I am a sucker for superstitions. I always throw salt over my left shoulder, only pick up a penny if it’s heads up, plant rosemary by the front door, FREAK OUT if I break a mirror, won’t trim the hawthorn tree, try to exit the door I enter, and many more silly little quirks. Personally, I think it makes me more interesting, but some people think I’m just a little crazy and ridiculous (Granny;))!

Black cats, however, I embrace! I LOVE them. We have 2- Charm (5yo) and Pixie Vixen (1yo). We also call them the “Inkspots” after my brother-in-law’s grandma’s black cats.  The little ladies and I simply cannot resist Pixie’s little black fuzzy face!

 Cat superstitions from various countries:

-In Britain and Japan it’s good luck to have a black cat cross your path

-In the south of France, black cats are referred to as “matagots” or “magician cats.” According to local superstition, they bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve.

-In the USA and some parts of Europe it is considered bad luck to have a black cat cross your path, make an “x” in the air to cancel out the luck.

-In Scotland a strange black cat on your porch brings prosperity. 

-In Egypt, it was once believed that the life-giving rays of the sun were kept in a  cat’s eyes at night for safekeeping. ***LOVE this!

-In Germany, if a black cat crosses your path from right to left it is a bad omen, but if it crosses from left to right, the cat is granting favorable times for you.

-In Italy, if an inky lays on a sick person’s bed, death will follow.

-In China there are those that believe black cats to be harbingers of famine and poverty.

-Latvian farmers that find black kitties in their grain silos, dance with joy. They believe these felines to be the spirit of Rungis, a god of harvests.

-In most parts of the world it is thought that a black cat walking towards you is a certainty of good luck coming your way; should the cat stop and turn away before it reaches you, fair fortune is not to be yours.

-Chasing black cats out of your house is a certain way to ensure that yours will not be a lucky house.

-Stroking the fur of black cats will bring you both health and wealth.

-In some fishing communities, the fishermen’s wives keep their cats indoors, believing that this will keep their men folk safe from peril while at sea.

-Many people around the world believe that there is a single white hair to be found, even on the blackest of cats. Pull out that hair, without getting a scratch, and yours will be a long, happy and prosperous marriage.

-One popular tale from British feline lore illustrates the thinking of the day. In Lincolnshire in the 1560s, a father and his son were frightened one moonless night when a small creature darted across their path into a crawl space. Hurling stones into the opening, they saw an injured black cat scurry out and limp into the adjacent home of a woman suspected by the town of being a witch. Next day, the father and son encountered the woman on the street. Her face was bruised, her arm bandaged. And she now walked with a limp. From that day on in Lincolnshire, all black cats were suspected of being witches in night disguise. The lore persisted. The notion of witches transforming themselves into black cats in order to prowl streets unobserved became a central belief in America during the Salem witch hunts. Thus, an animal once looked on with approbation became a creature dreaded and despised.

-Germany has lots of legends of black coated cats and witches. While being sentenced to death, a German witch cackled at the judge, spat threats to the priest, and cursed her executioner. She was dragged from the court and tied to a stake for burning. As the flames rose around her she let forth a deafening cackle, there was a flash and a black cat leap from the flames and escaped amongst the astonished crowd.

-King Charles the first of England owned a black cat. He believed this cat to be lucky and was so afraid of losing it he had it guarded day and night. Coincidentally the cat died the very day before Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentary troops came and arrested the king. Shortly after, King Charles was taken to the scaffold and beheaded. (some stories and superstitions were found at best-cat-art.com)

 ”One cannot catch a black cat in a dark room.” Chinese proverb

For me, black inkspots are the best companions! We love our two fuzzy ones and would feel an empty place without them. They inspire us to write stories and poems, draw pictures, paint, and are models for sewing projects. I couldn’t resist the above pictured corduroy fabric I found at the fabric store. It will be made into cat shaped pillows for the little ladies for the holidays.

Edgar Allen Poe was inspired to write a short story about a black cat titled- The Black Cat  (here is a study guide link too for more info). You will want to read this story first before reading it aloud to the little ones. You know how Edgar Allen Poe can be a “little” gory and gruesome, this story fits the true Edgar Allen Poe gory style!

I know a lot of my blogger friends also have black inkspots living with them and bringing them luck and love into their daily lives! Both of my sisters also have black cats, it’s quite sad though, the black cats in my family (including my sisters’ inkspots) were all strays. It’s a shame that some people are missing out on a wonderful housepet due to a superstition based on color!

The will-o’-the-wisp, sometimes will-o’-wisp or ignis fatuus Latin, from ignis (“fire”) + fatuus (“foolish”), plural ignes fatui) refers to the ghostly lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over bogs, swamps, or marshes. It looks like a flickering lamp, and is sometimes said to recede if approached. Much folklore surrounds the phenomenon. 

The will-o’-the-wisp can be found in numerous folk tales around the United Kingdom, and is often a malicious character in the stories. Wirt Sikes in his book British Goblins mentions a Welsh tale about a will-o’-the-wisp (Pwca). A peasant travelling home at dusk spots a bright light travelling along ahead of him. Looking closer, he sees that the light is a lantern held by a “dusky little figure”, which he follows for several miles. All of a sudden he finds himself standing on the edge of a vast chasm with a roaring torrent of water rushing below him. At that precise moment the lantern-carrier leaps across the gap, lifts the light high over its head, lets out a malicious laugh and blows out the light, leaving the poor peasant a long way from home, standing in pitch darkness at the edge of a precipice. This is a fairly common cautionary tale concerning the phenomenon; however, the Ignis Fatuus was not always considered dangerous. There are some tales told about the will-o’-the-wisp being guardians of treasure, much like the Irish leprechaun leading those brave enough to follow them to sure riches. Other stories tell of travellers getting lost in the woodland and coming upon a will-o’-the-wisp, and depending on how they treated the will-o’-the-wisp, the spirit would either get them lost further in the woods or guide them out. To read more folklore go here.

 Now I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a sewing machine person….just plain intimidated by it; I knew it was time to learn how to use that thing and stop being scared of a silly machine. So I spent some time with my mom today learning how to assemble and sew up this gal. However, the Wisp had to have a lot of hand stitching on it too, that’s just my style! So this is what I have done so far:

Do you notice that those are her eyes on the top of the columns on her head? I need to tack down the columns a little better and sew eyelashes on one eye. I also need to add some whimsy to the wings; that’s the cream felt behind her. So I better go finish her and get off the computer……..