Werecat

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Werecats (also written in a hyphenated form as were-cats) are creatures of folklore, fantasy fiction, horror fiction and occultism that are generally described as shapeshifters who are similar to werewolves, except that they turn into creatures that are based on some species of feline instead of being based on a wolf.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The species involved can be a domestic cat,^[6] a tiger,^[7] a lion,^[8] a leopard,^[9] a lynx, or any other type, including some that are purely fantastical felines.^[10] Typically, an individual werecat can only transform to one unique feline, not to a number of different species, and each individual type of werecat may be known by a more species-specific term such as "weretiger".^[11] The word "werecat" was not coined until the late 19th century, so it was not directly used in legends from earlier eras, only by later folklorists' commentary.

Contents 1 Folklore 1.1 Europe 1.2 Africa 1.3 Asia 1.4 South America 1.5 North America 2 Fiction 3 Occultism and theology 4 Footnotes 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Folklore

Werecat folklore is found on all continents except Antarctica and Australia and is generally based on wild felines native to the area.

[edit] Europe

European folklore usually depicts werecats who transform into domestic cats. Some European werecats became giant domestic cats^[10] or black panthers.^[12] They are generally labeled witches, even though they may have just the one magical ability, of self-transformation.^[13] During the witch trials, the official Church doctrine stated that all shapeshifters, including werewolves, were witches.^[14]

[edit] Africa

African legends describe people who turn into lions or leopards. In the case of leopards, this is often because the creature is really a leopard god or goddess masquerading as human. When these gods mate with humans, offspring can be produced, and these children sometimes grow up to be shapeshifters; Those who do not transform may instead have other powers. In reference to werecats who turn into lions, the ability is often associated with royalty. Such a being may have been a king or queen in a former life, or may be destined for leadership in this life. This quality of heroic warriorship can be seen in the lions of Tsavo, which were reputed to be kings in lion shape, attempting to repel the invading Europeans by stopping their railroad.

[edit] Asia

Mainland Asian werecats usually become tigers.^[11] In India, the weretiger is often a dangerous sorcerer, portrayed as a menace to livestock, who might at any time turn to man-eating. Chinese legends often describe weretigers as the victims of either heredity or a vindictive ghost. Ancient teachings held that every race except the Han Chinese were really animals in disguise, so that there was nothing extraordinary about some of these false humans reverting to their true natures. Alternately, the ghosts of people who had been killed by tigers could become malevolent supernatural beings, devoting all their energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Some of these ghosts were responsible for transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. Also, in Japanese folklore there are creatures called bakeneko that are similar to kitsune (fox spirits) and tanuki (raccoon dogs).

In both Indonesia and Malaysia we meet with another kind of were-tiger.^[15] The power of transformation is regarded as due to inheritance, to the use of spells, to fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, etc. Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge, it is not hostile to man; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs, exactly as the balams (magicians) of Yucatán were said to guard the maize fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the shapeshifter does not recognize his friends unless they call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the Khonds; for them the tiger is friendly, and he reserves his wrath for their enemies. A man is said to take the form of a tiger in order to wreak a just vengeance. ^[15]

[edit] South America

South American werecats usually became jaguars.^[11] In some tribes, all shamans were thought to have the ability to become jaguars. There are also urban legends about jaguar shapeshifters lurking along highways in tales similar to the modern vanishing hitchhiker, and of their being assassins secretly employed by the government or organized crime.

[edit] North America

Present-day North American werecat legends are usually based on the European model, with domestic cats, either normal-sized or giant, being the favored shape. Cougars appear rarely, and jaguars only appear south of the American border. In what is now Mexico, Aztec folklore described jaguar people as being specially blessed by one of the gods, but modern Mexican folklore is more likely to attribute such transformation powers to the devil. American urban legends tell of encounters with feline bipeds; beings similar to the Bigfoot having cat heads, tails and paws. Feline bipeds are sometimes classified as part of cryptozoology, but more often they are interpreted as werecats.^[16]

[edit] Fiction

Main article: Werecats in media and popular culture

[edit] Occultism and theology

Assertions that werecats truly exist and have an origin in supernatural or religious realities have been common for centuries, with these beliefs often being hard to entirely separate from folklore. In the nineteenth century, occultist J.C. Street asserted that material cat and dog transformations could be produced by manipulating the "ethereal fluid" that human bodies are supposedly floating in.^[17] The official Catholic witch-hunting manual, the Malleus Maleficarum, asserted that witches can turn into cats, but that their transformations are illusions created by demons.^[18] New Age author John Perkins asserted that every person has the ability to shapeshift into "jaguars, bushes or any other form" by using mental power.^[19] Occultist Rosalyn Greene claims that werecats called "cat shifters" exist as part of a "shifter subculture" or underground New Age religion based on lycanthropy and related beliefs.^[20]. Feline therians do exist, though they do not necessarily classify their beliefs as religious or supernatural, nor do they necessarily believe in the possibility of physical transformation.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Borges, Jorge. (1969). The book of imaginary beings. New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-670-89180-0
• Greene, Rosalyn. (2000). The magic of shapeshifting. York Beach: Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-171-8
• Hall, Jamie. (2003). Half human, half animal: Tales of werewolves and related creatures. Bloomington: 1st Books. ISBN 1-4107-5809-5
• Hamel, Frank. (1969). Human animals: Werewolves & other transformations. New Hyde Park: University Books. ISBN 0-8216-0092-3
• Steiger, Brad. (2001). Out of the dark. New York: Kensington Books. ISBN 1-57566-896-3
• Saunders, Nicholas J. (1991). The cult of the cat. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-81036-2

[edit] See also

• Catgirl
• Nekomusume
• Were
• Shapeshifting

[edit] External links

• Cheetaholics: Official Gold Digger Webpage
• Feline Bipeds
• Half-Caste at Internet Movie Datebase
• Legend of the Lion Woman
• Okesa: Shapeshifter Cat
• Portal of Transformation: Jaguar Shamans
• Snow Leopard Conservancy: Myths & Legends: The Song of the Snow Range
• The Werewolf and Shapeshifter Codex: Werecat Annex
• Werecat of Salem
• Werecat

Some of this page is derived from Wikipedia. The original article was at Werecat. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WikiFur, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.