Cassandra Latham

Mab's Story

Mab died on Thursday 15th April 2004, roughly at 4.45pm in my arms and in our cottage in St Buryan.

She was laid to rest at Penwith Woodland Burial Place.

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Cassandra Latham, The Dolls House, Churchtown, St Buryan, Penzance, Cornwall, TR19 6DS England Email : Cassandra Latham

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In Memory of Mab part 1 part 2 After Mab part 1 Mab's Story

The circumstances of her birth were extraordinary. A friend of mine’s cat had a litter of kittens. One of these was born on Halloween, on the stroke of midnight. . She asked whether I was interested, and of course, given my profession, said yes! So along came Mab.

When I acquire a cat I always give it a kitten name to be going on with until its personality develops and I choose its proper name. Mab’s kitten name was Pumpkin. As she grew, she proved to be such a queen and was so Otherworldly, (she can walk the spirit world very easily) I thought her name should be Mab. It really suits her – Queen of the Faeries.

Mab is my familiar. Not every cat is a familiar, but it’s a special relationship that can develop between an animal and a magical practitioner. One of the ways in which the familiar can work is to produce a peculiar mirroring effect. Several years ago I had a bad car smash which stopped me working as a nurse. Within days Mab got involved in a road accident also. I began to notice that when I had something wrong with me, she had something similarly wrong with her. Her behaviour mirrored mine. So, I learned to watch her closely. The link can form like that.

She doesn’t let people into the house if she doesn’t like the look of them. She is a guardian and is very discerning with my clients. I have also done acts of healing for animals via Mab. So it does link with the old tradition in which witches were sometimes accused of ‘sending forth their spirit via the familiar’.

A few years back, on impulse, I entered Mab in a cat food competition. (One of the prizes was a years supply of cat food!) I wrote and told them about Mab’s work as a familiar. After a few hilarious articles in the local papers, I was told that she had been short-listed in the Working Cat category. Well, the result was she was runner up, which miffed off Mab no end! There was no certificate, not even one can of cat food. I always thought that Arthur looked a bit mean on the adverts!

Mab can lead some photographers a merry dance but if they are patient, and Mab likes them, she occasionally deigns to allow her image to be taken. See above.

A lot of people expect Mab to be a black cat in accordance with tradition. The tradition they are referring to is more about the shape-shifting qualities associated with familiars. There are usually three types of cat, which fall into this category. The black cat that merges with dark nights, the brindle cat that merges with most things, and the grey cat that merges with moonlight. Obviously Mab falls into the last type and incidentally also merges with granite, of which we have vast amounts in Cornwall.

Mab is a wonderful companion as well as a working cat. The partnership has lasted 13 years so far and I hope for many more years in the future.

click here for part two

Cassandra Latham, The Dolls House, Churchtown, St Buryan, Penzance, Cornwall, TR19 6DS England Email : Cassandra Latham

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