Totem Spirit - Bear

Updated June2013-playing with the High Pass filter in Photoshop

The Bear totem is a strong spirit and its magical properties are one of the most influential of all animal totems.

The power of the Bear totem is the power of introspection.
The answers to all our questions lie quietly within us.
 Bear makes lonely periods of life far easier so that periods of isolation can become valuable time to gain deep insights.

The bear spirit guide helps to heal mental, physical and spiritual wounds with intuition and self-assured courage. He guides you to be fearless in defending your beliefs.

Bear is honoured and respected by spiritualists the world over and is known to American Indian tribes and their Shamans as “Keeper of Medicine” because bears keep all the ancient healing secrets of the Indians and the spirits of the Earth.

Bear has links to the seven colour rays of light as well as the moon and female energies. Bear hibernates to reconnect with the earth each year, emerging in spring with answers to spiritual dilemmas and with an awakening to new opportunities.

The wisdom to know when to speak, higher self-esteem, balance, harmony and strength are all part of the noble bear’s totem magic.

Entered in the contest "Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales" held by

UPDATE 9th July 2012
Wow I won...cool beans

THE MYTH OF URSA MAJOR-THE GREAT BEAR
A Native American Blackfoot Legend

Once there was a young woman with many suitors; but she refused to marry. She had seven brothers and one little sister. The brothers were all grown up except for one brother and one sister, who were small children. Their mother had been dead many years and they lived alone with their father.

Every day the six elder brothers went out hunting with their father. It seems that the young woman had a bear for her lover and, as she did not want any one to know this, she would meet him when she went out collecting wood. As soon as she was out of sight in the brush, she would run to the place where the bear lived.

One day, the little sister followed and saw the young woman meet the bear and saw that they were lovers.

She told her father who was very unhappy and with the help from other men in the tribe, they chased and slew the bear. Then, the girl herself changed into a bear and attacked her father and other members of the tribe, killing everyone but her youngest brother and sister who had hidden in their wigwam. The little brother possessed magic and was able to make it so their bear could not enter their home. The bear-woman however vowed to get them.

One day the youngest brother and sister snuck down to the river to fetch some water where they met up with the six older brothers returning from their hunt. When told everything that had happened, they assured their little sister that they knew of a way for them all to escape. They collected up a large number of prickly pears and told her to go home and scatter the pears all around the wigwam, leaving only a very narrow path along which she could find her way out.

Late that night, the youngest sister and little brother crept out of the tent following the tiny path until they reached the spot where their older brothers waited for them. But the bear-woman had heard them go and she rushed after them and suddenly became caught amongst the prickly pears. Bear-woman howled with pain and anger but, being a powerful medicine woman, quickly transformed herself into a bear so that she could run right through the prickly pears after her siblings.

The little brother saw her coming and used his magic to sprinkle water on the ground. A great lake rose up between them and the bear, but while the children continued to escape, the bear woman went around it.

After a while bear woman caught up with them again, so another brother threw a porcupine-tail (a hairbrush) on the ground. This became a great thicket; but the bear forced its way through, and again overtook the family.

Finally the siblings all climbed a high tree. The bear came to the foot of the tree, and, looking up at them, said, "Now I shall kill you all."

The bear climbed the tree herself and quickly dragged four of her victims down. The youngest brother called on his strongest magic and one by one shot eight arrows into the sky. With each shot one of the siblings soared into the sky where they became stars.

Today if you look at the stars, they form what is known as The Big Dipper, an asterism that makes up part of the constellation of Ursa Major, The Great Bear. The four stars that make up the bowl are the four siblings that bear woman was dragging down the tree. The three in the handle are those still hanging in the branches and the bright North Star is the powerful youngest brother who rescued them all.

Adapted from the First People website www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Leg…

CREDITS

Purchased stock
Bear Dreamstime www.dreamstime.com
Model Fotolia www.fotolia.com

DeviantArt stock
Thank you for sharing
Undead_Wings fav.me/d21kdvt
Woods StarsColdNight.deviantart.com/…

The rest has been painted using my Wacom Intuos 4 in Photoshop CS5.5


FROM MY TAROT and TOTEM SERIES



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