Cats as Divine Messengers: Animal Angels, Spirit Guides, and Totems

God may send messages to you through cats

Kitten with angel wings attached to back, rear view
God may send messages through cats as angels, spirit guides, or totems. ICHIRO/Photodisc/Getty Images

Cats have captured people's attention and admiration throughout history for the elegant grace and air of mystery that they project. People sometimes see cats appear to deliver spiritual messages. They may encounter angels manifesting in the form of a cat, see images of a beloved pet who has died and now acts as a spirit guide or guardian or catch sight of cat images that symbolize something God wants to communicate (known as animal totems). Or they may receive inspiration from God through their ordinary interactions with the cats in their lives.

Angels Appearing as Cats

Angels are pure spirits and can manifest in the physical realm by adopting the form of a cat when that would help them accomplish their God-given missions, believers say.

"Angels sometimes ‘assume’ bodies, as we would put on a costume," writes Peter Kreeft in his book "Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them?" Other times, he notes, angels influence our imaginations and we see them in a body, but there isn't anything there. Kreeft writes that he wonders if his guardian angel sometimes inhabits the body of his pet cat.

Departed Cats Who Become Spirit Guides

Sometimes cats that nurtured strong bonds with their human companions before dying to appear to them from the afterlife as guardians and deliverers of spiritual guidance, say believers.

"Why would an animal come back to the same person?" Penelope Smith asks In "Animals in Spirit." "Sometimes it's to continue their mission to help, guide, and serve. "Some animal friends feel you can't do without them!"

Cats as Symbolic Animal Totems

Cats may also appear in the form of totems, images that convey symbolic spiritual messages. Totem animals in the form of cats often symbolize personal power, writes Gerina Dunwich in her book "Your Magickal Cat: Feline Magick, Lore, and Worship." "Since times most ancient, cats have been a vital part of the magickal arts and have left their mark (or should I say “claw mark”) on the world of divination, folk healing, and occult sciences."

In any form, a cat "can serve as a calm, cool, collected guide who helps us to find and concentrate on our own creative magick," writes Ellen Dugan in "The Enchanted Cat: Feline Fascinations, Spells & Magick."

Cats as Everyday Inspiration

You don't have to see a cat in spiritual form to derive spiritual inspiration from it; you can gain plenty of inspiration from observing and interacting with the cats that are part of your regular, physical life, say believers.

In their book "Angel Cats: Divine Messengers of Comfort," Allen and Linda C. Anderson ask: "With their willingness to listen in silence and their frank, nonjudgmental gaze, do they assure us that no matter what is happening, everything truly is in Divine order?...Is there something so extraordinarily spiritual about the cat kingdom that, if we observe, recognize, and apply what cats know, we can become more joyful, balanced, and loving human beings?"

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Hopler, Whitney. "Cats as Divine Messengers: Animal Angels, Spirit Guides, and Totems." Learn Religions, Aug. 25, 2020, learnreligions.com/cats-as-divine-messengers-animal-angels-124478. Hopler, Whitney. (2020, August 25). Cats as Divine Messengers: Animal Angels, Spirit Guides, and Totems. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/cats-as-divine-messengers-animal-angels-124478 Hopler, Whitney. "Cats as Divine Messengers: Animal Angels, Spirit Guides, and Totems." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/cats-as-divine-messengers-animal-angels-124478 (accessed March 28, 2024).