Bear, Animal, Mammal, Spiritual, Symbolism

Bear Totem

“Better to face the bear, than run from it.”

Robert Jordan

Hello reader! Welcome and Rrrrrrr! In this article we embrace the bear spirit. The bear has been a symbol of strength throughout the ages. Their traits reveal an inner power struggle at times and at others… a dance harmonized in duality. Let’s make it very easy and say that they totally represent a person with positive and negative traits. Have a look below.

The positive essence of the bear

Loyal

Strong

Determined

Protective

Nurturing

Enduring

Persevering

Prepared

Organized

Quiet

Intellectual

Resourceful

The positive traits of a person with the Bear spirit within them, they would be the type of person who would always be prepared in any situation. They would always have the right resources that they would need to get through any situation. They are highly intellectual people who often have a lot of time to go within because of their ability to spend great periods of time alone. While they are loners, when they do have kin to look after, they are extremely affectionate and nurturing people. People who carry the bear with them are individuals who are great at planning ahead. They can really withstand a great deal of hardship in their lives and they will keep going no matter what life brings. They are some of the most strongest people out there, next to people who carry the spirit of the lion. Truthfully, these are the types of people that can really get through even the harshest conditions in their lives. While going through those hardships, they will always make sure that they have what they need to survive and still be content with what life has provided.

 

The Bear’s flip side

Aggressive

Unstoppable in anger

Recluse

A hoarder

Territorial

Scavengers

Intimidators

Bullies

On the negative side of things, people with the Bear energy can tend to be a little aggressive at times. Especially, when they feel that something that belongs to them is being attacked. And that could be in correspondence to their character, their status in life, their career, family, friends, and even their lovers. Sometimes you may find that they do not have really many people around them at all. They tend to go very recluse and that could be a path that they choose permanently. Having all of that time alone, their social skills may be a little out of touch. This means that they may not know how to react when they feel threatened. In addition to that, because they are alone they may really like to stir up some drama, even instigating some situations. Being alone really makes a person focus a lot on themselves to where they put themselves above many things, even others. So it would not be out of character for them to bully other people to get what they need. That is because they will always look out for their survival above all. Another thing, is that people who embrace the bear spirit in a negative sense, do have a tendency to become hoarders. They will keep nearly almost everything that they purchase or have been given them as gifts from others. Because they do spend so much time alone, they develop attachments very easily, even to objects. Their fear of not being able to survive is so great that they always see a need that could be fulfilled, in everything that they own. So they do hang onto those things very tightly. People with the bear spirit, do you carry a lot of inner aggression. It is because they have so much time alone to think, and that leads them into places of life to ponder over that are both positive and negative. As you, know most people tend to focus only on the negativity in their lives. People of the bear totem will dwell on things and it builds up inside of them. Then it turns into aggression. That aggression can be easily provoked and, once they do get angry it is very hard to calm them down. In a physical altercation, it would be nearly impossible to stop them in their self defense. Yes they can have a bit of a tendency to pick on other people a little bit. They may think that it is harmless fun and consider it only to be joking. But in reality nobody likes being picked on, even if it is just for fun. It is really hard to get the people who have a bear spirit around them, or within them, to change. They are so set in their ways, that it takes a great deal of life coaching and counseling to break them of their patterns and cycles. People who tend to be alone a lot anyhow, often are hard to change altogether. But due to their inner aggression those with the Bear spirit, can tend to be a little bit more stubborn.

This is a truly amazing animal spirit and often is a power animal. The power animal is sort of like the “significator” card in a tarot card reading. It represents who a person is overall. Because the bear is a pretty dominant animal in the wild as is the lion, it was made a power animal in the spiritual world. If you look at who knows of the strongest animals are out there in the wild above the food chain, that will pretty much give you a hint as to who the power out about our overall. The bear is definitely one of them though. But even though it seems that their negative side is really extreme in comparison to their positive, it really is balanced. People with the bear spirit are so kind and so loving, and that’s because they do spend a lot of time by themselves. But as everyone knows, too much time alone can sometimes get you stuck in your thoughts where things build up inside, unfortunately that can lead to some outbursts if the situation infuses it. They will fight to defend themselves, and sometimes can be a little bit inconsiderate to other people’s feelings and needs because they are so used to looking out for their own. But once a person who has a bear spirit comes into a group setting or a family setting, they really will work hard for the whole group over all together. They will love each and every member of the group with all of their heart and become very protective over them. They will go out of their way to help everyone in the group to survive once they had adjusted.

The bear has been revered since ancient times for their strength. It was said that if a man could defeat a bear with his bare hands, that he would be considered God-like to those in his village. That was because they are so strong that in hand to hand combat, the bear would almost never lose. This story was is often used with lions too. The symbolism of the story, represented man’s inner struggle with his inner beast. Could man go up against the instinctive nature of himself to be tamed? Or even to be defeated? Could he use his inner strength to adopt both sides of his duality in balance? So then he would be God like in the deed because the gods are in total balance when it comes to both sides of their nature. And that is in terms of whether they are wrathful or benevolent. This is why the bear is so significant as an animal spirit. One’s inner struggle with them self sometimes so much so, that they need to walk their life path alone before joining others.

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