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CATS IN MYTH
Bastet represents the kindly side of cat nature. As a sun goddess she
represents the warm, life giving power of the sun. Her cult appears
as early as the Second Dynasty. Like a cat, she was admired for her
agility and strength. Additionally, Bastet was one of the "Eyes
of Ra", the title of an "avenger" god who is sent out
specifically to lay waste to the enemies of Egypt and her gods. She
was connected with the moon (her son Khonsu was the god of the moon).
When shown as a lioness, she is associated with sunlight.
She was the goddess of many things including fire, cats, dance, sex, music, and good luck. According to one myth, she was the personification of the soul of Isis. She was also called the "Lady of the East". As such, her counterpart as "Lady of the West" was Sekhmet.
Her counterpart, Sekhmet, the powerful one, was called into being by Re, the Sun god, to punish humanity for plotting rebellion. Her lioness nature enjoyed the bloody mission so much that she could not be stopped. The god’s, fearing that humanity would be destroyed altogether, had their servants prepare seven thousand jars of beer laced with red dye. They spread it on the fields, and upon waking she drank it all, thinking it was blood. The beer so addled her that she returned to her place to sleep it off, and mankind was saved. Both Bastet and Sekhmet are parts of the single creative force of the universe. The feminine force not only creates life, but it takes it away. (Statue and text are housed in the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.)
The fist cat whose name we know of was Nedjem - it means star. Nedjem lived during the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479-1425 B.C.)
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