March 10, 2012: Bear, Druid Animal OracleToday our draw didn't want to be a Tarot card, but is from the Druid Animal Oracle, and shows us the questing Bear. So, what is S/he seeking?
Bears are rarely represented in Celtic art, except in connection with burial goods. The Bear seems to have been considered a protective spirit in the Otherworld realms of dreams and death. The Celtic goddess Brighid was sometimes styled "Daughter of the Bear", as her spring festival of Imbolc follows the rising of the star Arcturus as seen from the Celtic realms. Bear protects travelers on the road to wisdom. She withdraws from the living world into hibernation, seeking stillness in the dreaming world of the deep unconscious. She keeps herself to herself, and walks in silence.
When Bear appears in your cards, she may be advising you that you need a period of withdrawal from a situation in order to reorder your thoughts, to rest and heal and to find your balance and harmony. The greatest spiritual growth occurs during the blackest and most frightening times of our lives. Only then do we truly become aware of the infinite possibilities that lie within us. When logical thoughts provide no answers, the path of inner knowing is illuminated. The lesson of Bear is that strength comes from within---not from what you own, what you wear, what you say or even what people think of you. So..maybe the situation at hand is a Bear. But you are able to deal with it.
