Bear Medicine
Is it just me or does this time from January to late March feel like the toughest time of year? By mid-January, I always start to get really sick of Winter’s glum and my mind wants to rush ahead to the promise of springtime. But this year something is different -- this year, Spirit is teaching me to honor a season of rest.
Like many people, the beginning of 2020 wasn't kind to me. Questions arose around my day job, my passion project & my family’s health all at once. The flurry of problems reminded me of a time back in graduate school when I wanted to run away from my entire life and start anew. Back then, I tried to drop out of the education department and pursue herbal medicine instead, but the timing wasn’t quite right. I ended up working in a plant nursery to calm my mind while I finished my masters, instead.
Those months spent tending sprouts, cleaning up over-wintered plants, and watering bed after bed of flowers was a deeply healing & meditative time for me. Alone in the humidity of the green houses, I found my soft, inner voice of wisdom. I remembered how to interact with plants on a personal level. I began to recognize my inner child again for the first time in a decade, and most importantly, in working at the nursery, I slowed down long enough to fully recharge my batteries & get my vision clear.
Seeking a period of rejuvenation and introspection is precisely what Spirit invites us to this time of year. To help me understand this, I've been receiving many visions, dreams & synchronicities of a Bear spirit animal lately. Bears are the healers & shamans of the animal world. Their spirit medicine is known to establish harmony in nature by taking the time to rest deeply & then live fully in the summertime. They are the embodiment of balance between spiritual power & physical strength. They stand strong in their convictions, follow their ancestral life path without fail & they know how to stay grounded.
We all know that bears typically hibernate this time of year. As a working person I can’t literally hibernate, but bears in more temperate areas go through a period of ‘walking hibernation,’ coming out of the den every once in awhile to dig up roots & acorns for nourishment before going back to bed. Surely there’s a lesson there.
Because bears go inward and hibernate for a season, they have the opportunity to emerge in power every year, as if born again. Part of this reemergence is a purging of stagnant blood. In the springtime, bears actually dig up a specific category of medicinal roots called ‘Bear Medicine,’ such as Angelica Root, and chew on them to get their systems moving again after a long stillness. This theme of removing bad or stagnant blood from their bodies and building up healthy blood extends into their summer diet as well. Everyone knows that bears love berries, but did you know that berries detox & fortify your blood? Blueberries are antioxidant rich & excellent for clearing out toxins in the blood, and blackberries are excellent blood-builders according to both Indigenous Folk Herbalism & Chinese Medicine.
As you can see, the Bear spirit animal is a strong force of healing -- especially this time of year! Without realizing it, at the same time that I began to see bears in my visions & dreams, I started eating a ton of berries, using a protective Angelica oil infusion for boundary care, and working with a Barite crystal (BEAR-ite...get it?) I see these signs as an invitation from Spirit to take a time of rejuvenation like those green house days once again -- to rest, return to a natural rhythm, simplify, get grounded, go inward & dream more.
Thinking about wintering in a cozy cave has me thinking: Wouldn’t it be lovely to stay snuggled up in bed with my love all winter? (Hello, Valentine’s Day.) Couldn’t it be the sweetest medicine of all to stay in and tend to my heart & my boundaries for awhile longer? To go deep & honor all of my emotions, to exhale them, let them fill the air with that grounding sort of humidity that I love, and then welcome a new vision out of that incubation chamber? Ah yes. The bears are absolutely right.
No matter what 2020 has brought you so far, I encourage you to savor these last few months of ‘walking hibernation’ before the spring comes. Cut back where you can. Tend to your boundaries and your inner healing. Cuddle someone special. Detoxify old wounds and stagnancy from your blood. Enjoy the solitude of your inner green house. Eat berries & honey, and find your ‘Bear Medicine,’ whatever that means to you.
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Like many people, the beginning of 2020 wasn't kind to me. Questions arose around my day job, my passion project & my family’s health all at once. The flurry of problems reminded me of a time back in graduate school when I wanted to run away from my entire life and start anew. Back then, I tried to drop out of the education department and pursue herbal medicine instead, but the timing wasn’t quite right. I ended up working in a plant nursery to calm my mind while I finished my masters, instead.
As 21st century people, we are all in desperate need of a recharge.
Seeking a period of rejuvenation and introspection is precisely what Spirit invites us to this time of year. To help me understand this, I've been receiving many visions, dreams & synchronicities of a Bear spirit animal lately. Bears are the healers & shamans of the animal world. Their spirit medicine is known to establish harmony in nature by taking the time to rest deeply & then live fully in the summertime. They are the embodiment of balance between spiritual power & physical strength. They stand strong in their convictions, follow their ancestral life path without fail & they know how to stay grounded.
We all know that bears typically hibernate this time of year. As a working person I can’t literally hibernate, but bears in more temperate areas go through a period of ‘walking hibernation,’ coming out of the den every once in awhile to dig up roots & acorns for nourishment before going back to bed. Surely there’s a lesson there.
Because bears go inward and hibernate for a season, they have the opportunity to emerge in power every year, as if born again. Part of this reemergence is a purging of stagnant blood. In the springtime, bears actually dig up a specific category of medicinal roots called ‘Bear Medicine,’ such as Angelica Root, and chew on them to get their systems moving again after a long stillness. This theme of removing bad or stagnant blood from their bodies and building up healthy blood extends into their summer diet as well. Everyone knows that bears love berries, but did you know that berries detox & fortify your blood? Blueberries are antioxidant rich & excellent for clearing out toxins in the blood, and blackberries are excellent blood-builders according to both Indigenous Folk Herbalism & Chinese Medicine.
As you can see, the Bear spirit animal is a strong force of healing -- especially this time of year! Without realizing it, at the same time that I began to see bears in my visions & dreams, I started eating a ton of berries, using a protective Angelica oil infusion for boundary care, and working with a Barite crystal (BEAR-ite...get it?) I see these signs as an invitation from Spirit to take a time of rejuvenation like those green house days once again -- to rest, return to a natural rhythm, simplify, get grounded, go inward & dream more.
Thinking about wintering in a cozy cave has me thinking: Wouldn’t it be lovely to stay snuggled up in bed with my love all winter? (Hello, Valentine’s Day.) Couldn’t it be the sweetest medicine of all to stay in and tend to my heart & my boundaries for awhile longer? To go deep & honor all of my emotions, to exhale them, let them fill the air with that grounding sort of humidity that I love, and then welcome a new vision out of that incubation chamber? Ah yes. The bears are absolutely right. No matter what 2020 has brought you so far, I encourage you to savor these last few months of ‘walking hibernation’ before the spring comes. Cut back where you can. Tend to your boundaries and your inner healing. Cuddle someone special. Detoxify old wounds and stagnancy from your blood. Enjoy the solitude of your inner green house. Eat berries & honey, and find your ‘Bear Medicine,’ whatever that means to you.
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