Blacklisted: The Sacred Magic of Black Cats

In Asheville, North Carolina, House of Black Cat Magic (HOBCM) is a spiritual shop catering to the magically-inclined and spiritually pagan practitioners of the area. Blacklisted: The Sacred Magic of Black Cats takes us to this metaphysical supply store stocked with books, herbs and crystals. Visitors can sign up for a selection of classes, workshops and statuary. But this active community hub also hosts its namesake: black cats.  

Described as a “magical cat rescue,” HOBCM partners with Binx’s Home for Black Cats, a nonprofit foster-based rescue organization that oversees HOBCM’s black cat lounge. At any given time, the storefront has 12 rescued black cats in residence, ready to find their forever homes through adoption. 

What spawned this unique model? When Hannah Soboleski, Executive Director of Binx’s Home for Black Cats, learned that black cats were the most euthanized animal in U.S. shelters, she realized she had found her calling. The high abuse and euthanasia rates of black cats stem from deep stigmas – the idea that they’re evil, connected to the devil, or are witches who have taken another form to inflict harm. In the words of Star Bustamonte, co-owner of Binx’s Home for Black Cats: “Any time we don’t understand something…we’re afraid of it.”

In 2024, there were 11,000 non-live outcomes for cats entering the shelter system in North Carolina. Since 2021, Binx’s Home for Black Cats has found homes for 746 black and special needs cats otherwise facing euthanasia or abuse. Blacklisted poses the reflection: we all have sacred magic in us – what’s magical about what you’ve done? And how might you apply spiritual solutions to address the change we need to see in our world?

From the legacy of the late-medieval text Malleus Maleficarum to the intersectionality of paganism, the queer community and animal welfare, join us on an exploration into the sacred values and spiritual solutions driving change for these divine animals and being in divine connection with every being around us.