Black Cats, Crossroads, and Friday the 13th

I got a new kitty, a rescued/abandoned 9 month old. He is shiny black, with a star on his throat and a crescent moon on his belly. I named him Emo.

I called Animal Trustees of Austin to get an appointment to get him neutered. Don't get me started about people who refuse to spay or neuter their pets. When they are in Hell hanging by the nuts from the intestines of all the abandoned kittens and puppies they are responsible for, they won't think I was harsh.

As Luck would have it, the first possible date for me to get my kitty fixed is this coming Friday the 13th! The lady setting the date chuckled about that. Here is what LM (LoverMan) said: "Castrating a black cat on Friday the 13th? ARE YOU MAD!??" All tongue-in-cheek, of course. LM is possibly the least superstitious person I know.

But am I poking a finger in the eye of Fate here? As a witch, I love superstitions, but I don't usually take them in the same way that the general public does.

The last time I encountered a black cat superstition was in fact on me and LM's first real date. He was giving me a ride back home from a show and a party, and it was very obvious that we liked each other very much. At a major Crossroads, a black cat ran across the streets in front of us! I think he asked me what that meant to me, and it just popped out of my mouth: "A black cat crosses your path, you make an important decision real fast. Like right now I am deciding whether or not to invite you in when we get to my house. Okay, I decided."

And it was one of the luckiest decisions I've ever made!