HOMECOMING MAGICK

Once upon a time, Best Beloved, more than four and twenty moons ago, Veronica Milvus and her husband left their cottage in the woods for a while to visit the city of Edinburgh at the time of its Festival.  Before they left, Veronica spoke sternly to their two cats, the Shy Black One and her mother, the Naughty Torty, and said to them both:

"Now, while we are away, the Cat Lady will come every day to feed you and cuddle you, so stay in the cottage garden and don't stray down the winding lane."  The cats both promised to do what she asked.

However, there was noise and commotion in the cottage (for there were Builders in the house in those days) and while the Shy Black Cat endured it, sitting with her paws over her ears, the Naughty Torty, who was truly a Cat with Cattitude, could stand it no longer and packed up her belongings in a spotted handkerchief on a stick, or she would have done, Best Beloved, if she had had any belongings to speak of, and ventured down the winding lane, along a little ways, and up the next lane.

When Veronica and Mr Milvus returned, Naughty Torty was nowhere to be seen.  The builders and the Cat Lady had not seen her for several days.  So Veronica went out with a Notice bearing the likeness of the lost cat, and posted it through all the letterboxes in the village, with the words "HAVE YOU SEEN THIS CAT?" and her mobile phone number, emblazoned upon it.

That evening at about ten o'clock, who should pop in through the living room window (it is not very high up, Best Beloved) but the Naughty Torty, purring and happy, and with a twinkle in her amber eyes.  Veronica was very glad to see her.

The next day, while she was at work, Veronica took a call on her mobile phone from a lady in the village, who asked her if the cat had come home.  When Veronica confirmed that the Naughty Torty had indeed returned, the lady said:  "Oh good, I did some work last night, at about ten o'clock, to make sure she came home".

Now there are many things that Veronica does not know, but what she does know is that "work" in this context, must mean the casting of a Homecoming Enchantment on the Naughty Torty.  The Torty died a little while ago, and her ashes have turned to Bluebells out in the wild wood, but for ever after she was known to Veronica and her husband as the Enchanted Cat.  And sometimes, from the corners of their eyes, Veronica and Mr Milvus catch a little glimpse of a cat, slinking under the kitchen table, or dodging up the stairs.  Perhaps, once a cat is a recipent of Homecoming Magick, she can never really leave.

And the other thing that Veronica knows, Best Beloved, is that a follower of the Old Religion, practised in the Magickal Arts, lives very close at hand, just down the winding lane, along a little ways, and up the next lane...