5 Interesting Things About Black Cat Superstition

Are black cats good luck or bad luck? Is black cat superstition nonsense? Where does black cat superstition come from?

So many questions with so many different conflicting pieces of information and opinion.

My Experience

When Coco our American Shorthair came into our lives, the fact that he had black fur played a very small part in us falling in love with him.

His shiny fur and piercing blue eyes (he was a baby then) were so cute and his high pitched meow grabbed our attention right away.

Of course, we paid attention to the fact that he is a black cat but any thoughts of good or bad luck simply didn’t enter our minds.

Yurena and I are in our 30s and maybe the black cat superstition has begun to fade out in our generation?

We don’t subscribe to the good luck/ bad luck thing but there are still those that do.

Let’s look a 5 things about black cat superstition…

When Black Cat Superstition Began

According to Greek mythology, the wife of Zeus named Hera transformed one of her servants into a black cat as a form of punishment.

This servant named Galinthias became an assistant to Hecate, the Goddess of witchcraft.

It’s very clear to see the link between witches, bad luck and black cats.

A Black Cat Crossing Your Path

Some believe that when a black cat crosses your path, you end up with bad luck.

A black cat crosses my path hundreds of times a week in our home so I’m struggling with this one…

With the amount of bad luck that I should have, I doubt very much that I’d even have the ability to write this blog.

My life should be in ruins shouldn’t it?

To contradict this bit of black cat superstition, seeing a black cat is considered good luck in some cultures.

Where Black Cats are Considered Good Luck

It seems that when it comes to black cat superstition, most of the world leans towards the negative side.

There are two places in the world that really buck the trend though.

My native Great Britain is one of them and the other is Japan.

In parts of the U.K., a black cat arriving at your doorstep is said to be good luck.

In England black cat superstition leads to the belief that if you give a bride a black cat on her wedding day, the marriage will be blessed with good luck.

Fishermen would often set sail with a black cat aboard, as their furry friend was thought to bring them luck.

In Japanese culture, black cats are thought to bring luck to single women who are in pursuit of a partner.

9 Lives and Witches

Some of the early American settlers believed that black cats were actually witches in disguise.

They believed that the witches had shape-shifted and that they had the ability to do this up to 9 times.

Is this where the cats having 9 lives theme came from?

Black Cats Keeping Homes Safe

If you are a firm believer in living your life by Feng-Shui a black cat could be a welcome addition to your home.

Black cats are thought to possess strong powers of good and if you look after your black cat, in turn, it’ll look after you and your home.

Very interesting…

My Final Thoughts

It has been a lot of fun researching for this blog post and it could very easily have been a lot longer.

When talking about black cat superstition, it’s hard to avoid the very negative side of the subject.

I really didn’t want to focus on that as the new-aged black cat doesn’t carry so much of the baggage of that black cat of old.

Yes, cat shelters are full of black cats but there is a changing trend and black cats are gradually getting the love that they deserve.

Recent studies are suggesting that the genes that make a cat black are actually genes that give black cats superiority when it comes to health.

Sounds pretty lucky to me…

Have you joined the My Mini Panther black cat community on Facebook?