Artemis and the Bear and symbolism relating to a bear attack dream.

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ARTEMIS AND THE BEAR

Another spectacularly popular avatar of Artemis was as Great Bear, Ursa Major. Worshipped all
over Greece, but especially in Arkadia where she and Kallisto vied for followers, her worship was
wideflung. Helvetians sometimes called her Artio, and worshipped her near Berne, a place named
'She Bear.' Even today its coat of arms includes a bear. Celts, especially of Britain, called her Art and
their bear king Arthur her son. Each Celtic hunter used to pay a 'fine' for each animal taken into a
communal fund used to purchase a sacrifice to Artemis each year. Later, even the Christian church
could not ignore her and canonized her as Saint Ursula, from the Saxon name Ursel. Irish 'Art'
originally meant 'Bear Goddess,' rather than god.

A number of ideas, some quite sophisticated, supported the widespread worship of the Bear Goddess.

Artemis as bear ruled the constellation Ursa Major, which pointed to the North Pole Star, the axis
mundi. As such, she guarded and protected the very hub if the world.The seven stars of Ursa Major
may have been the original Seven Sisters or Seven Pillars. The Pleiades are in the constellation of
Taurus, connecting them to Artemis Tauropolos, so all of the Pleiades were followers of Artemis, not
just Taygete. Given this connection, it is easier to understand the imortance of such a dim group of
stars.

The month and season can be worked out in the Northern hemisphere by noting where Ursa Major is
in the sky at nightfall. When Ursa Major's tail points East, spring has arrived; South, summer; West
autumn, and finally, the tail pointing North heralds winter. Perhaps this direction of movement gave us
'clockwise,' since it is easier to learn about how the appearance of the sky relates to the seasons
when the stars are visible to the naked eye.

Later reinterpretation of Ursa Major as the transformed Kallisto and Ursa Minor as her son are
forced and not consistently repeated by scholars or folklore. Ursa Major and the pole star were
always feminine in mythology, even after attempts to masculinize them both. For instance, the axis
mundi was made into a tree of life with weirdly feminine abilities. More often Ursa Major was
divorced from its bear symbolism and made the throne of the Sky Goddess, Hera or Artemis
Astrateia.

Other reasons for worshipping Artemis as bear come from that animal's qualities. The mother bear is
one of the most formidable animals in the forest for her size, strength, agility, and fierce defense of
her young. Today the mother bear is still regarded as a fearsome beast for these reasons. Bears
know how to find herbs and roots to heal injuries and illnesses they suffer. They incubate their young
during hibernation, protecting vulnerable cubs from the cold.

People used to place their children under the protection of this great force to protect and heal. To this
end, infants were placed on bear skins soon after birth to invoke that power, a practise continued
from the Neolithic. The berserkers, 'wearers of bear shirts' (bear sarks) worshipped Artio, and
wished to channel this same protecting power to help them succeed in battle.

Artemis and her followers could take the form of bears at will, an idea integral to the worship of
Artemis Brauronia in Attica. In Attica the statue of the Goddess had an obsidian knife hidden in her
crown, used in animal sacrifice by her priestesses. Young girls were brought to the Brauronian temple
for confirmation ceremonies during the festival of Mounychia. They danced as bears in Artemis'
honour, becoming her companions in freedom and self rule. Wearing saffron tunics and leaf crowns,
carrying twigs or torches, they also gave thanks for the animals of the forest.

Agrotera, 'wild strength' or 'berserker' was a Goddess of battle sacrificed to before campaigns by
Spartans. She was popularly considered an avatar of Artemis, and her untamed, wild nature suggests
the bear when provoked.

Kallisto, a native ARkadian bear Goddess is interesting for herself, as well as for the aspects of
Artemis that she shares. Kallisto's name means 'the fairest,' yet Kalli(Kali) was never used for
descriptions of what was conventionally beautiful. (Similar to the 'beautiful' Harpies, who are always
grotesque in Greek mythology.) It was used for things that actually seeemed ugly or frightening, yet
Kallisto was a well loved and popular Goddess in Arkadia. Another avatar of the force of instinct,
when in human form she was an athlete and hunter of great strength. She traversed her forests and
mountains in bare feet.

Other authors have noted that she is related to Kali, the 'Death Goddess' of India. Wjile embodying all
that is frightening and gruesome, Kali is deeply loved by her worshippers, inspiring some of the most
beautiful, powerful poetry ever written. Kali forces her worshippers to face their fear of death, and in
the process, eliminate it. She moves the idea of reincarnation from a logical construct to a belief.

Artemis, especially when associated with Ephesus is also destroyer, death bringer, and psychopomp,
guide between worlds and lives. Eventually Kallisto's sacred island Kalliste was renamed Thera 'She
Beast' and rededicated to Artemis.

This from http://homepages.tesco.net/~waves/animald.htm:

BEAR - Through television and the many 'nature' films which are now a part of our wider education, we can see that the bear is largely a solitary creature, capable of living alone and surviving. This, and its human way of standing and holding its arms out in a hugging posture, may be the major factors from which a 'bear' dream arises.

We may therefore associate the bear with feelings about living alone or surviving by ones own strength; it can refer to the confrontation with feelings we have about independence, or the meeting with strength and independence in someone else; massive or dangerous rage, such as 'the bear with a sore head'. In this case it might represent your relationship with someone who is touchy or grouchy; powerful possessiveness or a smothering relationship, as or by a parent or lover; withdrawal or hibernating; the 'animal' side of our relationship with our parents; a play on words, such as 'bare', bare facts, bearing with something or someone, 'bearing' ones soul; bearing in mind, a 'bearer' of tidings, come to bear, overbearing; getting ones bearings, bear fruit or bear-hug. Because of traditional cultural associations, and it ability to hibernate, the bear can represent the ability to die and be reborn.

ANIMAL WITH ITS YOUNG: Parental feelings; one's basic childhood needs; ones own childhood experience of being parented.

BABY ANIMAL: Oneself when young; feelings or memories concerning ones own babyhood; desire for babies; vulnerability; fundamental survival behaviours such as dependence, crying and bonding.

WILD ANIMAL(S) ATTACKING: The wild animal represents our unrepressed instinctive reactions such as sex and anger. In the attacking mode however it is unleashed aggression. In some dreams being attacked depicts what we feel in relationship with other people. The attack, the criticism and malign emotions directed at us by others are frequently shown as an animal attacking or biting us. Sometimes we may be aware of this, but often remarks are made which we miss, yet are sensed as an attack by our unconscious.