Bear

The bear is a mother of formidable strength. In many Indigenous North American traditions — Lakota, Cree, Anishinaabe — Bear is a medicine figure associated with healing, especially the healing that comes from withdrawing into one’s cave to grieve or dream. Siberian shamanism treats bear dreams as shamanic summons. Jung linked the bear to the Great Mother in her protective aspect — fierce for what she loves. Dreaming of a bear often marks a need for solitude, or the arrival of a strength you did not know you had. Bears attacking the dreamer usually point to an inner maternal figure turned against the self; bears that lead you deeper into woods are guides.