Posted by timethief in From First Nations people we learn that animals have much to teach us as they are messengers of the Great Spirit. In their culture a Power Totem Animal is an animal symbol that is there to guide them through their entire life.
There are three other types of totems:
A Journey Totem that is with you for a period or phase of your life perhaps anywhere from a week to a year.
A Visiting Totem who comes briefly with a message for the moment.
A Shadow Totem is an animal whom you may initially fear. They represent the hidden side of yourself and will soon become your allies after certain initiations giving you the opportunity to overcome your fears.
Bear Symbolism - Strength, Introspection, Knowledge, Healing
Bears hibernate in the winter, which may explain their association with “dreaming the Great Spirit” or retrospection. The symbolism of the Bear’s cave reflects returning to the womb of Mother Earth. [A Cave is an archetype for the mind - sleep - returning to higher consciousness.This female receptive energy, for centuries has allowed visionaries, mystics, and shamans to prophesy.] This also suggests a strong feminine aspect, one of nurturing and protection. Bear cubs, born in the early spring, can spend as many as seven years with their mother before reaching maturity.
People with Bear Medicine are considered by many as self-sufficient, and would rather stand on their own two feet than rely on others. They are often considered dreamers. Many have developed the skill of visualizing new things, but as a result can get caught up in the dreaming, making little progress in waking reality.
Bear’s medicine includes introspection, healing, solitude, wisdom, change, communication with Spirit, death and rebirth, transformation, astral travel, creature of dreams, shamans and mystics.
Bear is the keeper of the dreamtime, and stores the teachings of dreams until the dreamer wakes up to them. Many tribes have called this space of inner-knowing the Dream Lodge, where the death of the illusion of physical reality overlays the expansiveness of eternity. It is in the Dream Lodge that our ancestors sit in Council and advise us regarding alternative pathways that lead to our goals.
Bear is the spirit keeper of the West which is the place of maturity and good harvest. The gifts that Bear offers to those with this totem are strength, introspection and knowledge. From this spirit keeper of the west we learn our personal truth, and find our answers that reside within. This animal will show us the path to reach our personal goals.
Bear holds the teachings of introspection and teaches you how to make choices from a position of power. Bear can help us with the ability to turn inward to access our strength and honor your nature cycles. He teaches us when it is time to act and when it is time to be still.
When Bear shows up in your life pay attention to how you think, act and interact. Use discernment in all that you do and discriminate with care.
Related blog posts:
Secret Gardens: Dreamtime Bear Cave
Evergreens a Symbol of Rebirth
Secret Gardens: Dragonfly Symbolism
Secret Gardens: Recycling Lost Life
See also: Dreaming
Bear Symbology