We fear what we don’t know. Especially if it is powerful.
The bear is a perfect example. Would it surprise you to know that the bear is considered a sacred animal in many cultures around the world? But more than just sacred, the bear almost universally was thought to have great healing powers. Healing powers that in some cultures were thought to be taught to humans by the bear. How would that be? What would put that notion into people’s heads? That a massive creature not known for delicateness or much compassion would be thought to be a healer and impart healing knowledge seems odd. It would be one thing if this notion were just in a small part of the world, or maybe even just on one continent. But the fact that this belief is prevalent around the world is cause to stop and take notice.
You will hear me talk about “medicine” that creatures or objects have to share. This is based on teachings I have received from the world around me as well as teachings from my Native American friends. Anytime we want to access the “medicine” or gift something has to impart to others, we need to study its special strengths, characteristics, or attributes. For the bear, the first thing I think of is how it hibernates to conserve energy and its need for warmth in the winter. Someone stumbling upon a hibernating bear in the winter might well think it was dead, so slow is its breathing and heart rate (and how cool it would feel to the touch). Discovering that this same bear was alive and walking around the next summer would be surprising. One could easily deduce that the bear had very powerful medicine from just this. Another remarkable attribute of bears is that they are able to walk upright on two legs. Something few other animals on this planet are able to do, like us.
In the winter when there is less food to be found, bears, because of hibernating, do not pose as much competition to us as other predators. Their absence from the food chain in winters had to feel like a blessing to hunter/gatherers who usually competed for the same foods. Bears are also associated with trees. Humans are considered walking trees by the South American Quechua people.
For the Geto—Dacians (Romanian ancestors) the bear was considered to be a sacred creature with healing powers. They were also associated with the seasons, especially fall and spring. The Romanian word for bear is Urs which you may recognize in the name Ursa Major or great bear (also known as the big dipper).
This was particularly powerful information for me because first, my father was a Yugoslavian Gypsy (according to my mother). Why according to her? Because my Papa died when I was too young to have learned anything about him or our (his) culture from him. This has caused me to feel like an orphan culturally. And it has not been easy finding information about that culture (until, apparently now … ).
The second reason this is so powerful for me is that I was born with the big dipper “tattooed” on my arm in freckles. Yep, seven freckles on my forearm in the shape of Ursa major. And if that wasn’t enough, I conducted my first very unexpected healing when I was nine (with a horse!).
As though, perhaps I had been marked with the sign of a healer from birth! Wild!
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Lia