Resurrecting the She-Bear: Circumpolar Mother of Spiritual Feminism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Archaeological Approaches to Shamanism - Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017
Beginning with an early mapping of an effigy mound complex in eastern Wisconsin in June, 1994, a connection between a shaped and aligned rock, a bear effigy mound, the 18.61-year lunar maximum cycle and the ‘bear stars’ in the north was eventually confirmed with the observation of alignments and the lunar maximum moonset. All may have been part of the ancient circumpolar bear cult tradition that spread in the old world both east and west. The renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell recognized shamanism and bear cults as possibly two of the four oldest traditions transported to the New World. Along with the circumpolar distribution of the bear cult came other traditions that filtered down into the interior of North America over time. Among them were links to the moon, the number seven, left handedness and transgender associations. Women were respected members of bear cults, the celestial bear itself was said to be female. Many women were regarded as great healers with shamanistic abilities, perhaps the first people recognized as such. The rich symbolism, myth and cosmology associated with the bear lends itself to a Jungian interpretation, one that this chapter will explore.
arXiv: Popular Physics, 2013
Following previous works on ancient myths in Greek and Latin literature regarding Ursa Major, and the possible relation with the ancient shape of the constellation, we discuss further this case in the light of the evolution of Homo sapiens and the ethnographic records of populations of Eurasia and North America.
Bears and Meanings among Hunter-fisher-gatherers in Northern Fennoscandia 9000–2500 BC
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2012
An examination of meanings associated with bears among early hunter-gatherer-fisher populations in northern Fennoscandia, based on beliefs and ritual practices in the ethnohistoric record, indicates that they were an animal attributed multiple meanings in prehistoric as well as historic times. They were clan ancestors, spirit masters and symbols of power and reincarnation such as rebirth and the change of seasons. The evidence indicates a pattern of local variation and identities rather than a uniform regional pattern, and some large-scale differences from the coastal area of Norway in the west to Karelia in the east.
The bear mythology: an enduring archetypical tale of feminine empowerment, adulthood and motherhood
Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 2022
The relation of bear mythology with the transformation of girls into women, as well as the connection and involvement of Artemis and bears with the beginning of woman's adulthood and motherhood is considered. Particular attention is paid to the worship of Artemis Brauronia and to rituals like the Arkteia rite. Finally, the connection of bear mythology and customs and beliefs from ancient Greece and the film Brave (2012) is discussed.
Bear Doctors: Tracing the History of Bears as Healers and How They Became Christian Saints
The current monograph, “Bear Doctors: Tracing the History of Bears as Healers and How They Became Christian Saints,” is the second in what is a three-part series. Each volume is dedicated to exploring different facets of the animist relational ontology, grounded in the belief that humans descended from bears, that have survived in Europe. The first volume, already uploaded to Academia.edu, is called “Comparing Native American and European Traditional Beliefs and Performance: Ritual Practitioners and Bear Impersonators”. That volume prepares the reader for what is investigated in the current monograph. The third part of the series will appear shortly. It is entitled “Recovering Forgotten European Memories: An Essay in Cultural Linguistics with Evidence from Basque, English, Romance, Germanic and Slavic Language”. In that work I delve into the lexical evidence embedded in European languages directly linked to this ursine cosmovision. In the current monograph an aspect of European belief, ritual practice and performance will be brought into view that until now has been relegated to the margins or ignored entirely. To do so, we need to weave together the disparate threads that once constituted a closely-knit matrix of belief, supported by an animist relational ontology at the center of which was the belief that humans descended from bears. Over time, the interpretive framework through which these once deeply ingrained social practices were understood, would gradually change and this, in turn, would affect the way that modern day investigators would view the fragmented evidence left behind. To reattach the threads and recuperate the earlier cosmovision, the first step is to bring to the fore the conceptual frames of understanding that were originally integral to the belief system itself and the earlier interpretative lens. Initially, we examine the evidence that points to the earlier pan-European belief that humans descended from bears and the associated conceptualizations that informed that worldview. From there we move on to explore evidence pointing to the belief in the curative powers of bears, including related ritual practices that survived into the 20th century, like “bear riding”. Next, we move back in time to review the many foundational narratives featuring bears that were used to explain why a Christian site was established where it was. That topic will take us back to the ninth century and the figure of Richardis, the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. She founded the Abbey of Andlau in 880, where bears were kept permanently on the premises while itinerate bears and their trainers were regularly housed and feed there, a practice that continued, under the radar of historians for a thousand years. Evidence at Christian sites for bears, both flesh and blood ones and later stone and wooden replicas, point to the persistence of the belief in the preternatural curative powers of that animal. Other evidence of the transfer of the healing attributes of the bear to anthropomorphic figures is found in the myriad of saints as well as bishops whose names are blatantly ursine in nature, e.g., the many Saint Ours (Saint Bear) in France or bishops such as Ursinen whose name is based on the Latin word for bear Urs. In the last section of the study, the awareness that ecclesiastics had of the prophylactic powers attributed to bears is traced out in the form of the prohibitions against the bears and their keepers dating back to the sixth and seventh centuries. However, despite the steps that the Church took in the past to stem the popularity of these ritual healing practices in which the bears and their trainers played a key role, they were unsuccessful given that in many parts of Europe the curative rituals continued to be popular well into the 20th century.
2019
While bears hold a significant place in world views, material and narrative cultures around the world, the polar bear has a particular significance in the folklore of the Arctic and sub-Arctic. It should come as no surprise that this powerful and majestic animal has been respected, feared and even worshipped since the Stone Age, 50,000 years ago. In the worldview of northern peoples, polar bears have been considered among gods and in some cases the ancestors of men. The Arctic region even draws its name from the Greek root arktikos, or near the bear, referring to the constellation Ursa Major, which, with Ursa Minor, appear in Ancient Greek mythology as the mythological mistress and lovechild of Zeus. Bear constellations are also known in the myths of indigenous groups in North America and Greenland and the Inuit concept of human-animal transformation, often involving a bear or a seal, can also be connected to the bear's role in shamanism (Thompson 1966, 167). In the British Isles, an example may be found in the bear-goddess Artio, derived from the Gaulish word for 'bear' and the Proto-Celtic arto, a word connected to the legendary King Arthur (Zimmer 2009). Irish family names, such as McMahon, meaning son of the bear-cub, and Mahoney, grandson of the bear-cub, also express bear-human interconnectedness among the Gaels (Jubainville 1889, 1905). Between these Inuit, Gallic and Scandinavian cultures, centrally located in the North Atlantic, lies an enlightening component in the cultural history of the bear. In this chapter we will explore what the role of the polar bear could be in the social and cultural history of Icelanders by referring to Icelandic narratives of these human-animal relations throughout the North Atlantic. These narratives demonstrate how, in a virtually bear-freecountry, folklore and narrative carries its inhabitants where their limited experience cannot. Medieval Sources for Polar Bear Arrivals in Iceland While Iceland is not a natural habitat of bears, its inhabitants' limited knowledge and experience with them mostly springs from their cultural origins in Scandinavia and the British Isles, as well as from Norse settlements in Greenland. Yet, through the centuries the polar bear, an icon of the Arctic, has on occasion come ashore in Iceland. Numerous narratives have been told and recorded of the Icelanders' interaction, or conflict, with the white bear (In Icelandic: hvítabjörn / plural: hvítabirnir), often simply referred to as bear (Icelandic: bjarndýr [literally, bear-animal]), or more recently ice-bear (Icelandic: ísbjörn). The polar bear's habitat of shores and ice lies around the Arctic Ocean, but they are often found on drift ice further south and can swim long distances in short periods of time. Their search for food can carry them far and their way of life follows that
The Great Mother. The Cult of the Bear in Celtic Traditions
2012
In his classic discussion of totemism, the famous French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss declared that animals are “good to think” because their perceptible reality permits the embodiment of ideas and relations conceived by speculative thought to be attached to them (Lévi-Strauss 1963, 89). One area where our cognitive affinity with animals is especially salient is in religious symbolism. Animals have, from the earliest time to the present, had a major presence in religious beliefs, practices and images. Religious traditions engage with animals at multiple levels but one of the more prominent is to use representations of animals as symbolic tools in communicating fundamental insights (Waldau 2005, 355–356). As Stanley Walens declares: