Theodosia’s Attempt to Cure Isis

Theodosia’s Attempt to Cure Isis unfolds in two stages: a curse-removal spell that goes wrong, followed by a homemade amulet ritual intended to restore the cat. The failed first attempt turns the statuette’s curse into a crisis involving Isis herself; the second shows Theodosia adapting her methods when books offer no reliable solution. Neither the outcome of the amulet nor Isis’s recovery is confirmed in the episode’s closing moments.

The First Ritual and Its Reversal

Theodosia begins by preparing a small wax figurine as the intended destination for the curse. She shapes the wax into a rough, catlike form and carves hieroglyphs into its base. Her supplies also include claret taken from her father’s library decanter and rue, an herb she keeps for magical work and associates with warding off evil spirits and countering curse-related afflictions. Her limited pocket money makes the materials a practical concern as well as part of the ritual’s preparation.

For the removal attempt, Theodosia grinds the rue in a mortar, mixes it with the claret, and draws a wedjat eye on each palm with a pencil stub. She removes her gloves, then uses a clean rag to apply the mixture to the cursed statue, taking care not to touch it directly. Her books have taught her that a spell depends not only on its ingredients but also on the wording, tone, and manner of delivery. As she chants, the statue vibrates and the hieroglyphs rise to its surface; the symbols recede wherever the potion touches them. The apparent progress gives her reason to continue.

Once the potion is exhausted, the hieroglyphs have shrunk to half their original size. They then detach from the statue and hover above it, while Theodosia holds out her protected hands. Her plan is for the curse to leave the statue, enter the wax figurine, and be destroyed when she burns the figure. Instead, when Isis interrupts at the words of the spell directed at a cat, Theodosia looks down and briefly breaks her focus. The symbols stream toward Isis and settle on her fur. Theodosia recognizes that the intended transfer has failed: the cat is now under the curse, and she cannot safely turn away to consult her book for help.

Designing a Different Remedy

Theodosia later decides that Isis needs protection rather than another attempt simply to draw the curse away. Her first idea is to make an amulet for the cat, hoping that its protective effect will lessen the curse. She searches Erasmus Bramwell’s book on funerary magic, mummies, and curses, but finds instructions on cat mummification and mourning rather than guidance on exorcising a cursed cat. Research, normally a resource she can rely on, leaves her without a precedent; she must devise a treatment herself.

Her plan is to draw on what she understands as Isis’s regenerative nature, purify her, protect her from the evil affecting her, and remind her of her original personality. The recipe she records calls for a square of white linen, a burned willow stick, a hippopotamus tusk carved with magical symbols, and twenty-six threads: twelve white for purity, eight green for growth, and six red for rebirth. The tusk is borrowed from the Egyptian Magic collection at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities. She also prepares a tooth, a fishbone, catnip, a needle, and water for the construction and ceremony.

Theodosia draws a wedjat eye on the linen with the charred end of the willow stick, intending it to provide the healing power of Horus and the protection of the Eye of Ra. She puts the tusk, fishbone, and catnip inside, pricks her finger, and adds one drop of blood. After folding the linen into a small pouch, she plaits the twenty-six threads into a collar and threads it through the pouch so it can be fastened around Isis’s neck. The amulet is thus both a crafted object and one part of a larger treatment: the wand and water are reserved for the ceremony that follows.

The Ceremony and Its Interruption

Finding Isis becomes the next problem. Theodosia waits until lunchtime, when she thinks the cat may be looking for food, and sets out liverwurst, cheddar, and boiled egg in the foyer beneath the balcony Isis likes to launch herself from. As she arranges the bait, Isis rushes past and takes the food. Theodosia catches her before she can finish, then carries her to her study. The episode makes the planned ritual depend on an awkward practical task: the amulet must be fastened to a resisting cat before the ceremony can be completed.

In the study, Theodosia holds Isis while trying to attach the collar. She succeeds despite the cat’s efforts to get free, ties the amulet in place, and recites a charm invoking Horus and the Eye of Ra before asking Isis to return to her former self. As Isis bolts for the door, Theodosia throws the prepared water after her as a final act of purification. The ceremony is completed in haste, without any account at this point of whether the amulet has changed the curse.

The water instead strikes Clive Fagenbush, who appears in the doorway. His questions make clear that he has heard enough to connect the bathing explanation to a purification rite. Theodosia maintains that she was giving Isis a bath, and her father arrives and sends Fagenbush away. This interruption exposes her private attempt to an adult who is already suspicious of her activities, but the exchange does not disclose the full circumstances of Isis’s condition.

Uncertain Outcome

After Fagenbush leaves, Theodosia’s father notices that her sleeve is torn and that she has scrapes on her wrist. She explains that she and Isis have had a disagreement; he calls the cat a source of trouble and urges Theodosia to come along because the family is late. The ritual therefore ends not with a witnessed cure but with Theodosia leaving the study and hoping the amulet will work while the family is away for the holidays. The evidence establishes her effort, the materials and steps she devised, and the uncertainty she carries away; it does not establish that Isis is cured.