The earliest feline goddess who was represented in a lioness form was referred to as Mafdet. (Goddess I said, are you following me on this?) But perhaps the most famous divine, adorable creature of all time was called Bast, known also by a variety of other nicknames as history progressed and depending somewhat on the region of her domain at any given moment too.
I learned that the honorable Bast was often depicted as having the body of a human woman and the head of a domestic cat. Gosh, that brings up a strange and uncomfortable kind of image in my mind, but it does make me think that us felines and the humans are maybe more closely connected throughout history than one might assume.
Maybe that’s why our two species get along so well nowadays and tend to hang out together a lot and share our living quarters on such a common basis. A sort of natural union, wouldn’t you say?
Hey, I like it. Yeah, I like it a lot! Best friends— past, present, and future!
Anyway, it was explained to me in my class that Bast was principally an ancient solar goddess, being the dynamic director of our shining sun. She was thus much appreciated by us cats for our being able to stretch ourselves out in the yard to get the fur all nice and warm.
I should mention that Bast had another more original and initial role as a war goddess. No, no, no. It’s not what you’re thinking. It wasn’t the violent, super-aggressive, let’s-conquer-and-dominate-the-world mentality. On the contrary, she was worshiped as a protector and defender of the pharaoh, and was in charge of keeping everybody and everything free from harm. That’s more of a respectable take-care-of-others and mind-your-own-business mentality, don’t you think?
Besides the solar and war goddess responsibilities that Bast so humbly assumed, her extensive résumé included duties related to being a goddess of fertility and birth, motherhood, the family, music, dance, and pleasure. That’s quite a challenging job description, wouldn’t you say!