Pagan Book Reviews

Enchanted Cat: Feline Fascinations, Spells and Magick
Ellen Dugan
Llewellyn, 2006
165 pages

This is one of several books on the market that specifically deal with cat magic. Unfortunately, so far from what I’ve seen they all seem to follow the same basic template and include the same basic information. This newest one is no exception.

Granted, there’s only so much material on the topic, and Dugan does make a valiant effort to make this book stand out. It’s more practical than some of the other books on the topic, involving more spells and simple rituals. Of course, some of the connection these spells have to cats is a little stretched–a number of the spells simply have a few cat hairs involved.

Additionally, she has one of the better chapters on feline familiars from a practical standpoint. She explains some of the ways you can actually work magic with the cat, and gives us more than just a naming ceremony and a blessing. The feline power animals chapter has some decent working material in it as well, though it shouldn’t be taken as a substitute for an entire introductory book to totemism.

But for the most part, she falls back on the usual–cat mythology and lore, cat correspondences, and even cat astrology and feng shui. It seems like she was really fighting for content here. And she falls back on the idea that certain colors of cats are better at specific types of magic–if that were true, then shouldn’t red-headed people be better at some types of magic than blondes and brunettes?

This would be a cute book to give to your friend who likes cats quite a bit and is just getting started in witchcraft. It’s a 101 book and it’s limited by its subject matter. It stands out in some ways from similar books on the market, but it’s nothing earth-shaking.

Three and a half pawprints out of five.

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Your Magickal Cat: Feline Magick, Lore and Worship
Gerina Dunwich
Citadel, 2000
169 pages

In recent years there have been several books out detailing the magical and religious lore surrounding cats throughout history. This is one of the older ones, though not the first. However, it follows pretty much the standard formula–after all, there’s really only so much you can dig up on one particular animal. Cats seem to get all the books, though, simply because they’re the animals most associated with witches, the target audience.

The book is about 2/3 mythology, folklore and superstitions from various cultures. There’s the prerequisite discussion on Egypt, Bast and Sekhmet, as well as the Inquisition-era feline familiar. It’s pretty standard material that you’d find in just about any book on animal mythology; the one advantage is that it’s all collected in one place.

Dunwich does add some of her own original work throughout the book, mostly consisting of–you guessed it–spells. Her chapter on familiars isn’t particularly practical, though she does mention that not all pets a witch owns are familiars. Still, most of the information is vague, and a large portion of the chapter deals with how to name your familiar.

The chapter on feline totems is similarly basic, and this is one of the downfalls of the glut of 101 material–it skims over a bunch of topics without really going into any real depth. There’s really not enough in any of the “practical” material to really do much of anything beyond a couple of spells.

Then there’s the cat astrology section. Dunwich basically takes sun sign astrology and turns it into a kitty horoscope. You don’t need astrology to tell you what sort of personality your cat has–that’s what observation is for.

Overall, I’m not particularly impressed. The research on the historical end was good, but the practical material left a lot to be desired. Get it if you need a quick reference to feline lore, but otherwise feel free to spend your money on toys for your cat instead.

Three pawprints out of five.

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