Collected by Ericka

To learn more about the Brilliant Cats
A Myth of How the Brilliant Cats and People once Formed a Pact
In the Circle with Snowy Owl who sits on my shoulder.  And we ascend to the Circle of storytelling.
Once a long long time ago, in a brilliant Green Land, with Brilliant Blue Water all around, there were many brightly colored Cats.  They roamed freely and were of all different kinds, sizes and types.  Some were huge and had long fangs, others were small with bright, banded tails.  But they all had one thing in common, they all glowed and shone as though each was their own sun.
The cats displayed the many blends and levels of colors of the rainbow.  They sported stripes, spots, bands, bulls eyes, and all types of marking much as domestic and wild cats do today.  Only they were so different because of their bright colors.  There were thousands of them and they were very highly connected through the Veil to Spirit.  They could talk, and dance and sing like people could.
Long before people came to be, before they developed into physical form on the earth, they roamed the world in spirit.  They knew that some day they would be able to experience the physical Earth, but they didn’t know when this would happen.  They chose instead to roam the Earth in Spirit and as animals in instinctive and survival based bodies.
The Brilliant Cats also knew this potential for People of logical thinking minds.  One day, the Cats decided it would be a wonderful gift to share their bodies with the People Who Were Not Yet People. Many animals who were not yet people knew that some day they wanted to become People.  So the Brilliant Cats, in spirit approached the People Who Were Not Yet People and struck with them a deal.  If the Brilliant cats shared for a short time their bodies so the People Who Were Not Yet People so they could experience the Earth in an almost Human way, the People Who Were Not Yet People would promise that when they became People, they would develop a devotion between the two beings: the cats and the People and would serve and care for each other in a Domestic World.
This the People agreed to, and so the brilliant Cats shared their bodies.
The pact lasted for 100 years and the People finally had to leave.  Their experience of the world was fantastic, exhilarating, and they truly looked forward to experiencing the Earth in truly Human bodies.  They went right to work, evolving into the People of prehistoric times we have spent years studying.  The Brilliant Cats developed as well, remaining in close contact with People as both species evolved.  A large faction of the Brilliant Cats worked closely with people, adjusting and shaping their bodies so they could best inhabit the Physical World safely.  But many Cats did not wish to surrender their exquisite markings.
Today, we have many cats, both large and wild cats and domestic cats who have developed to fill many different roles.  There are many who still display magnificent markings and brilliant and lovely colors.  Some shock the world with their contrasting patterns, others stun the world with their brightness and glowing amber eyes.  And many others have chosen other paths to follow in which they tone their colors down for survival, using many types of beige, black and brown and markings such as “tortoise shell” and dilute colors, to blend in and thus survive predators in their environment.
There is a large portion of the Brilliant cats who have retained their bright colors, though they do so in Spirit only now.  These are the Cats that live in the Crystal Palace.  They appear in dreams, in visions, in peoples’ imaginations.  They have continued the respect of the pact they made long ago, flipping it on its head.  They often appear in the minds and bodies of People, because they have finally become People!  The Cats share their tradition and history in thanks for the People respecting their pact, for sharing and then giving back, for helping cats develop and caring for them in domestic World.  Brilliant Cats come out in art, in dreams, in visions, and in many other ways, as guides, as guardians, and teachers in NOR.  And, every once in a great while, a Brilliant Cat will emerge in physical form, and brighten the life of a human’s World.

-Tribe of Brilliant Cat
February 15, 2009