do what they want regardless of human wishes. To religious leaders of the time this was seen as defiance of God’s will and therefore cats must be the servants of Satan.
The relationship between humans and cats has had a much happier recent history, and have become the close confidantes of royalty, celebrities and politicians.
Many famous scientists, such as Nikolai Tesla, the father of electricity, have claimed inspiration from their animal companions. Tesla claimed his cat, a black tom named Macak, had introduced him to electricity and he wondered if “nature was a gigantic cat”
In the 20th Century there has been much research into the psychic powers of animals in general and cats in particular. Some scientists believe they have established that cats have precognitive powers – able to see further into the future than any human can.
One such cat was Achilles, a deaf white tom that lived at St Petersburg’s world famous Hermitage Museum. Achilles, who alongside 60 other cats worked as a rat catcher in the museum’s basement, came to world attention in 2017 when he showed uncanny accuracy in picking the winners of soccer games.
Achilles, deaf since a kitten, was asked to pick between two bowls of cat food decorated in the opposing team’s colours. Incredibly, he correctly predicted the results of 75% of the matches in soccer’s 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and had a similar success rate in the 2018 World Cup. Staff at the museum believed Achilles’ deafness enabled him to “concentrate better” aiding his predictive abilities.
Oscar, a therapy cat at Rhode Island’s Steere House Nursing & Rehabilitation Centre, had a different, more chilling gift of pre-cognition. According to Dr David Dosa an assistant professor at Brown University, Oscar was able to accurately detect when patients at the facility were about to die and had predicted over 50 deaths.
The tortoiseshell and white cat, who had been adopted by staff as a kitten, patrolled the facility stopping outside the rooms of those close to death. Oscar would scratch at the door until let in and would jump and curl up on the bed beside the dying patients. At first staff put it down to a coincidence but over time became convinced that Oscar had a special gift for foretelling a patient’s passing.
Dr Dosa, who wrote up Oscar’s case in the much respected New England Journal of Medicine was at a loss to explain the cat’s abilities in conventional scientific terms but pointed out that Oscar’s precognition was so sensitive he would often beat staff at the facility in identifying those who were about to die. Oscar’s abilities were later fictionalised in episodes of ‘House’ and the Hollywood movie ‘Dr Sleep’.
But where does this psychic ability come from? Explanations are many. Dr Rupert Sheldrake a former research fellow at Cambridge University believes that cats tap into ‘Morphic Fields’ to gain their telepathic powers. Dr Sheldrake, who has written numerous books on animal parapsychology, argues that cats and other animals have, “A blurring of the distinction between future, present and past” which enables them to see events that humans cannot.
In his research Dr Sheldrake cites numerous examples of cats foreseeing future events including tsunamis, air raids and earthquakes – the latter phenomena being illustrated as recently as 2018 when footage emerged of cats fleeing a cat café in Osaka, Japan just before an devastating earthquake hit.
An investigation by American geologist Jim Berkland also showed a link between cats and earthquakes. Berkland claimed he was able to accurately predict two Californian earthquakes by studying the missing pet ads in local newspapers. He found that in the run up to an earthquake the number of ads in the area would increase dramatically leading him to believe that cats, aware of impeding disaster, were fleeing their homes for safety.
German scientist Helmut Tributsch theorised that cats can detect ions created when the Earth’s tectonic plates rub together. Could this be a possible explanation for cat’s undoubted ability to predict the future? Or are they picking up on some as yet unknown force that enables them to transcend time?
Nobel prize winning scientist Albert Einstein once said that the distinction between past, present and future was a stubbornly persistent illusion. It would appear that cats have, over millions of years of evolution, gained the power to overcome this illusion. Perhaps it is, like in ancient times, time to look to them for their guidance again.