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Long ago, a white cat lived in the house of Princess Maizie, daughter of the earth goddess Fáelánach. Every morning, the cat lapped from a bowl of milk drawn from the earth’s breast. But peace is a fragile vessel, easily destroyed by hands that desire too much. And so it was that a malevolent spirit intent on disrupting the world’s harmony, slipped venom into the milk. The venom was thin as breath, blue as a child’s vein. The poison soured the cat’s mind, and in his madness, he wreaked havoc and started smoking.

Maizie, poor girl, did not understand. She did not hear the hiss of poison in the milk. She saw only her beloved cat—once gentle and pure—now monstrous. His soft body had become cruel, thin, and dangerous, his mouth full of teeth that no longer fit. In terror, she cast him into hell, hoping to rid herself of this unthinkable nightmare.

But the cat was unlike any other in the underworld. His heart was too pure. The flames, unable to burn him, watched as he wandered the inferno unscathed, smoking his eternal cigarette. In time, even the Devil, for all his wickedness, grew fond of him—this unburnable thing, this cat too stubborn to suffer. The Devil saw his virtue and granted him one wish.

“Take me back,” said the cat. “To Maizie. To show her the truth, to reveal the poison hidden in the milk that had destroyed the world’s harmony.”

The Devil granted his wish and ordered the flames to take the cat back, but when the flames reached heaven, the gates would not allow them to pass. The flames, spurned, opened their grip and let him fall back to Earth—not as he once was, but as something between worlds.

Too pure for hell, too flawed for heaven, the Bilo Xat was sentenced to spend an eternity on Earth, trailing the embers of the underworld and smoking his heavenly cigarette, possessed with the power of both realms.

The Bilo Xat does not wander idly. He is said to appear in times of true despair, when a person’s fate hangs in the balance. His power, both gift and burden, drives him to prevent others from sharing his burden. To some, he is a trickster, leading them deeper into their folly. To others, a guide, revealing unseen paths. With each puff, he bestows either a blessing or a curse. But he is not a judge, nor a savior. He does not change a man’s destiny—he simply reveals it. For in the end, it is not the Bilo Xat who determines one’s fate—but the purity of one’s deepest desires.

— Óskar Drahar-Óstrik, The Gaelzon Codex, 1924.

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35mm Photography.
1988 - 1993.
Artist unknown.