The Space Cat Ballad

Space Cat Ballad

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

When your cat looks upward to the stars

Within her soul something special stirs.

Does not that messenger of light,

Beautiful Vega, shining bright,

Embellishing the Northern Sky,

Reflecting upon her upturned eye,

Bestow dreams unto her feline mind?

Of long lost forgotten fates entwined,

And speak of a cat civilization of the past

That ruled the interstellar spaces vast.

Did not bipedal spacecats a zenith reach?

Universal wisdom did they not teach?

The arts of pleasure they most enjoyed

And yet their love planet was destroyed.

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

If a cat could but shed a grieving tear

She’d shed as many as she sheds fur.

Here begins a cosmic tale of cats in space,

And strange beginnings for the human race.

The story of Lemewria and the Catolith

– Feline symbols of an antediluvian myth.

Here too the tale of lizards on the make

And all the devastation left in their wake.

The Disco Reptilians with all their might

Did so mercilessly the cat world smite!

Never ever say that all is completely lost:

Twenty-three light years some cats were tossed

From Vega to Earth at the Ice Age’s close

And the Cult of the Cat Priestess there arose!

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

Unexplainable monuments in every land

Mystic secrets of the ancient feline mind!

When the Cat Priestesses from outer space

Purred in harmony the huge stones into place.

The great pyramids rose up to meet the sky –

Only the sphinx and I know the reason why . . .

And Cat Priestesses of the Northern Isles

Employing all their witchy ways and wiles

To levitate alone each stone of Stonehenge –

Withstanding relentless Reptilian revenge!

All the great ruins of all forgotten ages

Are sacred books with stones instead of pages

All these temples cat people did construct

For their child, the human race, to instruct.

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

In her heart dwells sweet holofelinity

The feline form of universal divinity.

Crystalline cat cities of icy towers melted away

When those crazy lizards came to earth to play

Lemewrian civilization vanished in the flood

And yet the Cat Priestesses called not for blood.

The Disco Reptilians for all their rage and might

Could not extinguish that feline inner light:

Each act of hate was by boundless love repaid.

And so the lizard fury did falter and did fade.

Mighty Cats from outer space may no more yet be

But in the humble housecat echoes their legacy

No more clever being than a cat roams this earth

In her meditative mind she is certain of her worth.

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

When your cat does purr purr and purr

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

Hark ye unto her timeless wisdom pure!

Kittoliths grow up to be Catoliths

Refurbished Catoliths with new bases and “KISS” (Kittolith Interactive Sound System) adapted to the Catolith

It’s only natural that cats should have kittens, and plastic cat statues should therefore have their progeny too. The Coven of Catoliths gave birth to a Litter of Kittoliths.

After 5 years of design and production I feel that the Catolith is at last nearing its potential. The newly refurbished Catoliths that were just installed at KALW with their LiDAR based interactivity, battery operation, independent control via Raspberry Pi computer, and lighter more mobile wooden base actually exceed what I imagined for this artwork 5 years ago.

Below is a table showing the progression of techniques from one iteration of Cathenge to the next.

The Vision of Cathenge

From the beginning, the vision of Cathenge and of the Catolith Cat Statue has been exceedingly difficult to realize because it combines lighting effects and interactivity in very specific ways and is dependent on the large format 3D printing to achieve. However, each installation of Cathenge succeeded in communicating this vision in different ways, but never completely to my satisfaction, and that’s why I have continued working on the project.

The goal has been to express the concept of “Holofelinity: Universal Cat Consciousness”. Holofelinity is the magical power of the Ancient Lyran Space Cats to manifest their minds over matter and to transform themselves into any shape. This is expressed in the artwork as “Harmonic Purring” (AKA; “Purrbration of Holofelinity”), an evocation of the capacity of the Space Cats to purr their visions into material form.

Ancient Lyran Space Cat materialized as Bastet idol levitating pyramid using chromatic spectra of the Purrbration of Holofelinity.

The Kittolith

In order to reach this goal, it was instrumental to create a smaller version of the Catolith, the “Kittolith”:

The Kittolith at Miami Art Week

Because the Kittolith presents as a single statue instead of a circle of statues (as in Cathenge) it has been necessary to condense the interactive harmonic purring system into one sculpture. This has been done using LiDAR. People interact with the LiDAR beam extending from the collar of the Kittolith and trigger different frequencies (“Solfeggio Tones”). The infographic below shows how the Kittolith works with the use of Solfeggio sound healing tones:

From Kittolith to Catolith

The “Kittolith Interactive Sound System” (KISS) was adapted for use in the Catolith. The photo gallery below documents our process of creating the New Catolith. Essential to this process was the design and construction of a new wooden base for the Catolith.

CAD drawing of wooden Catolith base

This new, lighter base not only facilitates a wider range of possibilities of exhibitions because of its much reduced weight (compared to the previous concrete bases), but also resolves acoustic issues since the wooden base acts as a ported speaker cabinet for the subwoofer installed in the base. Below is a gallery of photos of the new Catolith and its new base under construction:

Opening Tues. June 11th: The Catoliths at KALW Studio Gallery!!

Group Show featuring:

Exhibition Opening and Live Broadcast Panel discussion with the artists moderated by Ben Trefny:

5 – 7 PM (doors open at 5, discussion at 6)
Tuesday, June 11th
KALW
220 Montgomery St., SF, CA 94104
Admission free – All ages

The exhibition will be up through August 1st 2024.

(Eventbrite link at bottom of page to reserve free tix)

Public broadcasting station, KALW, recently moved their radio station’s studios to the heart of San Francisco’s financial district where they reside in the ground floor lobby of the historic Mills Building located at 220 Montgomery (Montgomery and Bush). The spacious lobby provides a new and exciting arts and events space. KALW executive director, Ben Trefny, is curating a series of art exhibits in the lobby.

The KALW lobby space features large storefront windows looking out on busy Montgomery St. which are a perfect place to perch the Catoliths. Two Catoliths will be placed, one in each large window, on either side of the entrance to the radio station where they will be seen by motorists and pedestrians alike, and, of course, by visitors to the station. These Catoliths will feature their hallmark interactive purring (Purrbration of Holofelinity).

Cathenge by David Normal
Infinity Box by Matt Elson
Sculpture by Brenden Darby
Painting by Jesse Pemberton

The Space Cat Sessions – Handbills for 13 part Multimedia Presentation Series at Cathenge Patricia’s Green

From May through October of 2023 I presented at the Cathenge Cat Temple installation at Hayes Valley, San Francisco, a bi-weekly series of “Space Cat Sessions” that were multi-media story-telling presentations, PowerPoint Presentations using hundreds of images, recounting the Saga of the Lyran Space Cats, the “Space Cat Odyssey” of the “Cathenge Mythos”.

The Space Cat Odyssey is a tale of how the Space Cats lost their Love Planet of Lemewria in a catastrophic conflagration with the Dreaded Disco-Reptilians, how they transubstantiated to Planet Earth in the height of the Ice Age, and how eventually the Space Cats created humankind as pro-wrestling species for their feline amusement.

These events sometimes featured live music and dancing, and were always opened with the recitation of the “Space Cat Ballad” , and concluded with a supplementary talk on the making of Cathenge.

Space Cat Session Flyers: for Cathenge at Patricia’s Green Event Series:

Space Cat Session II – Thursday May 25th 2023

On Thursday, May 25th at 9PM join us for the second installment of the “Space Cat Session Series” at Cathenge at Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley. Within the uniquely cosmic ambience of David Normal’s Cathenge Cat Temple art installation we’ll continue to explore the mysteries of the Cathenge Mythos – the epic tale 0f the Space Cats and their journey through the cosmos. In this second session we’ll focus in greater depth on the sacred order of the Cat Priestesshood of Pussiopolis and their rituals of Holofelinity – Universal Cat Consciousness.

Facebook Event Page:

https://fb.me/e/UAuzOE0x

The “Space Cat Sessions” at Cathenge! Starting May 11th

Space Cat Sessions is an on site multimedia slideshow presentation of the Cathenge Mythos by David Normal with musical accompaniment by Xxhe (Ręal Varnes) at the Cathenge installation.  Patricia’s Green, Hayes Valley, San Francisco

Bi-weekly series every Thursday evening at 9 PM 

Starting May 11th, 2023.

Dates:

  1. Thurs. May 11th 9PM
  2. Thurs. May 25th 9PM
  3. Thurs. Jun 8th 9PM
  4. Thurs. Jun 22nd 9PM
  5. Thurs. Jul 6th 9PM
  6. Thurs. Jul 20th 9PM
  7. Thurs. Aug 3rd 9PM
  8. Thurs. Aug 17th 9PM
  9. Thurs. Aug 31st 9PM
  10. Thurs. Sep 14th 9PM
  11. Thurs. Sep 28th 9PM
  12. Thurs. Oct 12th 9PM
  13. Thurs. Oct 26th 9PM

Cathenge Mythos Talk – the Saga of the Space Cats, our Feline Overlords 

Lecture by David Normal (Creator of Cathenge Cat Temple)

45 min power point presentation +Q&A

The Cathenge Mythos is the saga of the Lyran Space Cats, our ancient extraterrestrial feline overlords and the true creators of the human race.  Learn how the Lyran Space Cats came to Earth at the height of the Ice Age, and of their awesome cosmic powers, and the lost secrets of how the Egyptian Pyramids were really built.  

In this fast-paced and densely information packed Power Point Presentation, Artist and Researcher, David Normal (Creator of the Cathenge Cat Temple), will reveal the results of years of esoteric research into the history of the Extraterrestrial Space Cats from the Lyran star system.

Topics Covered:

  • Feline Life in the Ancient Cat Civilization on Planet Lemewria orbiting the Pole Star Vega
  • Holofelinity:  Universal Cat Consciousness
  • Cat Goddesses of the Lyran Religion
  • The Cat Priestesshood of Pussiopolis
  • Lyran Cat People and the interstellar “Starseed” races.
  • The “Disco-Lyran Wars” between Lyran Cat People and Disco Reptilians
  • “Pizzazium” and recreational transubstantiation among mystic felines
  • How and why cats shoot lasers from their eyes
  • The Orb of Holofelinity and its destruction
  • Origins of the Catolith – Sacred Symbol of Holofelinity
  • Arrival of Lyrans on Planet Earth
  • Catlantis and New Lemewria – Ice Age Cat Civilizations
  • Pro-wrestling and the creation of the human race
  • Pursuit to Earth by the Disco Reptilians
  • The Great Cat Mau, the Yonger Dryass and the Legends of the Deluge
  • Enki, Thoth,  Quetzalcoatl and the Feline Teachers of Civilization
  • “Annunaki”  – The Draconian Heresy and the enslavement of mankind
  • The departure of the Cat People from Planet Earth
  • Sekhmet, Bastet, Tefnut – Secrets of the Egyptian Cat Goddesses
  • Holofelinity and the Housecat
  • Kitty Kundalini – reclaiming the Nine Cat Chakras
  • Cathenge and modern Cat Worship in the 21st Century

Join the Cat Priestesshood of Pussiopolis!!!

What is a Cat Priestess?

In olden days of yore, the back pages of comic books sold miracles, panaceas, and all the wondrous novelties of the world for pennies on the dollar. Mail your allowance off to a mysterious far away post office box and you too could have x-ray vision, rippling muscles of steel, and/or a sea monkey kingdom. Ah, nostalgia! Yet, all is not lost – modern technology has not completely robbed us of our sense of innocent wonder.

So it is that you have arrived at this humble and obscure webpage that promises you the Infinite Universe!
Yes, you! You too can become a CAT PRIESTESS OF PUSSIOPOLIS!

  • Explore and Expand in Holofelinity (Universal Cat Consciousness).
  • Wear Sacred Cat Ears, Collars, Claws and other Sexy Fashions for Cat Priestesses.
  • Express the Divine Feminine surging forth from the Ancient Past into the Present.
  • Champion and Nurture Real Cats both Wild and Domestic Everywhere.
  • Venerate Cathenge the Cat Temple with Beautiful Rites and Dances.
  • Channel the Galactic Wisdom of Lyran Space Cats, our Alien Feline Creators.
  • Discover your 9 Cat Chakras and attain Mental Mastery over Time and Space.
  • Be the first Cat Priestess on Your Block!!!

SPECIAL LIMITED TIME OFFER!

Participate in the Cat Priestess Fashion Show at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Cathenge at Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. Friday, Dec. 02, 2022 and instantly become a registered, official Cat Priestess of the Cat Priestesshood of Pussiopolis – that most venerable (yet excruciatingly hip) of sacerdotal institutions with a lineage beyond the Ice Age and over light years to other star systems in alien dimensions.

When you join the Cat Priestesshood you get:

  • Bragging Rights
  • Hand Lettered Certificate of Authenticity
  • Pussiopolis Membership Card
  • Cat Priestess Profile Page on cathenge.net
  • Sacred Cat Ears
  • Magical Holofelinity Power Collar of Pizzazzium
  • Cat Priestess Stickers
  • Coupons for Advanced Courses in the Mystic Arts of Holofelinity

Interested? Well, what are you waiting for?!

Contact: Holofelinity(at)Gmail

Send a letter of inquiry – feel free to ask any questions.

BECOME A CAT PRIESTESS AND SAVE THE UNIVERSE!!!

Cathenge Ribbon Cutting Reception – Dec. 2nd 2022, Patricia’s Green, Hayes Valley, SF

Save the date! Upcoming event: Official Reception for Cathenge! Gala Reception!

Cathenge Cat Temple

Experience the Wondrous Resonance and Healing Power of Holofelinity, the Universal Cat Consciousness!!!

Free Public Event. All Ages.

Event begins at 6 PM

Cathenge Reception Facebook Event Page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/834655101052475

Art reception and “ribbon cutting ceremony” for “Cathenge” interactive public art installation. a 3D printed interactive “Space Cat Shrine” newly installed at Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley.
This is an evening to celebrate the completion of the immersive “Cathenge” project by David Normal. Come and experience Cathenge, a 3D printed light and sound sculpture, and meet the artist and his team. Reception to include added attractions and entertainments – all for the higher purrr-pose of welcoming the Ancient Space Cats into this dimension at Hayes Valley, San Francisco.
This is an official dedication from the San Francisco Arts Commission, with tactical support from Burning Man Foundation, and vital sustenance from the Institute of Crazyology.
This event will be held in conjunction with the “Hayes Valley Holiday Stroll” presented by the Hayes Valley Merchants Association and the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association.

Music:
~MISSION DELIRIUM~ 9:00 PM
~Curious Planet Jazz Band~ 8:00 PM
~DR. HAL ROBINS, HOST & EMCEE~
Performances:
~Cat Priestess Fashion Show~
~Dr. Paul Koudounaris, PhD, Feline Historian~
Attractions:
~Rocker of Abundance Installation and Performance by Dawn Jian~
~KrOB Video~
Dedication:
~Ribbon Cutting Ceremony~
~Jill Manton of SF Arts Commission~
~Katie Hazard of Burning Man Project~
~Hayes Valley Merchants and Neighborhood Associations~
~Artist Statement by David Normal~