Everything Under the Moon

No i have not

Thank you. It helps us understand where you're at so our replies don't assume you know what we mean.
Ritual space is cleansed and consecrated before a circle is cast. A circle is a barrier of subtle energy that the witch puts in place to separate their ritual space from outside interference.

When we create sacred space, all our moving around and speaking out loud, let alone raising energy, draws a normal pet's attention. No normal cat will suffer a closed door without poking a foot under it and meowing protests if we've had the audaciousness to shut them out. Cats are curious and want to know what we're doing ... Usually to see if there's any food in it for them or they putter with our altar tools & spell items, tasting herbs, drinking the water, sitting on the book of shadows and being obnoxious. That's just cats being cat's. Normies wander in and out once their curiosity is appeased, or contentedly fall sleep. But familiars keep one eye open (figuratively) within the circle. They hunker down. Dynamite wouldn't move them. They supervise. They officiate. They know they belong. They won't cross out of the circle until it's dissipated.

I've found them to be vocal when they feel you should pay attention to things their senses have picked up on that us tall, two legs miss with our inferior sensing machinery. They can be very insistent about it.

Right'on, PW,but TAOT's said elsewhere that she's "all about angels and light" so is perhaps more of a "Doreen Virtue" than a "Doreen Valiente" practitioner in what she calls up or might choose for her working methods. Both authors follow sound procedures but have different approaches.

@TAOT, Virtue writes about soft angelic works and Valiente is respected as the mother of modern witchcraft and has written much of the Wiccan guidelines.


Edit: apologies for mis-abbreviating ThroughAllOfTime's user name as THOT. I've gone back & corrected it.

Both are worth the read. Novice's can get a sound footing in the practice of the Craft. There are even things to be learned on a second read.

My fiancée and I cast a circle for the new year and our cat sat outside of it and just stared but didn't cross the circle, we thought it was so interesting. I'm excited to see this is not uncommon for cats. My little ms. Sour Cream is a magical kittie haha

It takes more then one time. Keep an eye on her when your doing work in the Craft. If your furbaby is attentive whenever your doing something magical she just may be learning to be a familiar.

I can't help but be of the opinion that the popular idea that cat's in and of themselves dispel negativity comes from the old-time folk practice of sacrificing what would be an overpopulation barn cat. The practice was akin to Passover's lambs blood placed on doorposts so the plagues would pass by the house. The lamb symbolized JC. Magically, what is done to the symbol is done in reality. For some paths even today it's poor chickens who serve this function, but do we thus assume sheep & chickens repel evil?

I'm not denying that some animals have abilities to see or hear at frequencies humans miss, or that they will defend their turf. Of course they can and will, with tooth & claw. Some people are "sensitives" but that sensitivity doesn't make them capable of repelling what they pick up just because they see or hear what others miss. That defensive ability is another set of skills. Some deeply spiritual people have an altruistic inner peace that naturally & from within doesn't even acknowledge evil so evil has nothing to cling to, can't get a foot hold, and bounces off their aura. It can effect a wide area around their location.

A mother cat with kits has self-sacrificing, defensive behavior to protect her kits; a mother bird will cover her chicks with her own body. A cow protects her calf. This much is Nature and is awesome. Reptiles do not apper to do this (none i can think of, anyhow.) At what point can anyone say Nature crosses over to warding off negative spirits? Can that be pinned down? It would be an interesting discussion to share.