4,500 years ago, people understood that cats should be worshipped, and
at Bubastis in the Nile Delta a temple was built to Bastet. She had a
Lion's head then, but later a cat's head. When a Libyan chief based at
Bubastis siezed the throne of Egypt, the whole country became
enlightened. Most of them made a pilgrimage to Bubastis - some 700,000!
Cats, as you probably know, are very fertile animals, and Bastet is associated
with female fertility, warmth, love, dance and the moon. Other
goddesses with similar associations are Artemis and Diane. When Typhon
waged war on the goddesses, Diane escaped by turning into a cat! And in
London, a sistrum (symbol of fertility used in worship of Egyptian
fetility godesses) was found in a shrine to Diane. So it seems that
Britain too may have worshipped Bastet! (The site was that of St
Pauls).
Bastet was also
known as 'Pasht'. Is this where 'puss' came from?
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This entry by Sally Woolrich: copyright reserved.