Bear

Often people dream of a bear coming to attack them, but because all the images, people, animals, places we see in our dreams, are simply your own feelings, fears, hopes and wonder projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind as images, there us nothing to be afraid of. So, it makes sense to take the image of your dream person, thing or animal back into you and own it. In that way, you are actually meeting and dealing with the things about yourself you are not owning or conscious of. That is why dreams are often difficult to understand, because we are hiding things from ourselves. To do this you can use – Being the Person or Thing and it is helpful to read Levels of the Brain

Whenever we dream its images are not like real life, because a dream is nothing like outer life where things could hurt you, but is an image like on a cinema screen, so that even if a gun is pointed at you and fired it can do no damage – except if you run in fear; so, all the things that scare you are simply your own fears projected onto the screen of your sleeping mind. Also dreams exress in a very ancient language, language that developed in ancient life forms before ever words were invented. The ancient languge is one that has taught youngsters by for millions of years by watching what mother or father fox, bear wolf did – all without words. This photo says it all – the family of bears are intently watching what mum is doing. they learn by seeing it, no words were spoken.

So the angry bear is an image of your own angry feelings that have not been expressed and are attacking you. We now know that such inturned anger can cause illness or depression.

Example: A huge black panther chased me. I fell and it clawed my back. It was about to chew my back to bite me. I didn’t know whether to relax or struggle. After being floored by the Panther I managed to get up. I later imagined being the panther. I allowed the panther to eat me, and I thus became the panther. Then I, as the panther, noticed feeling enormous temper – anger – hate. And I was amazed to see that my cousin Sidney was the cause of such powerful emotions. He was older than me and had mercilessly teased me as a child. The panther was my own feelings of anger, at last released.

But here is a very different example:

Example: I was standing on my patio and there was a bear inside the fence also there were children taunting the bear. I yelled at the kids to stop teasing the bear. Then all of a sudden the bear came towards me; it was a brown bear with its massive size and it stopped and looked at me. Although I was frightened I was courageous enough to pet the bears head, reaching over his  large mouth to reach his head. Then, all of a sudden the bear lay on his back and I begin to brush my hand on his chest as to pet him in a downward motion, the bear just gazed at me.

A bear can have a similar meaning to elephant in the eastern countries – a tremendous force or energy, that if met badly can lead to conflict with your own nature and ill health, or if met well can be a tremendous protector and force for good.

Sometimes said to represent a possessive mother, and the feelings this has aroused. But in many cases the bear will represent a meeting with dangerous emotions such as fear, anger or being easily aroused. There might also be associations with independence, or strength. See: Dreams are Like a Computer Game; Animal.

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. In many dreams the bear is not at all harmful, and can be treated as a friend.

Through these we can also see the bear as a wonderful mother and protector.

We may therefore associate the bear with feelings about living alone or surviving by our own strength; it can refer to the confrontation with feelings we have about independence, or the meeting with strength and independence in someone else. It can confront us with 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 smothering, as a parent or lover might be.

Also it might represent your relationship with someone who is a parent or lover; it could suggest a desire to withdraw or hibernate; 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.

If the bear is felt as aggressive and dangerous, ask yourself what in your own inner feelings do you feel is aggressive and you don’t want to let it get out into what you express. In other words. what is it that you habitually repress from being expressed –  your anger?

It is best to let the angry bear be expressed in you imagination. You can do this by being the angry bear and let  it loose – see – Being the Person or Thing

But the bear can also be like the Beauty and the Beast, in which the dangerous beast is tame with the influence of kindness. So the bear relates to person who can be kind, but could also be a dangerous when roused.

It could suggest a desire to withdraw or hibernate. Because of traditional cultural associations, and its ability to hibernate, the bear can represent the ability to die and be reborn.

As the bear rears its childrfen alone without any male about, if oyu have been in that situation it can reer to you.  But whateveer else it represent, remember that is an image of our relationship with our own ‘animal’ side. Please see  the following to understand this important feature – Mammal Brain

There can be 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 its ability to hibernate, the bear can represent the ability to die and be reborn.

Bear attacking: It could mean that you are feeling or dealing with anger in yourself or another.

But many people dream of being chased by a bear and maybe run in fear or terror from the bear. Not only in your own dreams, but other people’s, it is obvious that we take into our sleep and dreams all the fears, terrors we carry within us. The huge bear, tiger or frightening person they are terrified of is actually fears either inherited or are frightening experiences from the past. They are purely mental things that you haven’t faced, and are therefore the victims of – victims of your own fears. But in dreams in you cannot die – or drown, or burn or any other threatening thing. We make the mistake of taking our very real values from our outer life into our inner life of dreams. If a bear or critter is chasing you, it is only a dream image and so what are you running from? If you drop the image if the bear/critter what you have is a feeling or emotion such as fear. And why are you running like crazy from an emotion? Remember that nothing can hurt you in your dreams, but you can feel fear. See The animal in my dream

And do not think, “That monster is bigger and stronger than I am, and it is frightening!!” It is our thoughts and fears that create the monsters inside us. So of course you are stronger unless you cower in fear.

But that only refers to outer bears, not dream bears. In some northern towns a bear or polar bear can be a real danger, so in your dreams it may be about a threat you need to keep watch for – although it is a bear in your dream, it could be any threat.

It can also, like the following dream, show a fight against disease.

 Example: I dreamt that I was my older brother. As him, and yet at the same time myself, I was trying to fight off an attacking bear. I was doing all I could to defeat it but there was no let up.

Two days later my brother suddenly died from a vicious virus he had contracted while doing his job as a taxi driver. I feel as if I were fighting the disease with him in the dream, but we both lost the battle.

Baby or toy bear: Often represents a child or a young dreamer.

Tame or loving bear: Many people have no fear of animals in their dreams but are like the examples below. Fear is caused because we mix  up our dream life with our outer life.

Example:  In my dream I was actually happy to see bears lying down at the entrance of my parent’s old house. They were all lying down there as if waiting for me. When they felt my presence they woke up. They were happy and groaning amicably when they saw me approaching them. And there were babies too! I never felt fear or any threat but happiness to see them … and I knew it was mutual.

Example: My dream was not frightful. My Bear dream and I were walking, he put his nose in my hand and nuzzled, we walked home, I went up to my door and Bear went next door and rolled around in the neighbors driveway and rested.

But as people are educated in the modern paradigm, many of us are totally out of touch with the animal that we are, and have never been able to raise it to love and protect us, and instead are often frightened of it when it appears on their dreams. As a child we are often told not to do things – such as do not get angry, or told to be nice to everyone, but the intuitive animal side of us feels and act on its superior insight – that would allow them to mature with our animal self intact so we grow up repressing it, and often miss the natural curiosity of our inner mammal.

So if you have a loving animal dream you have a very good and healthy relationship with your inner animal. See Levels of the Brain and Summing Up

Three bears as with father bear, mother bear etc.: Family situation or parental relationship.

If hint of money in the dream: might refer to ‘bear market’.

Useful Questions and Hints:

What were your feelings and interactions with the bear? (For instance were you avoiding, running from cooperating with, watching from a distance – and where does ‘avoiding’, ‘running from’, ‘cooperating’, or ‘observing’ enter your life at the moment?)

If you imagine yourself as the bear in your dream, what do you feel and experience?

See Stand in Role; Processing Dreams; Summing Up

 

Comments

-tamara 2015-04-06 22:20:30

I have been having a dream of a polar bear. It has happened twice now. The first dream the bears lived on this island that we were also living on, but they were attacking us, chasing us. After the children.We ran into the cottage and were then safe inside.
The second time was last night and again we were outside and this time it was someplace hotter, the dogs were out taking a pee or what they do, and then the polar bear showed up and started charging. Just at the last minute I was able to close the door (glass door) on the polar bear, and it then saw a racoon near by and decided to go and maul it instead. It was me and my family inside this house.

-Taylor 2015-04-05 19:18:09

I had this odd dream that I was walking to my middle school and there were many jungle animals, but by the time I reached the entrance to my school, a small baby bear cub reached out towards me. I went to pet the bear. But the cub pointed out its mother. So I ran, in fear of the larger female bear. The bear chased after me and, knowing that I was unable to outrun a bear, I stopped. When the bear was close to me, I threw the bear over the bridge over the highway near my old elementary school. I woke up horribly frightened.

    -Anna 2015-04-07 9:30:29

    Taylor – The first thought which arose after reading your dream is that you do not have to doubt your inner power: “When the bear was close to me, I threw the bear over the bridge over the highway near my old elementary school”.
    I think the dream points out to you that there was a time in your life, when you were afraid of growing from a bear cub into a powerful female bear.
    This shows a fear of your natural impulses, or that you have been trained in childhood to repress your anger or curiosity.
    Killing an animal shows you killing urges or needs you have that are natural. Mostly this is injurious to your wholeness, but occasionally has to be done to deal with special life situations.
    I trust that you are not in elementary or middle school anymore, and so you can use your inner strength to “meet the bear” and integrate it in your inner world.
    Integration is about truly finding parts of you that are missing.
    So perhaps you can try a different approach with this dream using http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/
    Good Luck!
    Anna 🙂

-Chantee 2015-03-20 15:28:23

My dream was my mom, me, and two small children not my son, maybe niece and nephew. We were hiking down to a small body of water connected to a river. Mom got there first. As the kids are running for the water mom points to symbols on a rock. Her face looked concerned but the message was unclear I assured her it was fine. I then turned my attention to the kids. I then noticed two smaller bears playing in the distance. Also 3 other kids walking toward the exit closer to the bears then us. I immediately yelled to the kids in a panicked voice “time to go now”. They ran to me. The exit from this place were steep rocks. I got the kids up first. Then had to help my mom up she seemed to be struggling physically. We all made it up to the entrance. My dreams with bears usually end with me playing dead. Which was also part of this dream just later in the dream. Details are too long but I was trying to escape from a bear different from the other ones earlier in my dream.

-Arlene 2015-03-09 20:10:57

I had a dream that I was living back on the reservation(Chippewa) and I was by a line of trees. Suddenly a panda bear came out and sat right next to me, even making sure to touch my leg. At first I thought about possibly getting hurt but instead I reached out to pet the bear and it nuzzled against me. A car or something startled it and the bear took off back into the trees. When the coast was clear I called out to the bear asking it to come back to me. The bear did and was acting like it was supposed to be my bear so I started cuddling, scratching, and talking to it like it was my favorite pet. In the dream I felt very honored that the panda bear chose me as it’s friend. Any idea what it could mean?

-Katie 2015-03-07 15:37:25

I had a dream that a bear walked up to my window. I knew this bear from earlier in life. In my dream, we used to feed and pet the bear, but we had to stop because my parents feared the bear was too close for comfort. So, the same bear was walking in the yard. It was snowing. I called for the bear from my window to come see me. He looked at me with lonely eyes and started to walk towards my window. I started to pet him. I wasn’t afraid. He started to nuzzle me. After about five minutes of petting him, I decided it was time for him to go on. His strength was becoming too powerful. I shewed him off. He walked on without hesitation or aggression. So, at the beginning of my dream I was not afraid, but towards the end, there was caution.

-Jackie 2015-02-16 11:46:57

I just had a dream of two black bears. One was a full grown adult and the other was a baby. They were tied up in the kitchen. My brother had wanted them. In real life he is dead and became such in dream. I was with my mom in the living room and our two cats. I told her we can not keep them they will destroy us and the house. I said we had to get out before it was too late. My mom starting walking without any aids. Which she can not do in real life. When leaving the baby bear layed down beside her while the raided the cupboards for food. My mom wanted cookies to take with us. I stood next to the big bear and grabbed a box. It was almost empty. I said they are all almost gone. The bear spokein my brothers voice and said, what do you expect I need to eat alot. Leave me alone before I get mad.

-Rowan 2015-02-14 0:20:34

I had a dream that a bear was attacking me very recently. I was in a wooded area and I knew the bear was going to try to attack me but I didn’t move. When the bear attacked me I fought it off and defended myself. I woke up frightened of the bear and all throughout the day, I couldn’t stop thinking about my dream. I’ve had a dream with a bear in it once before, in this dream the bear was a enormous height and it was chasing me through a campsite, this dream also has had a lasting impact on me.

-Denise McKnight 2015-02-09 14:28:54

I have had 2 vivid dreams back-to-back nights where a big brown bear has chased me and grabbed hold of me around my shoulders and has just stayed wrapped around me while I try to go about my life. Then last night I dreamt my husband died and I went through all the emotions of losing him. Are the dreams connected?

-thomas 2015-02-01 15:01:04

My dream was that i was faceing two large brown bears and i was hallering at them and them back at me as i looked at my self from the side i seen my wife at my side looking at me in awe as if i was gaining the respect of her and the two brown bears

-shay 2015-01-01 22:53:11

Ive had 3 bear dreams were they would always end up chasing me but the one other one I had was were inwas camping and they all surrounded my tent and I had lots of fear in these dreams

-ashton 2014-12-24 21:48:09

I usually get the same dream of me going hiking or walking through the woods and i always encounter a bear and its starts trying to attack me and eat me and recently i had one tjat when i got home there was two bears on my lawn and attacked me.

-karly 2014-12-08 13:51:33

Just last night I had a bear dream. I was at a childhood beach, flying up above the water. When I looked down, and old man was walking along the bear with a huge bear coming up behing him. As the bear got closer I realised it was at least twice as tall as the man. I felt an initial panic and then I understood that the bear wasn’t dangerous, however by this point other people down on the beach and in the water were yelling and telling the man to run. I was worried that this might upset the bear, that people thought he was dangerous. As I came down to the beach the bear got smaller and smaller, and by the time I got to him he was just a tiny baby, wrapped in a type of envelope, like a baby’s bunny rug. Someone told me he will get bigger again if he’s taken out of the envelope. I got him out and held him but he didn’t grow bigger again. I was disappointed. Then I spoke to a young woman who I didn’t recognise, but she was a friend. Then strangely I had an overwhelming feeling of wanting my sister to know I had such a good friend.

-Anna 2014-12-04 10:59:03

This is interesting and I would appreciate some feedback on my dream that woke me. I am not sure exactly how it was going but I remember laying on my side on the ground outside when a bear urinated on me. (I may have observed the bear and laid down or may have been woken from sleeping…I was aware of the bear before urination.). The urination was more like a dump of liquid. It was a surprise and I stated still but when I started to get fearful about what to do with a bear, I woke up. I’m not sure the urination is the main thing of the dream, but that I remembered strongest when I woke up. Any insight out there? Thank you!

-Phyllis Tipton 2014-11-13 15:03:21

IN my vivid dream, a tiger and a bear were wrestling. I had no fear of either, I had a close feeling and concern for both. I called out to them with concern. The tiger mentally said to me “don’t worry.. I’m simply making a point” I walked away and momentarily returned. The bear had left, the Tiger was lying on his back with his paws behind his head in a shallow part of a body of water. He had his chest poofed out.. obviously quite pleased with himself.. looked at me and said (mentally) “everything worked out, I made my point” this somewhat annoyed me… a toucan and another large bird came into the area.. I wanted them to be friends with me.. and they were. . Someone told me I couldn’t be and took them away.. the Tiger still basking in the water.. and observing the situation.. this was so real and tangible. . Can you help me? I am 54 & do love all animals and have many rescues (none of the ones in my dream)… but that’s all I have in common with this dream

    -Tony Crisp 2014-11-14 10:27:22

    Phyllis – I worked with the observation that dreams take place within us while we are alone without any disturbances except those created by our anxieties, fears, attitudes, talents, beliefs and thoughts. So in that sense I see that you have a sort of disagreement going on in you. It probably arises from your instinctive self, your mammalian heritage. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/#mammalbrain

    I do not know what you personally associate with the bear and the tiger, so will go with common feelings people have. The tiger often represents you female strength and protective feelings about people and things you care about. But if you can remember the last time you ‘made your point’ it might clarify for you.

    The two animals are not trying to kill each other but just standing their ground and the tiger won. You simply watching what takes place in you that is almost beneath consciousness. To find out more please use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson

    And who told you that you ‘couldn’t’ have or be something you wanted? Was it your mother that you had to fight with to attain your own independence?

    Tony

-niesha 2014-11-10 13:50:02

I just had the weirdest dream about a big grizzly bear that was my friend. There were two killers one who was trying to keep me safe and the other one was trying to kill me. Both strangers… anyway the one who was trying to save me followed me back to my house where I ran and snuggled and pet this massive grizzly bear and waited for the bad guy to come. It’s fur was soft and when the light hit it’s fur just right it would shine golden from brown. I knew the bear trusted me but i could sence his wildness. When the guy who was trying to save me showed up he laughed at the other killer on the way to my house. When the killer got there my bear attacked him but didn’t kill him. Then the bear came back and snuggled me. The guy who was trying to kill me stopped trying to kill me and ordered take out and feed most of it to the bear. And the rest to the good guy and myself. And the hole time I felt like the bear was wild and only liked me. The most memorable part wasn’t the 2 killers but the way I felt so protected by this magical bear who new I was worth protecting.

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