Kahuna – The Cat Who Didn’t Die
Introduction
I’ve never been married and never had children, but I have had cats. And when I have cats I am a doting and devoted cat mother. I treat my cats like people. When they are sick everything else is put on hold and I do whatever it takes to help them heal. When they die I want to scream and wail, but I am too afraid, because the intensity of that scream will shatter me into a million pieces and nothing will be able to put me back together again, ever.
Right now I am cat-less. And I have discovered something quite extraordinary… that even though the vet put my last cat to sleep while he lay in my arms, and three days later I carried his cold and heavy-as-stone body to the grave dug a few feet from my caravan home, he is not gone. He may have stepped out of his worn out ‘cat suit’ but he is as alive as he ever was… maybe in some strange way even more so.
Boundaries
There are two boundaries in life we’ve been taught to believe are incontrovertible fact. The first is that our skin is the boundary of each individual, whether human, feline or even insect and that the whole of us is contained within this ‘bag’. Second that we end when we die. When heart and brain function stop we exist no longer. But what if neither of these is true? What if we don’t end at our skin and death is simply a doorway to a different realm of existence?
This particular exploration begun with my darling little Schrodie – my very first cat, and developed through my love of my next cats Dilly and Rovy. But this message I received most powerfully from my cat Kahuna as he took me with him on his journey, the one we normally consider the Final One.
Fascinated
As I travel through my 60s, stepping that bit closer to explore what is on the other side fascinates me. I remember a few years ago sitting in a beautiful park on the edge of London taking myself on my own guided meditation to step over that boundary between life and death. As I imagined taking a step across that line I lost all sense of up and down, right or left and even in and out. I somersaulted amidst unknown energies until I frightened myself. I wondered if this was a sensible experience to undertake entirely alone – perhaps I would actually die – and with that I stepped back out hurriedly. It took a while before my vision stopped whirling around me and I was deeply thankful I hadn’t lost my way.
This story is my journey of exploring beyond the boundary of my skin and eventually beyond the boundary of death. I learned I didn’t need to scream and wail at my loss, I didn’t need to shatter into a million pieces and I didn’t even need to feel alone.
If you are frightened of grief, certain you’ll be lost in its turbulence and unable to endure the pain, then this is a valuable book to read. You’ll get through a number of tissues as you dive with me but I urge you to stick with it through the sadness because the message of life and love is so profound. It is a journey from grief to gratitude, from the dark of loss to the light of love and its forever connection.
Kahuna, truly a king among cats, is my extraordinary guide. Will you allow him to be yours too?
Testimonials
“Wow! I have just finished Kahuna and the depth of his message has blown me away. After facing up to the questions of my own mortality in 2017 I have allowed fear to occupy a lot of my waking hours. For the relief and shifts I have felt through tears, joy and a roller coaster of many other emotions I truly honour Kahuna. The days ahead will be much lighter and I know I can move forward with hope, filling the gap where fear resided.”
? YVONNE EVANS
“Kahuna – The Cat Who Didn’t Die appears to be for cat-lovers, but in reality is for anyone interested in what life really is and how it shows up. Francesca speaks of Kahuna stepping out of his tired and worn-out cat suit when death occurs, and just like this, humans also step out of their human-suits when their time has come. This is exactly what I experienced when my husband died, and so I was easily able to identify with the essence of Kahuna and how that showed up for this gifted author, both before death of the body and after. Buy.
“A tender and loving book, Francesca has a beautiful way with words, which brings to life the image portrayed in such a way that I often felt I was there, alongside her and Kahuna. I would recommend it to animal lovers and life-lovers alike. There are also great questions to help the reader to explore the themes more deeply.”
JANE DUNCAN ROGERS, award-winning life and death coach, founder of Before I Go Solutions, author of Before I Go – The Essential Guide to Creating a Good End of Life Plan and Gifted By Grief – A True Story of Cancer, Loss and Rebirth.
Order Kahuna – The Cat Who Didn’t Die
Kahuna – The Cat Who Didn’t Die by Francesca Cassini
First published 2019 by Silver Tent Publishing
Paperback ISBN 978-1-9996498-1-4, launched on 6 January 2019
CLICK LINK TO ORDER ON AMAZON UK
Kahuna The Cat Who Didn’t Die
CLICK LINK TO ORDER ON AMAZON USA
Kahuna The Cat Who Didn’t Die AMAZON USA
Or to order from your local Amazon shop search for Kahuna The Cat Who Didn’t Die by Francesca Cassini
Also by Francesca Cassini Together We Rock
Back to Books
Visit The Silver Tent
Pamela Collard
Hi Francesca ~ Just ordered on PayPal took me straight to one touch ordering so could not find a space to leave comment ~ Loving the fantastic review that you received from Madeleline and others, so looking forward to reading this and ~ Yes please book me in on that zoom call with yourself and Jeanette ~ Love & Hugs and Lots of Bright sparkling Blessings for 2019
Pam xXx
joy shallcross
My copy of “Kahuna, the Cat who didn’t die” arrived by post at 1 pm. Being already part-way through at least three other books, I decided that I would put it to one side and read it when I could devote more time to it. Sitting quietly on the sofa digesting after lunch, I said to myself, OK just the first few pages. And the rest is history! It was totally unputdownable. As it was my turn to cook tea I had to take a break for a couple of hours, but I returned to it as soon as the dishes were done, and had finished reading it by 8.30 – it had been in the house for less than 8 hours. In my defence, I am an avid reader, I eat books for breakfast, but never before have I felt the call to just keep on turning those pages right to the end – I’ll be totally honest here, if it hadn’t been my turn to cook tea I would have finished it even sooner. Anyhow, the point is, did I like it? No, no, no, I adored it. Francesca has a very easy way of writing, no complications, no words that I needed to look up in the dictionary (the only word I passed over was the full name of Dilly), an easy read, she is a magical story-teller – and I know the story to be true because I watched it unfold on Facebook as she was living through Kahuna’s final few months in his cat-suit. Well done Francesca, a wonderful heart-warming tail/tale. My cat Cassie was sleeping on my lap for the final hour of my reading, so when I put the book down I said to her “right, what do you want to tell me?”, she sat up, looked me in the eye as if to say “I’m not talking to you, stupid” walked off into the kitchen and stood in front of her empty food bowl!
Francesca
Oh wow Joy! I cannot begin to tell you how happy this makes me to read your experience of reading my story and Kahuna’s message!
Janet Wilson
I love the idea of your book, Kahuna looks exactly like my Cat Franklin who has died. I would love to read it on my kindle as I can do that late evening, can you please let me know when it is available on kindle.
Francesca
Hi Janet – apologies for the delay but I was waiting for news about Kindle and now here is the link and you can buy straight on to your Kindle! Please let me know what you think and I am sure Franklin will be reading with you.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NQJMS7Q
Have a magic weekend