Magical Powers

There is a long-standing tradition that cats can affect the weather, which perhaps stems from their earlier association with crop fertility.

For example, in Cambodia an ancient custom involves taking a cat from village to village, where it is sprinkled with water to persuade Indra, the compassionate Vedic god, to send the rain necessary for a good harvest.

Throughout Europe and beyond, a cat with its paw behind its ear was a portent of rain. There may be some truth in this; one theory is that changes in air pressure before a storm may affect the cat's ears, causing it to paw at that area.

Many other weather predictions have arisen from cat behavior, such as a cat purring and rubbing its nose for good weather, or yawning as a sign of rain.

The origin of the wide-spread superstition that a cat has nine lives, because of its amazing ability to survive, probably started in ancient Egypt, where the number nine held magical values. This idea was later adopted during the 17th century, when accusations of witchcraft were rife.

 It was believed that a witch could take the shape of a cat nine times, and so a cat could effectively be reincarnated nine times as well. Maltreatment of cats was never institutionalized in China, as it was in Western Europe. This was perhaps because superstition gave cats the power to avenge themselves on their killers after death.