manifestation.

"Now, although I won't go so far as to say that ghostly demonstrations
are actually dependent on the moon--that they occur only on nights when
the moon is visible--experience has led me to believe that the moon most
certainly does influence them--that moonlight nights are much more
favourable to ghostly appearances than other nights. Hence--there is
this much in common between the moon and cats--the one influences and
the other is influenced by psychic phenomena--a fact that could scarcely
have failed to be recognized by so keen observers of the occult as the
Ancient Egyptians.

"The presence of the cat's effigy in the temples of Isis might thus be
explained. Over and over again we come across the cat in the land of the
Pharaohs. It seems to be inseparable from the esoteric side of Egyptian
life. The goddess Bast is depicted with a cat's head, holding the
sistrum, i.e. the symbol of the world's harmony, in her hand.

"One of the most ancient symbols of the cat is to be found in the
Necropolis of Thebes, which contains the tomb of Hana (who probably
belonged to the Eleventh Dynasty). There, Hana is depicted standing
erect, proud and kingly, with his favourite cat Borehaki--Borehaki, the
picture of all things strange and psychic, and from whom one cannot help
supposing he may have chosen his occult inspiration--at his feet. So
sure were the Egyptians that the cat possessed a soul that they deemed
it worthy of the same funeral rites they bestowed on man. Cats were
embalmed, and innumerable cat mummies have been discovered in wooden
coffins at Bubastis, Speos, Artemidos and Thebes. When a cat died the
Egyptians shaved their eyebrows, not only to show grief at the loss of
their loved one, but to avert subsequent misfortune.