IMPORTANT:  Available for purchase Friday October 2nd at 3PM EST through Friday January 1st 2027 at 11:59PM EST 

This year’s Hallowe’en offering is a collaboration with my husband, illustrator Aaron Horkey, as a love letter in jewel form to one of the season’s most ubiquitous symbols, the black cat. This cat, rendered in profile, features an uncannily elongated tail, a nod to its role as the Witch’s familiar. This role, as supernatural spirit servant to the Witch, is most likely how the black cat became synonymous with Halloween. 

Cats, and especially black cats were considered to be witches familiars as they were included in the Vox in Rama decretal issued by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 which condemned the worship of the Devil. These documents included specific mentions of rituals that included black cats which laid the basis of folkloric beliefs of familiars in England during the witch trials. This folklore linked the creatures of the witch and the black cat inextricably, which furthermore linked them both forever to Hallowe’en, a night of spirits and superstition. 

Designed in honor to usher in the dark tide of the year, when the nights are longer and our spirits are closer than they are all year, this small cat jewel is meant to be a companion. Wear as an amulet of lucky black cat magic, as a memorial for a feline family member, or as a celebration of the best season of the year. 

The Familiar:

The Witch’s familiar is a phenomena that is distinctly a British import; called ‘Imps’ by Witch-finders and usually small animals such as ferrets, hares, and the ubiquitous cat, often black but not restricted as such: in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth we read of a brindled cat mewling significantly and there is also the gray ‘Grimalkin’ faery cat of Scottish witch lore. The familiar could also be a bird, such as the blackbirds of the crow or raven, or amphibians: toads were historically associated with witches and still are today. However, none are as well known in the collective imagination as the cat, often seen beside the witch of fairytale, folklore and horror alike. Depicted riding astride the witch on her broomstick or nearby her while she concocts potions in her cauldron, these fantastical depictions are not far from what accusers in the witch trials believed familiars were capable of: assisting the witch in all manner of malefic endeavors such as riding to the Sabbath on or as her familiar, using her familiar to curse or hex her neighbors or undertake  other tasks for the witch in her stead. In many cases, women, often women who were anti-social loners, elderly and living alone,  or otherwise occupying the fringes of society in some way, were more apt to keep small animals for companionship. This unfortunately marked “innocent” women as witches during the witchcraze that swept Europe and parts of the US simply for being devoted cat people, as many people are today, for similar reasons. 

Whether or not people keep cats today for use as vessels for familiar spirits, Cats have a long history of being revered as powerful creatures. In ancient Egypt, the cat was worshipped as a Goddess, most famously in the form of Bastet ( or Bast ) in the prosperous and sacred city of Bubastis (now known as Tell Basta ). There, the lives of cats, as elsewhere in Egypt, were protected and their deaths were honored by mummification. There are immense cat cemeteries there, a mixture of beloved pets as well as possible sacrifices to the goddess Bastet, highlighting the importance of the creature to both the everyday lives and the religious practices of the ancient peoples of Egypt from which so much culture stems. 

Diana, Roman Goddess of the hunt is also associated with cats and their lunar aspects. While this is not one of her primary animals, the famous depiction of her at Ephesus shows her with cats. Due to their nighttime proclivities, and especially the way their eyes grow larger and luminescent, cats have long been associated with the moon. Their ability to see in the dark links them to the Spirit world and the realms of the hidden. 

*Details* :