How Did This Cat Even Get Here?! The Story of Mysticat

If you follow my posts, you know that I live in any community. Not just a community, a federation of communities. Damanhur is the largest spiritual ecocommunity in Europe and one of the largest in the world. We are located in northern Italy, and different than most communities where you have one big territory everyone lives around, we are spread out across multiple territories, some as far as 20 minutes away. Most are not connected land-wise, hence why we are a Federation. What glues us all together is our constiutition, our governance, and our spirituality.

Some people--like myself--live in our shared houses. We call them nucleos, and there are usually between 8 to 25 people living in them. In my house, we have 25 with children. In addition, my nucleo is dedicated to hospitality, so we often have guests! This many people plus a large house and territory to maintain means lots of traffic, and it can mean that keeping a pet is difficult. Having a pet means not just having an animal that you get along with, but one that must get along with all the people and other critters of the territory. For example, in my house, to bring a new pet in, it has to get along with 22 adults, three children, two pigs, a bunch of rabbits and chickens, many many plants, three cats, and a yappy dog. Not an easy fit.

A Cat Person Without A Cat

In my case, the problem was extra because I travel all the time. I have always loved cats (hence the name Tigrilla, which is a small South American feline). Before leaving for Europe, we had three in my house. Being a somewhat digital nomad, I didn't think it was possible to keep a cat in my nucleo.

One day, I returned back from a business trip in France to find a small, scrawny, ematiated cat sitting in the middle of our parking lot. He was dirty and it was obvious he had gone a long time with limited food. I walked into my house and asked if anyone had seen this poor creature. One of the people declared, "Oh thank heavens you saw him, he is yours!"

What?!

So apparently this poor little soul showed up one day while I was gone. The cat lovers in our house--there a few of them--took pity on him and started feeding him. Of course, being the clever kitty that he is, he knew that if he hung around they would keep feeding him. Since at that time there was already a yappy dog in the house and a cat that has to remain on the 3rd floor since there is a person on the second floor that is allergic, he couldn't come inside. The only cat lover outside--I live in a cabin right outside the main house--was me, so they took a vote and decided he was mine.

On the one hand I was exstatic, on the other worried. I tried to protest...

"I don't have a car, how will I take him to the vet?!"
You can borrow one of our cars and we will lend you a carrier.
"I travel all the time, he will starve!"
We will feed him while you are gone.
"but... but... but..."
You have always wanted a cat, now you have one. Go give him some love, he needs it.

A Nucleo Cat (who only sleeps with me)

So that is exactly what I did. But he needed a name! Since the nucleo had conspired to bring us together, I wanted them to help me name him. We had a long discussion on our Whatsapp group throwing out names. In the end, in true Damanhurian cooperative fashion, he was named by putting together the ideas of multiple people:

• MYSTIC - Because he is a mystical being that managed to survive a full year on his own and find his way out of the blue to our house.
• AT - Which means scarlet in Sacred Language - Because he is white with orangy/red markings

MYSTIC + AT = MYSTICAT, or Mysti for short.

For over two years now, Mysticat has been a part of our family. His food is in my room, but he is truly a nucleo cat. He is an avid mouser--perfect when you live in the mountains--he probably eats a mouse a day, playing with them and then devouring them without leavning even a drop behind. Needless to say, any kind of cat toy is useless, since he plays with live things all day.

A cuddler is not a strong enough word to describe his love for scratches and pets. He actively searches for people, luring them into my room by meowing as if he needs food, then jumping on the bed waiting to be snuggled. Many people fall for this trap on a regular basis, including nucleo members and guests alike. He has perfected the art of being adorable!

An Unexpected Bond

If you remember, I said I travel all the time. At the beginning of this year, I went back to university to get a masters degree. This took me away from the nucleo, and instead to Florence, where I have mainly stayed since fininshing, in addition to frequent traveling. This means that Mysti is mainly being looked after by the nucleo. He even has his own Whatsapp group--where I am not included--where the people that look after him can send pictures and coordinate feeding.

While he has always been a big snuggler, he usually sleeps outside in the elements. He comes into my room for cuddles and food, occassionally sleeping with me in the early morning hours. But since I have been gone, as soon as I arrive to the house, he comes out of the woodwork and pulls me straight onto my bed. There he expects me to lie for hours scratching and hugging him. The price I have to pay for being away soo much!

Yesterday I came home after being away for a while, and since I was in the main part of the house spending time with the family, he started meowing for me to come outside. After walking into the kitchen a few times to get my attention, I finally followed him to my room, where as soon as I laid down on the bed, he was on me with that fantastic purring power of his. I won't go into detail of what came next, though it rivals any images on I can haz cheezburger or CuteOverload and involved lots of drooling--on his part. He kept me there for TWO HOURS, eventually passing out from cuddle exhaustion.

This morning was a struggle to get out of bed, since he did not want me to leave. Then again, now that we are up, I am in here working and he is no where to be found. He has his routine visits during the day, which involve saying "good morning" to the older lady cat that lives upstairs in the house, then heading down the outside corridor of one wing of the house, and up to the rabbit/chicken coop to greet the other critters. What he does the rest of the day is a mystery to us all. He has been spotted a few kilometers away at times, but he mainly stays on our two hectars and the neighboring two hectars where two of our nucleo members have a wild and medicinal herbs nursery, only there he has to stay away from the house since there is a cat that has clearly marked his territory!

I am sad that we only really get one day together. I arrived yesterday and leave tomorrow morning. While he drives me a bit bonkers with how close he sleeps with me while I am here, to be honest, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I adore snuggly cats, and Mysti is just the right mix of independence and need for me. You could say he reminds me of myself, as I am quite independent, while at the same time really loving my snuggle time. Maybe that is why we make such a good match?!