Celtic mythology describes Cait Sidhe as a fae spirit that takes the form of a large black cat with a white spot on its chest. People of ancient Ireland believed that cats operated somewhere between the mortal and spiritual realms.
They viewed them as guardians of the gates of the Otherworld.
a link between humans, the Otherworld and other realms. According to Celtic folklore, spirits that took the form of Cait Sidhe, a large black cat, could steal the soul of the dead before the Gods, devil or the angels could claim it. Where they take the souls nobody knows.
Northern Scottish believed hearing a Cait Sidhe scream or yowl meant you or someone in your family would die soon while the centeral and southern Scottish saw them as gentle guardians of death that guided lost souls into the place after.
The Insular Scottish believed they were the ones that warned you of death but also would grant you wishes if summoned and given offerings.
The Icelandic people have the yule cat which is put in the cait Sidhe terminology.
From what I can tell Russians and Germans held the black cats are witches in disguise belief but they also had a fearful respect if them.
Another Irish tradition derived from the ancient belief that certain spirits took the form of a cat happens on All Hallows Eve, known in Ireland as Samhain, hallows eve, all hallowsv day and just halloween on that night, spirits, fae and demons would be roaming the earth. Everyone set a dish of milk outside so that when Cait Sidhe passed your house, they would be happy with the offering and bless your home and maybe even your whole blood line. If you did not set out milk, Cait Sidhe would be displeased and disrespected so they'd leave a curse on your livestock and cause the cows to not give milk or bare young. Possibly curse your wife as well woth infertility.
Catholics and Christians took the idea of the Cait Sidhe and erased the fae part. Claiming they were demons sent from hell so they may sell innocent souls..
The mythology of the Cait Sidhe even had it's hold in the Americas. Ingenious people say the black cat as a trickster, african south Americans saw the black cat as a symbol of evil while African north Americans saw them as guardians.
White americans had mixed feelings on black cats but they always held some sort of magical power be that a protector or a trickster.
The neolithic Irish people and many Scottish also believed in the Cait Sidhe but believe that Cait Sidhe were not fairy spirits but were actually witches that could take the form of a cat. It was said that these witches could transform into a cat eight times but if they took the form of a cat on their ninth transformation, they would remain a cat. Many think it's the origin of the saying that cats have nine lives.
This is also thought the term " never cross a black cat's path " comes from since that cat may just be a Cait Sidhe or a witch.
References too the Cait Sidhe can also be found in Edgar Allen Poe's story the black cat✨
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