Symbol Dictionary: Animals C
Calf, Golden: The Golden Calf is a symbol for Horus, a bull-calf form of Osiris, son of Isis, also called Hathor, who includes the Golden Cow in her processions. Israelites considered the Golden Calf sacred as the God who led them to safety out of Egypt. According to Barbara Walker in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), “The Israelites made offerings to him, sat down to a feast, then ‘rose up to play,’” which translates to “copulate.”
Cat: Egypt is where cats were first domesticated and revered as the Sphinx. In her book The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983), Barbara Walker, explains “the cat was carved on Isis’ holy sistrum and represented the moon.” Probably due to their nocturnal behavior, they were associated with the moon and therefore the Goddess. The saying that cat’s have nine lives was created in Medieval times and probably comes from the Egyptian mythic Ninefold Goddess Ennead. It was at this time that cats were first associated with Witches when it was said that they could transform themselves into a cat’s shape nine times within their life. In England, the cat became the Moon-goddess’s totem and in Scotland, the Goddess of Witches, Mither o’ the Mawkins, took the form of either a hare or a cat. By the Inquisition, Nicholas Remy had deemed all cats demonic and it became superstition that a witch’s familiar was a gray cat and this led to the practice of burning cats in wicker cages on Midsummer, Easter, and Shrove Tuesday. See Sphinx. The cat was the totem animal for the Egyptian Goddess Bast (Mother of Cats), as well as Artemis/Diana.
Camel: “The camel is the most valuable animal in the Middle East; it is not only a sacrificial animal but also provides food and milk, the hide is used for leather and its hair is woven into a coarse cloth, it is also believed to be apotropaic and a cure for rheumatism; the camel’s droppings are used for fuel,” according to Symbolic And Mythological Animals (1992) by J. C. Cooper. The camel symbolizes obedience and subservience as the guardian of waters and springs in Arabia and considered the animal of Paradise in Islam and the Prophet swore by a camel.
Cheetah: “A Natural symbol of swiftness and speed,” according to Symbolic And Mythological Animals (1992) by J. C. Cooper. The Cheetah was trained for hunting in Assyria and Egypt and, along with lions and leopards followed Dionysos. A Totem animal of Africa, the Cheetah was honored in rites and dances of hunting.
Cow: The Cow is still sacred today in India, but throughout history has been an important creation symbol. According to Barbara Walker, in her book, The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets (1983) “Perhaps the most common manifestation of the Great Mother as Preserver was the white, horned, milk-giving Moon-cow, still sacred in India as a symbol of Kali... The cow was honored as the wet nurse of humanity, and her image is still inadvertently invoked to this day as an expletive Holy Cow, or a perjorative Sacred Cow.” Egyptian legend tells of the sacred Mother Hathor in the form of a heavenly cow, creating the Milky Way with the milk from her udder and daily births the Golden Calf (the sun), Horus-Ra, who is also revered by Aaron and the Israelites. Italy means “calf-land” and according to legend was the gift of the “Milk-giver” who was called by many named, Lat by Etruscans, Al-Lat by Arabs, Latona, Lada, Leto, or Leda in Greece. In northern Europe her name was Audumla, Freya, or “fierce cow” and the universe was equated with curdled milk in early mythology. From India comes the belief that the universe was created from the Churning of the Sea of Milk. Japan’s creation myth says that the primordial “curdlecurdle” was mixed with the first deities to make earth. Ancient Sanskrit speaking people and Romans also held the cow as important.
Crab: The Crab is the symbol for the zodiac sign of Cancer. India, Egypt, Persia, China, northern Europe, and Central America all held similar beliefs about the crab as foretelling the coming of the end of the world. See UMS Astrology
Basics course.