Animal/pets and Ritual Magick
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@93magick said
"has anyone found it distracting having a cat in the room during a ritual? (In the case of a small apartment)."
I've always let my cats have free play of the temple while I'm using it. They are generally true familiars. They have excellent astral vision and monitor things I might miss. One cat left whenever I started chanting, but the others have either wanted to be quietly in the midst or politely off to the side intently watching.
If I were doing evocation (which I almost never do - my focus is elsewhere), then I'd keep them out as a protection of the perimeter of the circle (which must, in no case, be crossed).
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@93magick said
"has anyone found it distracting having a cat in the room during a ritual? (In the case of a small apartment)."I've always let my cats have free play of the temple while I'm using it. They are generally true familiars. They have excellent astral vision and monitor things I might miss. One cat left whenever I started chanting, but the others have either wanted to be quietly in the midst or politely off to the side intently watching.
If I were doing evocation (which I almost never do - my focus is elsewhere), then I'd keep them out as a protection of the perimeter of the circle (which must, in no case, be crossed)."
93!
Thank you for sharing your experience and insight, Jim! That's good to hear, as I absolutely adore cats!
By the way, I received Pearls of Wisdom in the mail and am very excited to work my way through it!!93s!
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Neat
. I hope U really enjoy it. -
During ritual work, I usually give my cats free run of the place. Thus far, they seem interested in the practice.
When I'm focusing more on meditation or inner vision, there are times when I've had to banish them to another room. They have an uncanny ability to start a bath or wrestling match at the most inopportune moments. I count it as a sign of success in body/breath relaxation when they walk right over me as though I'm just part of the furniture, but a furry paw on the eyeball does tend to distract a bit.
When I go on deeper, pharmacologically assisted journeys, I've found that they've become welcome assistants in delving into the more primitive, animal side of my nature. Also, they're really cuddly which can be most useful at certain thresholds.
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I should add: Cats appear to perceive concentrated attention as indistinguishable from sunlight.
Watch a cat in a stream of sunlight.
Then, later, find something that you want to put intense, uninterrupted attention on. Do so in the cats presence. It will likely place itself in the stream between your eyes and the item, and act similarly to how it acts in a stream of sunlight.
A third exercise is to take something on which you routinely place a great deal of concentrated attention, such as a set of Yi Ching coins. Use them, then leave them where the cat can find them. The cat just might come guard or surround them.
Stuff like that.
Might be useful to know when doing ritual in their presence.
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I've never thought about it that way but this does explain my cats' unfailing ability to sit on whatever it is I am currently working on. Others have written it off as them finding the warmth of my laptop keyboard or the warmth of my chest when I'm reading a book, but when I placed my passport on the cold white tile floor the other day to take a photo of it, walked away, and came back a moment later to find her asleep on top of it, suspicions were raised. It also helps to explain why they prefer to be in my line of site to what I'm reading rather than on any other part of my lap.
Interesting.
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The phrase "Canary in a Coal mine" became relevant for me during my magical career as my parrot who is an Amazon Red Head Male (About 50 years old) can detect what I just now call "high strangeness" that follows me everywhere. But when I'm around him, occasionally he will lock onto something that is just not there and will begin to fly or screech. Often, this is accompanied by strange activity like clockwork. Where as with my cat, they chase just about anything so they are not the most reliable detectors, so to speak. Just my experience.
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@milkBoxx said
"The phrase "Canary in a Coal mine" became relevant for me during my magical career as my parrot who is an Amazon Red Head Male (About 50 years old) can detect what I just now call "high strangeness" that follows me everywhere. But when I'm around him, occasionally he will lock onto something that is just not there and will begin to fly or screech. Often, this is accompanied by strange activity like clockwork. Where as with my cat, they chase just about anything so they are not the most reliable detectors, so to speak. Just my experience."
93!
Hehe, cool! Thanks for sharing
93s!
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I had this exact question myself
I have cats and a dog, generally speaking as soon as I start any kind of ritual they sit down and look disinterested... I know it's not like a cat to do that
I think the calm atmosphere generated rubs off on the animals actually although I haven't done any invocations or evocations yet so we'll have to wait and see how that goes.
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I have a chihuahua. His name is Mercury - and he's quite Mercurial, too.
He frequently likes to come to me when I'm meditating or doing other types of spiritual practice - at such times he gets into my lap and sleeps. He seems specifically partial to my Pranayama practice. When I used to do it regularly, he'd always come over.
Now I don't know if this is because he is just a spoiled attention-seeking little ratty or if he likes the focused energy that gets generated during my practice. Now that you posted this question I'll pay some more attention to his behavior around my practice time and rituals etc.
