Totem Tuesday: Bear Medicine

Bear Medicine

by Felina Lune Kavi

“When you are where wild bears live, you learn to pay attention to the rhythm of the land and yourself. Bears not only make the habitat rich, they enrich us just by being.”  ― Linda Jo Hunter, Lonesome for Bears: A Woman's Journey in the Tracks of the Wilderness

Keywords:  Strength, Healing, Dreams, Determination, Leadership, Protection, Courage, Self-confidence, Feminine Power, Warrior Spirit, Shamanism, Introspection, Solitude, Boundaries

Bear has played an important role in many Native traditions.  It is said that the power of Great Spirit lives through the Bear.  In honoring them, two of the most well-known constellations are named after this animal, Ursa Major and her cub Ursa Minor.  Because of their ability to walk short distances on their hind legs, some Native Americans have called them ‘the beast that walks like a man’.  Some tribes even felt Bear was too powerful a medicine and would only hunt them if it meant not starving.  In Siberia, the name used to designate shaman women is the same as the word used for Bear.  This totem is also connected to shamanism and women in Inuit traditions.

As the largest carnivorous/omnivorous land mammal (the record being held by the giant short-faced bear, now extinct for about 12,000 years, which was twice the size of the biggest modern bear), these powerful beasts can live as long as 30 years in the wild if they make it past the first few years.  The Mother Bear is a fierce protector of her young and will even fight off males looking to mate to avoid them killing her cubs.  People with this totem are also nurturing and protective of what is theirs.  They have the courage to stand up to adversity and project an inner strength that inspires respect.  These people usually have a strong link to their mother and/or a deep respect for the role of the mother and her importance in their family as well as others.  This totem teaches the depths of feminine power, whether the person is male or female.

Unlike some animals which are most active during specific times of the day, Bear is up both day and night (unless they are hibernating, of course).  Because of this, they embody both solar energy (power) and lunar energy (intuition).  People with this totem learn to harness and balance both within themselves.

Though not all bears hibernate, most do.  Even those that don’t (such as the Polar Bear) will go for long periods of time without eating, living off the fat they have accumulated during the months when food is abundant and easy to find.  Because of their association with hibernation, the Bear Totem teaches the medicine of introspection and dreams.  People with this totem learn how to go within and find the resources necessary for personal survival.  Their cycle of power is often in the spring and summer.  During the colder months, they may give birth to new ideas or projects that will take root in the spring.  For those with Polar Bear as their totem, however, the winter months may be their time for activity while they reserve their energy when the weather is warm.  

When bears hibernate, they do not defecate.  Their bodies can somehow recycle body waste into protein…a process that scientists still don’t understand.  Being able to live off their own fat for long periods of time and convert even their waste into energy, Bear teaches both endurance through tough times and also the ability to put energy toward things that are useful and guard it from things that might unnecessarily drain them.  

Bear people are often introverts who prefer to take time out in the comfort of their own space after being very active or being around others.  These moments of solitude and introspection provide a necessary recharge before more activity.  Because of this, some people with Bear as their totem may feel like their time is delineated by work and sleep cycles…eating what they can, when they can, to keep themselves going.  

Bear also reminds us to make time to play and practice other useful and enjoyable pursuits.  Bear is a good teacher for empaths, who often find themselves drained by the emotions of others.  Bear can help to protect against energetic imbalances that often manifest in mental, emotional, and physical ways. Bear’s strength is in protection through keeping energetic boundaries guarded.

Bear is smart and an expert at survival.  They have been known to roll rocks into bear traps to set them off and eat the bait after.  They are also very good at climbing, whether it be on trees, mountains, or rough terrain.  

Most bears (though not the Polar Bear, who is carnivorous) love honey and people with this totem are often drawn to people with Bee totems.  Honey indicates a taste for the sweetness of life, and Bear people know where to find it.  Many bears are good at digging…often for their food.  This represents the ability to dig for knowledge and truth in people who have this totem.  

Elders often teach the young bears the most efficient methods of survival…from the Mother teaching her cubs the best ways to find and acquire food to the males sparring against each other in preparation for the battles that ensue during mating season.  Bear people are great teachers, and also students.  They often prefer to learn by observing and doing, rather than listening to an explanation.  They would much rather be hands-on.

Unlike many mammals, bears can see in color.  They see almost as well as humans and can hear a little better.  However, their sense of smell is around 100 times greater than a human’s.  Polar Bears, for example, can track down an odor from 20 miles away and smell a dead seal through 3 feet of solid ice.  People with this totem may find they have a strong sense of smell.  Even figuratively, they may often sniff out situations to determine if it ‘smells’ right.  In keeping with their keen powers of detection, a group of bears is called a 'sleuth'. 

All bears are good swimmers, though the polar bear is the most efficient.  It can swim up to 6 mph for 100 miles, though one has been recorded to swim 200 miles without stopping.  Because of their association with being able to transition between land and water, Bear medicine awakens the power of the unconscious and teaches how to navigate between realms.  This is another connection with the shaman, who learns to navigate between ordinary and non-ordinary reality.

If Bear is one of your totems, these and many other lessons will be prevalent in your life.  Bear will urge you to refine your mastery of this medicine.  If you see a bear, but it is not one of your totems, respect it as a messenger for that time.  You may need its medicine for what is happening then or what is coming up in the near future.  It may be that you need to take some time out to recharge, or to look within to find the solution to something, or even that your own healing abilities are awakening to encourage you to step into the role of healer.  Whatever it may be, communication with this totem is often linked to dreams and the shamanic state of consciousness, so a shamanic journey or a deep sleep may unlock the power of this medicine.