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imagery
Bear journey
Psychospiritual Approaches
definition
Bear is one of the oldest recorded totemic beings. Many indigenous cultures had myths and customs that show a great respect for Bear. There are ancient legends that speak of a time when people shared caves with their bear relatives.
Bear is the guardian of the heart chakra of the Earth. The journey that Bear brings to the Cauldron will help increase your awareness of our planet as a living entity. Even those of you who understand the theory of Earth as a living being may have not felt it in your bodies, hearts, and bones. Helping you experience this is Bear's primary function in the following Cauldron journey.
Once you have felt through every cell of your being the heartbeat of Mother Earth, you will never again be without awareness of the rhythm that connects you to all things. Your emotional body can receive great healing through the recognition of your resonance, your link with that pulse. Allow it to become a part of your being. Never again must you feel alone or apart from the Mother. Through awareness of this pulse, you can begin to grasp the meaning of time, the inhaling and exhaling of breath like the waves of the ocean, the tides of the earth. It's like putting your head on the breast of one you love. Bear helps you to experience that deep connection.
Some entities can teach you specifically about healing. Thoth is good for that, because understanding and knowledge naturally result in healing. Bear is another. She is an especially helpful ally because she is familiar with the ways of herbs, and of crystals that are found deep within the caves where she makes her home.
Bear assists me in my teaching and healing work. Her deft claws can be used to carry out diseased tissue, and have performed meticulous psychic surgery when we work as a healing team. She often brews potions from her herbal storehouse to alleviate pain or, in some cases, restore memory so that people can find the causes for their illnesses.
Bear, as a totem, offers nurturing, strength, protection and wisdom.
Children, and your inner child, will also appreciate playing with bear. She loves to work with children. I have introduced my bear friend to children as young as four who appreciate bears as both companions and teachers. Sometimes having a bear friend can alleviate fear of the dark and sleeping alone.
My bear friend is called Eawokka. Her name means Bear of the Night Stars. Although she is an old grandmother cinnamon grizzly, each person who journeys to visit Eawokka will get the kind of bear that is appropriate for the moment.
To visit Bear through the Cauldron, you must travel into the cold, dark realms of ice and crystals. This journey takes you to a place where you can see and learn about auras similar to the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis, which is the Earth's aura.
With Bear, you can travel to the dark regions where people are most afraid to go. You can learn about and work with crystals here, as there are many crystals in her cave that have never been seen or used by humans, as well as clear quartz and other familiar stones.
If you feel the desire to do lots of work with Bear you may wish to get a small carved bear fetish, or a picture to help your conscious mind have more of a direct link to bears.
Pay attention to Bear when she appears in your dreams, and listen to the message she brings. Bears are always working in the dreamtime, especially during hibernation when they are doing their trance work. If you dream of a bear, it is time to take this journey.
The first time you visit Eawokka is an introduction. You will have an opportunity to get a sense of the possibilities of Bear as ally and Teacher, so that when you return you can bring specific questions. When working with Bear plan lengthy visits, for she has a lot to share and is willing to spend quite a long time.
A very slow, steady drumbeat is helpful. You may wish to have someone drum for you or make a drum tape to accompany you with this journey.
Place your bare feet in the dirt whenever possible, to help you feel for the rhythm of the Earth.
Bear Journey
Proceed with the alchemy. . . .
Thoth points the way toward the home of the Bear, in the dark, cold realms to the North. You find yourself on a well-trodden path in a distant land of ice and crystals, a mountainous terrain. The path is part way up the side of a river valley and winds around a hill, terminating at the mouth of her cave. Pause and listen. . . . You can hear Eawokka inside. She is moving in a rocking motion back and forth, side to side, drumming, boom.. boom.. boom.., to put you in touch with the heartbeat of Gaia, Mother Earth. Listen... Allow yourself to come into resonance with the pulse of the Mother. . . . Feel it in your cells and in your bones. . . . Feel it through your feet. . . . Long pause
When you feel the pulse throughout your whole being, call out the name of Eawokka three times, and she will amble out of her cave to greet you. . . . Greet each other. . . .
Notice the medallion Eawokka wears around her neck. She might let you climb on her back and hold the strap of the medallion like reins, or you may walk with her as she leads you to a pristine lake not far from her cave. She may nudge you a little to get you to jump into the icy cold water. The shocking sensation you feel when you immerse yourself stimulates a very deep level of your being. Although you are back out of the water in an instant, the effect lingers, and you have received a powerful purification.
Eawokka now takes you on a journey to begin to set the perimeters of your relationship. She may take you into the forest to gather herbs, or she may invite you into her home for tea and to share with you her crystals and the knowledge of how to use them. Bear also knows the gateways to the stars. Allow her to connect with you in the deep and profound way that is especially available for you with Bear at this time. . . . Long pause to complete this experience. . . .
Eawokka takes you back to a very deep part of her cave where the roof is full of crystals that are growing naturally. It is damp and cold and water is dripping from the ceiling. Often she will take a crystal from the ceiling and give it to you to work with on your own healing process.
You may wish to give her a gift to help sustain her in her work. . . .
When your time is complete, follow the path back to where Thoth awaits to spend some time with you, sharing this experience. . . .
Thoth will assist you back into your body. Be sure to ground and center. . . .
(Scully)
Reprinted with permission from the author, Nicki Scully, and the publisher, Bear and Co., from The Golden Cauldron, Bear and Co., Boulder, CO., 1991.
Visit www.shamanicjourneys.com for more information.
uses: connection to heart and Mother Earth
see the following imagery for heart conditions:
discover hidden truth: through heart (Chavez)
eraser: positive thinking (Bry, p. 78)
from root to leaf: arrhythmia (Chavez)
gold journey: heart journey, arrhythmia (Scully)
handwarming: vasospasm (Korn, p. 127)
heart bruise: psychic surgery (Chavez)
honey bear: psychic surgery; tissue repair (Chavez)
Kuan Yin journey: compassion (Scully)
light fingers: psychic surgery (Chavez)
Mut and Crone journey: healing intuition and wisdom (Scully)
rainbow butterfly journey: self-esteem (Scully)
Red-gold lamp: atherosclerosis (Chavez)
the shield: arrhythmia (Chavez)
silver bell: arrhythmia (Chavez)
sun's entry: general cleansing; psychic surgery (Chavez)
universal heart: psychic surgery (Chavez)
whirling breath of life: cleansing, psychic surgery (Chavez)
footnotes