Blessed Bees * last updated September 7, 2000

Bast

The vision
The celebration
The result
And then what happened...?

Links
Oblation
Cat Gallery!

The Vision
For Yule 1998, my covensibs and then housemates gifted me with a beautiful statue of an Egyptian temple cat.  I am one of many witches who synchs with cats, and consider them friends, benefactors, protectors and under my protection.

That next evening, they took the kids up to see relatives and I had the house to myself.  I had a fire going, and the statue was sitting elegantly next to it.  I slipped into trance.

I saw a svelte woman in a flame-lit room, surrounded by people dressed in finery.  She was a shadow in the firelight, her sillouetted profile now woman, now cat.  She shimmered with gold.  They were dancing, all of them, not wildly yet still with abandonment.  The woman was Bast, and I was the woman.

I withdrew and found myself staring at the statue.  My cat, Pasht, was a heavy, vibrating weight on my thigh.

The Celebration
Because of that vision, I have written and coordinated a dance celebration in Bast´s name.  The rite will occur Sunday, February 14th (1999) at 9:00 pm at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco.  Click here for more details about the convention.

The work done by myself and the other priestesses have led me to understand Bast as a goddess of life.  She is the joy of the moment, the whisper of wind on your nape, the tingle of anticipation, the contentment of discovery.  She is also a fierce protector of her domain, keeping the balance with her exquisite hunting skill.

The Result
The celebration went beautifully.  I'm pleased to announce that we raised $125.00 for Community Concern for Cats, a local non-profit that fosters cats needing homes as well as trapping feral cats, spaying or neutering them, giving them their shots, and releasing them back to their chosen wild.

And then what happened...?
The Bast Celebration has started to become a fixture at PantheaCon. We tweaked the script and celebrated again at PantheaCon 2000 with even better results, earning approximately $200.00 each for NARF and the Island Cat Resources and Adoption.

The celebration with Bast continues - it was recently repeated at Muse Camp on August 12, 2000 - at that occasion, there were lots of kids present and Bast showed much more of her protector aspect. We will celebrate once again at PantheaCon 2001.

Hail Bast!

Some excellent Bast links

Meryw nyw Bast
Per-Bast
Bast the Cat Goddess
The Temple of Bast
Home of the Cat Goddess
Magic Names for Mystic Cats