Bear

by Wolf D. Storl

  Chapter 8

  1 Marija Gimbutas, a well-known Lithuanian archeologist, examined hundreds of terracotta figures from the Old Stone Age, which extended from the sixth into the third century BCE in southeastern Europe along the Danube Valley and all the way to the Black Sea. These first farmers etched zigzag lines, which stood for water and also for bear claws, into cultic pots. Gimbutas has found a connection between the water on which all life depends and bears who are guardians of springs and the fertility of the earth: “Toward the end of this time bears partially took on human form. The terracotta figures were now women with a bear’s head. Sometimes she sat on a throne decorated with half-moons and held a bear baby on her lap, like a Madonna, or carried one in a bag on her back. Many of these figures have the left hand on the breast, which suggests an association between bears and water, as water and milk were often connected in ancient mythology” (Sanders 2002, 153). This ancient bear goddess is an early appearance of the great goddess, the foster mother of the gods and the goddess of the cave and rebirth. According to Gimbutas, the cult of Artemis on the Attic Coast developed out of this bear cult. The background of the story of Iphigenia, whom Artemis saved from sacrificial death by putting a small black bear on the altar in her stead, is presumably a remnant of a ritual in which a bear was deified and sacrificed.

  2 It wasn’t until the prudish, petty-bourgeois Biedermeier times in Europe that the hazelnut rod, this bawdy symbol, was turned into a punishing rod—the fertile rod of the old forest and winter spirit turned into a rod for punishing naughty children.

  3 The Church tried to redefine the symbolism. On Fasting Sunday, in 1207, Pope Innocence III had a play put on in which a bear, as a symbol of the devil; young bulls, as a symbol of uninhibited human lust; and a rooster, as a symbol of arousal were all killed (Becker-Huberti 2001, 240).

  4 In Berne, a sleeping bear is awakened at the beginning of the carnival time and let out of its cage.

  5 In England, “straw-bears” were also known. A man or youth was covered with straw, and on “Plow Monday,” the first Monday after the twelve holy nights when regular work could be taken up again, he would go from house to house grumbling like a bear, scaring the women and begging for alms.

  Chapter 9

  1 These cross-quarter days have been disassociated from the moon nowadays and have fixed calendar days, the first or second day of the month.

  2 On February 2nd, as an ancient custom in Arles-sur-Tech in the Pyrenees, a young fellow dressed as a bear comes out of a cave, which has been placed in the middle of the town. He then runs all over the town looking for “Rosetta,” his bride-to-be; when he finds her, the two are ritually “married.”

  3 “The bear is a winter animal. It has grown thick fur and retreats into a cave to avoid masses of snow and icy cold. But, as a polar bear, it can also take the winter on. For that reason, bears love honey, the most wonderful gift of the summer sun, which gives them the strength to resist freezing temperatures” (Koenig 2013, 107).

  4 A bear in hibernation uses body fat and carbohydrates in a way that creates water—a method that keeps the body from dehydrating. In a recycling process, urea is taken out of the blood and changed back to protein. Glucose, which is important to keep the brain functioning, is obtained during protein breakdown (Busch 2000, 53ff.). Scientists are trying to understand this process better in the hopes of being able to put astronauts into a similar state of slumber during long flights into outer space. Medical science also hopes to understand coma states better through research of bear hibernation.

  Chapter 10

  1 In France: Qu’il ne faut jamais, vendre la peau de l’ours qu’on ne l’ait mis par terre.

  2 Also sometimes Jambavat.

  Chapter 11

  1 This story, recorded by the Grimm brothers, is based on an earlier version called “The First Bearskin” (1670) in the book Simplicissimus. In this version, a young German lansquenet is the protagonist who becomes Bearskin.

  2 This three-fold goddess is also known in Vedic India: white Sarasvathi, red Lakshmi, and black Kali, goddess of destruction. For more information, see my book Shiva, the Wild God of Power and Ecstasy (2004), specifically Chapter 10.

  Chapter 12

  1 Ursa Major is called Rakh, which can be translated as “brightly shining bear.” In its whirling pace, it rules not only over the seasons, rain and drought, and consequently the harvest—it is also the vital spirit of vegetation—but also over all that is whirled into manifestation and whirled back out. For this reason, Hindus paint red whirling patterns on the walls in houses where a birth is about to take place. They want to ensure that the child in the birth canal finds the right direction to come to Earth, that it can orient itself for the birth (Sanders 2002, 262).

  2 Alcor, the “little rider,” or “Tom Thumb,” is “on” the middle star (Mizar) of the three. It can just be seen with the naked eye.

  3 See also www.clarkfoundation.org/astro-utah/vondel/songofstars.html.

  4 Other Native Americans of the prairie also see this place as sacred and connected to the strength of the bear and where people go to fast and pray. The Crows (Absaroka) call it “Bear’s House,” the Sioux (Lakota) “Grizzly Bear House,” and the Arapaho “Bear’s Tipi.” The Kiowa, for whom the “Tree Trunk Rock” is also sacred, tell a story of seven small girls who were playing outside their settlement and then were suddenly surrounded by hungry bears. In their distress, they climbed upon a rock and prayed, “Rock, help us!” The rock began to grow taller and taller. The bears that tried to climb up after the girls slid back down to Earth and left deep claw tracks on the rock. One can still see the girls up in the sky today as the seven sisters, the Pleiades.

  Chapter 13

  1 In the Icelandic Landnámabók saga, the warrior Ovar Odd held up a bearskin in the middle of battle, and, as soon as the enemies saw it, they lost their courage and retreated.

  2 More information on the theme of berserkers and their initiations can be found in my book Naturrituale (not yet available in English).

  3 As various Native American tribes came ever more under pressure from white settlers and were driven into the areas of other tribes, a similar development of “professional warriors” took place. The Cheyenne, for example, developed warrior confederacies, such as the “coyote warriors,” the “elk warriors,” or the famous “dog soldiers.”

  4 Naturally, bearskin warriors were not just found in northern Europe. The army flag bearers (signiferi) in the Roman imperial army received a bearskin placed over their helmet and armor as an award of honor. The Arcadians also fought their battles in bearskins (Roehrich 2001, 1:148).

  5 A certificate from 1290 mentions “Chournat, the Sacred Bear” (Baechtold-Staeubli and Hoffmann-Krayer, Vol. 8, 1987).

  6 The eagle should be the king of the feathered kingdom because it flies the highest. But the wren claimed it could fly even higher. So they arranged a race; whoever flew highest would become king of the birds. The eagle flew up as high as it could, up to the edge of heaven. The clever wren had hidden on the eagle’s back, and, when the eagle got too tired and could not fly higher, the wren flew off and chirped, “I can fly higher than you, so I am the king!” The eagle had to admit defeat, and since then the wren (called “King of the Fence” and, in olden times, also “Snow King,” in German) claims the title of king.

  7 In mythical, primeval times, the white buffalo woman appeared to the Native Americans of the prairie in the form of a white buffalo calf. She brought them the sacred pipe and led the buffalo, the livelihood of the Native Americans of the prairie, down to Earth. The birth of a white buffalo calf in Wisconsin in August 1994 was, therefore, considered a message from this goddess and a good omen for the rebirth of the western Native American culture.

  Chapter 14

  1 Animism is the belief of many native peoples that everything—including “dead” rocks, plants, mountains, lakes, natural phenomena, etc.—is conscious. Cultural anthropologist Edw
ard Tylor (1832–1917) characterized the “religion of the primitive peoples” with this concept that comprised the opposite of the one-god believers of the progressive, civilized peoples.

  2 This nature-alienated delusion still plagues humanity to this day: In the zoo in Kabul, for example, the fundamentalist Taliban hit and agonized the captivated wild boars—one of the sacred animals of the great goddess—“because they are impure animals.”

  Chapter 15

  1 The custom of making spring soups and salads out of fresh greens that grow early in the year can still be found in some areas all over Europe. These “nine herbs” refer to any mixture of as many of these fresh green plants one may choose to revive and refresh in the spring.

  2 Warning to plant novices: This plant smells strongly of garlic and is hard to miss; however, in Europe, it is often mistaken for lily of the valley or autumn crocus, both highly poisonous plants with leaves similar to those of bear’s garlic.

  3 Common clubmoss is not to be mistaken for poisonous fir clubmoss (Hyperzia selago). Fir clubmoss has no spore spadix, and the leaves do not have hairy tips.

  4 Giant hogweed has phototoxic properties due to the furocoumarins that it contains.

  Chapter 16

  1 Medieval magicians apparently did dare consume bear brain, however. Agrippa von Nettesheim writes in his book Die magischen Werke (1531, 1:196): “A drink prepared from bear’s brain and offered in its skull is said to create a bear-like fury. Whoever drinks it will believe he has been changed into a bear and judge everything from a bear’s standpoint. He will remain in this state of semi-madness until the effect of the drink wears off but without any damage otherwise occurring to the person who drank it.”

  Chapter 17

  1 The Dolgans of northern Siberia raise reindeer, hunt, and fish. They live in conic leather tents and practice shamanism.

  Chapter 18

  1 The Shinto religion also has a bear kami. Incidentally, the name of the sacred mountain, Fujiyama, is also of Ainu language origin and is the name of the goddess (kami) of fire, Huchi, or Fuji, which literally means “grandmother” (Weyer 1958, 202).

  2 The arrowhead was prepared with monkshood (Aconitum) and other poisonous plants, which lead to an immediate cardiovascular collapse (Raetsch 1991, 28).

  Chapter 19

  1 Hornussen is an indigenous Swiss sport that gets its name from the puck, called a Hornuss (hornet). When hit, it can whiz through the air at up to 300 kilometers (approximately 185 miles) per hour and create a buzzing sound.

  2 Also known as Swiss wrestling, Schwingen somewhat resembles sumo wrestling.

  3 Though it may be true that Sigmund Wagner (1759–1835) fabricated the legend of The Noble Lady Mechthildis, he, however, must have relied on old prototypes. As far as archetypal structures are concerned, the legend can be taken as “genuine.”

  4 In Estonia, a “Christ-Bear” Christmas cake is still made at Christmastime, and some of it is given to the animals.

  5 Modern studies show that brown bears eat between 80 and 90 percent vegetable foods; the rest of their diet consists of cadavers, insects, fish, rodents, and mushrooms (Busch 2000, 70). It wasn’t until the Middle Ages, when humans intruded ever more into the bear’s habitat, that bears became evil “predators” that occasionally lashed out at a sheep or another animal on a pasture to still their hunger. They also became increasingly active at night to avoid dangerous humans.

  6 Bears disappeared in Germany in the nineteenth century; the last central European bears were slain in 1836 in Bavaria, in 1881 in Tyrol, and in 1921 in the French Alps.

  Chapter 20

  1 See www.goodreads.com/quotes/547623-later-on-when-they-had-all-said-good-bye-and-thank-you.

  Chapter 21

  1 See www.oxfordshirecotswolds.org/things-to-do/shopping/teddy-bears-of-witney-p479991.

  2 Some travelers to Russia have experienced the good-natured Russian “heart like a bear.” One January, when I flew from New Delhi to Europe, I had an overnight layover in Moscow. When the porter at my hotel saw that I only had thin cotton clothes on, he took off his thick fur coat and gave it to me to wear for as long as I was in the freezing city.

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