{"id":28908,"date":"2023-08-01T01:10:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T05:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=28908"},"modified":"2023-07-26T23:49:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T03:49:03","slug":"book-review-the-magic-of-cats-by-andrew-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2023\/08\/01\/book-review-the-magic-of-cats-by-andrew-anderson\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review \u2013 The Magic of Cats by Andrew Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book <\/span>R<\/span>eview<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

The Magic of Cats<\/span><\/b><\/h1>\n

by Andrew Anderson<\/span><\/b><\/h1>\n

Illustrated by Hannah Willow<\/span><\/b><\/h1>\n

Publisher: Moon Books<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

120 <\/span><\/span>P<\/span><\/span>ages<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h1>\n

Release Date: May 1, 2023<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cats are magical. There\u2019s no two ways around that. Dogs are great \u2013 I love dogs, I\u2019ve owned dogs and I miss the dogs I used to own, especially my beloved yellow lab Lucy \u2013 but dogs are pedestrian, ordinary, almost run-of-the-mill. Cats have a whole \u2018nother vibe and it\u2019s not too far out there to say that vibe is magic<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There have always been cats in my life. My grandmother had a gorgeous calico cat named Pansy who lived to be eighteen years old; there\u2019s a picture of me, petting her, when I was only eighteen months old. My family\u2019s first cat was a grey tabby named Oliver; when we moved to a larger house around the corner, not a quarter-mile from the original house, we took Oliver with us, but Oliver roamed back to his old stomping grounds at the old house and became the new family\u2019s cat. A few years later, we found a kitten in the ditch and brought it home. His name was Little Meiou \u2013 a joke, because my father insisted that the cat in the \u201cDick and Jane\u201d books was called \u201cLittle Meiou\u201d and not \u201cPuff\u201d \u2013 everyone<\/em> knows that Dick and Jane\u2019s cat was named Puff! Little Meiou was hit by a car one Saturday night \u2013 I remember well his hindquarters all mangled up \u2013 he had to be put down and that was a very sad event for a nine-year-old girl. We didn\u2019t get another cat until we got Emma, seven years later \u2013 we found her underneath our car after shopping at Wegmans.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As an adult, I\u2019ve had numerous cats. First there was Shadow and Kahlua. When I broke up with my first husband, he got custody of the cats. I really missed being a kitty-cat mommy, so I got Jet and Max. Max only lived to be six months old \u2013 he ate one of the little balls made of the cellophane wrappers from my boyfriend\u2019s Camel cigarette pack \u2013 it tore up his insides and he had to be put down. That was really traumatic for me but it brought Jet and me much closer. A few weeks later, my boyfriend took me to a pet store and I got Little Joe \u2013 named partly for the character in \u201cBonanza\u201d and partly because when we were going home, Jimi Hendrix was on the radio. I used to sing \u201cHey Joe, where you going with that mouse in your mouth\u201d to Little Joe.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I had Jet and Little Joe until they died. They were my son\u2019s companions in his crib when he was a baby and as he learned to crawl and walk. Little Joe developed diabetes and had to be given insulin shots. He was twelve when he died. Jet lived another four years and had to be put down.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

After that, I got Jack. This was when I was living in Lockport, NY. I had feral cats in that period; Garcia, Deo, and their baby Little Guy, who died when he was four months old \u2013 all Deo\u2019s kittens died but I thought Little Guy would make it. When I moved to Buffalo, I only took Jack with me but then I got Bobby and a year later, Radar. They were both rescue kittens. If anyone is acquainted with my WordPress blog \u201csilverapplequeen\u201d and my \u201cSaturday Caturday\u201d posts, then you know Radar and Bobby. Jack had to be put down two years ago; there\u2019s not a day that goes by that I don\u2019t miss that cat. I think I loved him more than any cat I\u2019ve ever known.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Andrew Anderson writes about his cats; he had a cat named Whiskey and it\u2019s easy to see this cat the way he describes her. But that\u2019s not the only cat he writes about \u2013 there\u2019s Marlowe and Alfie (great names!). These two cats are the basis of his poem \u201cThe Cat of the Night and The Cat of the Day\u201d, which is at the end of the book, and which is the genesis of this entire book. It\u2019s a lovely poem and really, a cool idea for cats in general. It\u2019s just in my experience, my cats have neither been cats of the night nor cats of the day \u2013 like myself, they are awake during the day and the night; they sleep during the day and at night; there\u2019s really no either\/or. Cats like to nap. And they don\u2019t like rules.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, this book is filled with so much feline lore and the prose written so poetically that it\u2019s an absolute joy to read. I loved learning things like there\u2019s a feline constellation! Yes, there is! (Anderson, 12,13) He writes about the association of cats and deities, especially those of Egypt, but also the British Celts, the Scandinavian pantheon and even the Virgin Mary of the Catholics. He delves further into this in Chapter Two: \u201cThe Cat of the Night \u2013 The Witch\u2019s Cat\u201d, which looks at the role of cats
\nin Greek myths, focusing closely on the Goddess Hekate, her evolution into the goddess of witchcraft, and her close association with cats.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This chapter is also interesting with Anderson\u2019s discussion of what kind of cats are \u201cparticularly suspicious and likely to be involved in such malevolent activities\u201d as assisting a witch in performing spells and rituals (Anderson, 30). He mentions tabby cats and tortoiseshell cats \u2013 Little Joe and Garcia were tabbies \u2013 and \u201cbrindled\u201d cats \u2013 meaning a brown or grey cat \u2013 Jack and Radar were\/are grey. And of course, the always mysterious and magical black cat. My cat Jet was a black cat with a strain of Siamese in him; Bobby is a beautiful aging black kitty, his black fur now flecked with grey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In Chapter Three, he mentions a study made in 2013 that stated that \u201ccats do recognize their owners\u2019 voices, but choose to ignore them\u201d (Anderson, 42). This couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth. Perhaps these owners didn\u2019t train their cats properly \u2013 or at all. Most people think that cats can\u2019t be trained. But like all animals, cats need to be trained from babyhood.<\/em> I can attest that both of my cats come when I call them. Radar trots out of wherever he\u2019s been hiding, Bobby slinks out a bit slower, but they appear when they hear the sound of my voice. They know who the Mother Goddess is in their world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And honestly? \u201cCats\u2019 lack of regard for humans\u201d? (Anderson, 42). When I am depressed, my cats are all over me, trying to make me feel better. They are annoyingly<\/em> attentive. I know that for most people, a cat insisting that you stop what you\u2019re doing and pet them and adore<\/em> them isn\u2019t exactly a group hug comforting, but it does work<\/em>. The fact that when I\u2019m feeling my lowest, either Radar or Bobby is right there, wanting to make me feel better is enough<\/em>. And while I\u2019m at it here \u2013 I know<\/em> my cats love me. Bobby licks the top of my head \u2013 like he\u2019s grooming me \u2013 and Radar rubs his head against mine. I know that\u2019s kitty-cat love. And it feels good.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Still, this book is fabulous and I can\u2019t say enough about it \u2013 every page has a great story about a cat in history or myth or literature. Anderson quotes from poetry liberally \u2013 lines we may all well know and lines that may be new to us. In the Cat of the Day section, Anderson moves from mythology to fairy tale \u2013 he recounts the story of \u201cPuss in Boots\u201d \u2013 always a favorite of mine \u2013 revealing its original source from India via Italy and France.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not only does Anderson write of cats in literature, he discusses the linguistic word \u201ccat\u201d and how it is rendered in languages around the world; how the cat evolved physically and its physical attributes today; and how the cat continues to evolve.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the very end of the book is the poem, \u201cThe Cat of the Night and the Cat of the Day (a story for kittens of all ages)\u201d which is charming. I can well imagine myself reading this to my granddaughter in a few years. She\u2019s seven months old as of this writing and already loves cats!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship between cat and human is a complex and close one; anyone who has ever owned and loved a cat or numerous cats knows this. In The Magic of Cats,<\/em> Andrew Anderson explores every aspect of cat mythology, cat folklore, cat literature, cat ownership, and cat evolution and physicality with a prose style that borders on the poetic and flows like the milky way across the sky. Along with the beautiful illustrations by Hannah Willow, The Magic of Cats<\/em> by Andrew Anderson is a wonderful addition to any cat-lover\u2019s collection of feline literature or simply for anyone who is interested in the magic of cats. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to reading more from Andrew Anderson.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the Author\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew Anderson is a Druid author and practitioner who has been publishing with Moon Books since 2019. He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in his 20s to study Shakespeare and decided to stay. Having worked in education for almost 20 years, teaching English and Creative Writing, Andrew now divides his time between working in the Shakespeare Industry and exploring the Warwickshire countryside. He lives in Stratford-upon-Avon with his two cats. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Magic of Cats on Amazon<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

**<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She blogs at\u00a0<\/span><\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review The Magic of Cats by Andrew Anderson Illustrated by Hannah Willow Publisher: Moon Books 120 Pages Release Date: May 1, 2023         Cats are magical. There\u2019s no two ways around that. Dogs are great \u2013 I love dogs, I\u2019ve owned dogs and I miss the dogs I used to own, especially my beloved yellow lab Lucy \u2013 but dogs are pedestrian, ordinary, almost run-of-the-mill. Cats have a whole \u2018nother vibe and it\u2019s not too far out there to say that vibe is magic. There have always been cats in my life. My grandmother had a gorgeous calico cat named Pansy who lived to be eighteen years old; there\u2019s a picture of me, petting her, when I was only eighteen months old. My family\u2019s first cat was a grey tabby named Oliver; when we moved to a larger house around the corner, not a quarter-mile from the original house, we took Oliver with us, but Oliver roamed back to his old stomping grounds at the old house and became the new family\u2019s cat. A few years later, we found a kitten in the ditch and brought it home. His name was Little Meiou \u2013 a joke, because my father insisted that the cat in the \u201cDick and Jane\u201d books was called \u201cLittle Meiou\u201d and not \u201cPuff\u201d \u2013 everyone knows that Dick and Jane\u2019s cat was named Puff! Little Meiou was hit by a car one Saturday night \u2013 I remember well his hindquarters all mangled up \u2013 he had to be put down and that was a very sad event for a nine-year-old girl. We didn\u2019t get another cat until we got Emma, seven years later \u2013 we found her underneath our car after shopping at Wegmans. As an adult, I\u2019ve had numerous cats. First there was Shadow and Kahlua. When I broke up with my first husband, he got custody of the cats. I really missed being a kitty-cat mommy, so I got Jet and Max. Max only lived to be six months old \u2013 he ate one of the little balls made of the cellophane wrappers from my boyfriend\u2019s Camel cigarette pack \u2013 it tore up his insides and he had to be put down. That was really traumatic for me but it brought Jet and me much closer. A few weeks later, my boyfriend took me to a pet store and I got Little Joe \u2013 named partly for the character in \u201cBonanza\u201d and partly because when we were going home, Jimi Hendrix was on the radio. I used to sing \u201cHey Joe, where you going with that mouse in your mouth\u201d to Little Joe. I had Jet and Little Joe until they died. They were my son\u2019s companions in his crib when he was a baby and as he learned to crawl and walk. Little Joe developed diabetes and had to be given insulin shots. He was twelve when he died. Jet lived another four years and had to be put down. After that, I got Jack. This was when I was living in Lockport, NY. I had feral cats in that period; Garcia, Deo, and their baby Little Guy, who died when he was four months old \u2013 all Deo\u2019s kittens died but I thought Little Guy would make it. When I moved to Buffalo, I only took Jack with me but then I got Bobby and a year later, Radar. They were both rescue kittens. If anyone is acquainted with my WordPress blog \u201csilverapplequeen\u201d and my \u201cSaturday Caturday\u201d posts, then you know Radar and Bobby. Jack had to be put down two years ago; there\u2019s not a day that goes by that I don\u2019t miss that cat. I think I loved him more than any cat I\u2019ve ever known. Andrew Anderson writes about his cats; he had a cat named Whiskey and it\u2019s easy to see this cat the way he describes her. But that\u2019s not the only cat he writes about \u2013 there\u2019s Marlowe and Alfie (great names!). These two cats are the basis of his poem \u201cThe Cat of the Night and The Cat of the Day\u201d, which is at the end of the book, and which is the genesis of this entire book. It\u2019s a lovely poem and really, a cool idea for cats in general. It\u2019s just in my experience, my cats have neither been cats of the night nor cats of the day \u2013 like myself, they are awake during the day and the night; they sleep during the day and at night; there\u2019s really no either\/or. Cats like to nap. And they don\u2019t like rules. However, this book is filled with so much feline lore and the prose written so poetically that it\u2019s an absolute joy to read. I loved learning things like there\u2019s a feline constellation! Yes, there is! (Anderson, 12,13) He writes about the association of cats and deities, especially those of Egypt, but also the British Celts, the Scandinavian pantheon and even the Virgin Mary of the Catholics. He delves further into this in Chapter Two: \u201cThe Cat of the Night \u2013 The Witch\u2019s Cat\u201d, which looks at the role of cats in Greek myths, focusing closely on the Goddess Hekate, her evolution into the goddess of witchcraft, and her close association with cats. This chapter is also interesting with Anderson\u2019s discussion of what kind of cats are \u201cparticularly suspicious and likely to be involved in such malevolent activities\u201d as assisting a witch in performing spells and rituals (Anderson, 30). He mentions tabby cats and tortoiseshell cats \u2013 Little Joe and Garcia were tabbies \u2013 and \u201cbrindled\u201d cats \u2013 meaning a brown or grey cat \u2013 Jack and Radar were\/are grey. And of course, the always mysterious and magical black cat. My cat Jet was a black cat with a strain of Siamese in him; Bobby is a beautiful aging black kitty, his black fur now flecked with grey. In Chapter Three, he mentions a study made in 2013 that stated that \u201ccats do recognize their owners\u2019 voices, but choose to ignore them\u201d (Anderson, 42). This couldn\u2019t be farther from the truth. Perhaps these owners didn\u2019t train their cats properly \u2013 or at all. Most people think that cats can\u2019t be trained. But like all animals, cats need to be trained from babyhood. I can attest that both of my cats come when I call them. Radar trots out of wherever he\u2019s been hiding, Bobby slinks out a bit slower, but they appear when they hear the sound of my voice. They know who the Mother Goddess is in their world. And honestly? \u201cCats\u2019 lack of regard for humans\u201d? (Anderson, 42). When I am depressed, my cats are all over me, trying to make me feel better. They are annoyingly attentive. I know that for most people, a cat insisting that you stop what you\u2019re doing and pet them and adore them isn\u2019t exactly a group hug comforting, but it does work. The fact that when I\u2019m feeling my lowest, either Radar or Bobby is right there, wanting to make me feel better is enough. And while I\u2019m at it here \u2013 I know my cats love me. Bobby licks the top of my head \u2013 like he\u2019s grooming me \u2013 and Radar rubs his head against mine. I know that\u2019s kitty-cat love. And it feels good. Still, this book is fabulous and I can\u2019t say enough about it \u2013 every page has a great story about a cat in history or myth or literature. Anderson quotes from poetry liberally \u2013 lines we may all well know and lines that may be new to us. In the Cat of the Day section, Anderson moves from mythology to fairy tale \u2013 he recounts the story of \u201cPuss in Boots\u201d \u2013 always a favorite of mine \u2013 revealing its original source from India via Italy and France. Not only does Anderson write of cats in literature, he discusses the linguistic word \u201ccat\u201d and how it is rendered in languages around the world; how the cat evolved physically and its physical attributes today; and how the cat continues to evolve. At the very end of the book is the poem, \u201cThe Cat of the Night and the Cat of the Day (a story for kittens of all ages)\u201d which is charming. I can well imagine myself reading this to my granddaughter in a few years. She\u2019s seven months old as of this writing and already loves cats! The relationship between cat and human is a complex and close one; anyone who has ever owned and loved a cat or numerous cats knows this. In The Magic of Cats, Andrew Anderson explores every aspect of cat mythology, cat folklore, cat literature, cat ownership, and cat evolution and physicality with a prose style that borders on the poetic and flows like the milky way across the sky. Along with the beautiful illustrations by Hannah Willow, The Magic of Cats by Andrew Anderson is a wonderful addition to any cat-lover\u2019s collection of feline literature or simply for anyone who is interested in the magic of cats. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I look forward to reading more from Andrew Anderson.   About the Author\u00a0 Andrew Anderson is a Druid author and practitioner who has been publishing with Moon Books since 2019. He moved to Stratford-upon-Avon in his 20s to study Shakespeare and decided to stay. Having worked in education for almost 20 years, teaching English and Creative Writing, Andrew now divides his time between working in the Shakespeare Industry and exploring the Warwickshire countryside. He lives in Stratford-upon-Avon with his two cats.     The Magic of Cats on Amazon   ** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":28909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10005],"tags":[13470,10095,10015,14712,13449,14711,10065,10075,14710],"class_list":["post-28908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-andrew-anderson","tag-book","tag-book-review","tag-cat","tag-cats","tag-hannah-willow","tag-magic","tag-review","tag-the-magic-of-cats"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28908"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28913,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28908\/revisions\/28913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}