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
I was in old house in deep woods, sunny day. Very eyepleasing atmosphare. I felt I needed to be in that house. Remember feeling regret that I need to leave next day for work and promising myself I will be back, to spend longer time. And next minute the turmoil started…house was passable, 2 doors on both ends & multiple windows..and I had them all open when I noticed bear..brown, female. I knew in a second I need to close all doors, nail them shut from inside, find locks & keys…I was in panic searching materials to lock it all up, yet amazingly, I was also in awe & soo drawn to bear. So while I searched, adreline pumping, I also kept peeking at bear & forgetting myself. Then I noticed her mate, black male bear, getting up from lazy sitting pose at old fence close to house. Sun was shining & he looked oh so pretty. And then I shut the door…confused by all the emotions mixed in fear, awe, amazement & braveness.
Next episode I was running in this woods, picthblack night, barefoot. I didn’t know where I was going, on what I was stepping, where was the house. I knew I must run and fast. And I did it, reaching out of woods into sunlighty street filled with people further on…nice riverbench…and I felt proud. No fear or safity matters, just plain proudness of myself getting thru so well.
But before I woke up the trickling inside me was left drawing me back into those woods, into this house & close to my scary bears….
Moonika – Your dream shows you entering a different feeling about yourself, on which puts you in contact with parts of you that you hadn’t met or dealt with before – the house. You relaxed into your natural self, away from the self you have to be to deal with work.
That is where the bears come in, and they should because you are in nature –your natural self. Unfortunately you panicked because you are not used to meeting your own natural feelings. You are living in a very different world in your dreams, and like so many people you react as if you are in the waking world where you should be cautious about bears. To save me explaining in a long way, please see http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
Tony
I had a dream where I saw bears that where frozen then I was looking at one which I touched and become alive again after this I feed it some meat and turned into a black bear which then chased me into a hotel we where staying in after this it got quite mad trying to get into the hotel and then started digging up the paving trying to get inn it also tried coming through a electric fence But failed then finally it got in some how and was sitting next to me licking my head Then I awoke
I had a dream that I was walking and I turned into a big brown bear roaring. I remember leaving my daughter house of which was sliding off a snowing cliff. I am not too sure my husband woke me up after I turned into the bear.
Verna – In dreams – your inner life – you can appear as any form, any creature. So your being a bear is no surprise, but may be a way you are expressing your wild and protective mother. I wonder this because your daughter’s house was sliding off a snowy cliff.
Do you have any gut feelings about your daughter’s safety? And if so what would you do to protect her?
Tony
This morning when I was awoken by my alarm
I had just been at the point in a dream when it goes on to the next chapter and something new happens, at first I had been dreaming about something most likely unimportant because I can’t remember, but then right before my alarm woke me up, I was at the edge of the forest on a medium high cliff, peeking around a tree when I noticed a giant orange/brown bear down below. It was slowly comming out of the Forrest going toward a river, it was just about to walk by a house when I woke up. The thing about this bear that really stuck with me, it was not bothered by me and I was not bothering it, it was a comfortable atmosphere.
Please reply
Charlotte – The forest in your dream is indicating that you are approaching feeling more in tune with your own instincts and feelings. Entry into a forest can also mean an initiation into a new way of feeling about yourself and so a new you.
The bear shows this new attitude, one of ease with the power of your inner feelings. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/animals/ and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/
Tony
I dreamt I was at my parents house, it was dark outside, and I opened the main door. Outside, on the grass stood a big bear. It was huge, and I got very scared of it. It didn’t see me at first, then it stated sniffing and I realized it would notice me. I stood really still, afraid to move. Then it turned around and, stood up at it two legs and roared really load. I ran inside and slammed the door. I went to the other side of the house and opened that door. There was a small dog there, and I as bent down to pick it up, it ran ran away. Just as I took a step out, a wolf came out from behind the house and attacked the dog. The dog run towards me, and closed the door. Then I felt so bad about it, that I opened door, I picked the dog up, just in time before wolf attacked again. The dog was really hurt and bleeding. I put it inside my sweater to keep it calm. Then I woke up..
Once I started meditating about 6 onths ago, I often have vivid, almost visionary type teaching dreams that are very insightufl and really easy to interpret, but I cant figure this bear one out at all.
Last night I dreamt I was at my old cpllege at a conference with my old adviser. I was playing with it by making a model of a building with a new new metal he created. The building gradually turned into a big 300 pound bear that suddenly came alive.
My adviser and I wrestled the bear which was mildly agresive but managable, and as he sat on it an drestrained it he told me to strangle it. So I put my hands around its neck and did so gradually until there were no signs of life.
I was not very scared during this since we seemed to have full control of the bear at this point, but I did feel bad that I had to kill it for us to survive otherwise it would have caused lots of damage. Since I created the bear, I felf responsible. When I though the beard was dead, I released my grip, but thankfully the bear was still alive! It looked at my gently and kindly and seemed to be transformed and tamed. I was not completely sure it was transformed, so I continued to look at its eyes for more assurance. Then I woke up.
As I write this, It occurs to me that I am going through a sort of transformation my self, I started doing daily meditation about a month ago, and am doing lots of inner transformative work to get rid of my past anger and any negative emotions since my father died about 6 months ago.
Some how I think these are related. Does the bear represent my emotions, ego or superego or something else?
Kathy – I believe your old adviser is the beliefs and ideas you have that enable you to work on yourself. The new metal is a new technique you have been using – probably meditation.
But the technique actually put you in touch with your instinctive drives. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/brain-levels-and-dreams/
This was unexpected so you and your ideas about how to deal with such powerful forces had to wrestle with yourself/instincts. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/questions-2/#Summing It explains in a bit more detail about what we are dealing with in our dreams – not really Freudian viewpoint, but things learnt from exploring dreams.
Strangling the bear can work except that it has choked a lot of the energy of what is a natural part of you. It is my opinion that it would be better to find a working model with the bear by using – http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/ or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
Every image in your dreams is an expression of your energy – it could be sexual, emotional, mental or creative energy, so strangling it is decreasing your range of energetic response to life. See http://dreamhawk.com/approaches-to-being/lifes-little-secrets/
I know there is a lot of reading here, but I think it will explain some of your questioning.
Tony
I just woke up from a dream where I was in Walmart. I went out to get into my car and saw a bear in the front of Walmart. Everyone panicked and went to get in to whatever car they could find. There were children running, and people in a state of panic. I got into a white car that looks like a medical type vehicle. I sat there with some other women for a minute and then the bear couldn’t be seen. After a while I got out of the car and walked around looking for my car. I ran into an old childhood friend who was also looking for her car. Then I walked up to a booth that was selling bricks from my old house that I moved out of a few years ago. The builder was there and I told him the house with terrible. Then it began to rain, and my friends and I went into a store that was actually a movie set. There were a lot of young people there were in the movie and I said they were all dressed better than us. We still couldnt find my car. What do you think that means?
I don’t remember the dream just hearing the phrase “tame the bear and make it your ally”
I have had numerous dreams that included brown bears. In the beginning, I would see them at a distance at the forest edge. I would be near a school and I would run to get inside the building away from the bears. The bears would wander toward the building and I could sense them trying to get inside.
For the first time, I dreamed that the bears were in my neighborhood. There were two of them sitting on someone’s front porch watching me in my car. One of them got up on the roof of the car and I knew this because the roof was collapsing from its weight. Then, I was in my bedroom on the bed and I saw the big brown bear up on a ledge and he was anticipating getting onto the bed – he got onto the bed. Neither one of the brown bears ever got me or hurt me. I was fearful of them.
Carolyn – There is no need to be afraid of your dream bears or any animal. They are simply images you use to explain something. Your dream is showing you that you have a wonderful protection in the bears. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/your-dreams-and-understanding-this-site/#Computer
And look at the new links on the bear entry.
Tony
The last 2 nights I have been dreaming of wild animals. First night of a cheetah running around my house then once I fed the cat it became my pet. The cheetah was not aggressive. Last nighti dreamt of a brown bear in the woods where a group of us having a BBQ. The beat became very protective as I watched two other people who were attacking the bear being thrown in the air by the bear. At one stage of the dream I was being chased then ended up in a house with my two children making these rosé balls to keep the bear away. Then woke up. I’m wondering of why I’m having dreams of these wild animals..
Last night the dream started that I was visiting my brother-in-law and had locked myself out of the house. I was there alone. Out in the distance, shambling over the hills in my direction, walked a young brown bear. I panicked and called for someone to come to get me. Somehow my brother-in-law returned and let me back into the house. He laughed and seemed unconcerned when I pointed out the bear. My brother came to visit and we were opening the back door to let him in when we heard him laughing. The young brown bear was standing at my brother’s feet like a little dog letting my brother pet him. The bear tried to nose past the door to come to me. I didn’t feel like trusting the bear as I had heard too many times that wild animals can turn. I left the house and found myself alone in a tiny shack on the top of the hill. Outside of the shack were two young brown bears. They tried nosing the door open to get inside to me. I had my body pressed against the door to keep them out. I had the door locked and tied with a string also. The baby bears did not show any aggression yet I still did not trust them. The mother bear came by and started viciously attacking the door. I was able to hold her at bay. Then I woke up.
Hello, so this happened a few months ago but I really wanted someone to tell me what it means. I don’t usually dream about bears so this took me by surprise. So I dreamed that I was in this huge bright and colorful forest with huge boulders and I was naked riding the back of this giant bear. It had long brown flowing hair which covered me for the most part and I was holding on for dear life. It was leaping over lopsided broken tree trunks and weaving through the vast wilderness. At times I thought I was going to fall off but I somehow knew that I wasn’t and that everything was going to be okay. It was strange because I felt connected to the bear, as if it understood me and could hear my thoughts. Near the end of my dream we dove in this clear blue rushing river and swam under the currents were we saw multicolored fish and shiny rocks with zebra stripes and sparkles that looked like stars. It made sure I didn’t drown so it resurfaced still swimming toward the current where I saw an anxious looking wolf pack and right before I woke up they began to howl. Please its really peaked my interest and ever since I had this dream I’ve always wondered what it means. Any ideas?
Ok so bear dreams dont occur often with me but normally scare me to death since I have a fear of bears. Recently broke up with a guy and had the bear dream last night. It was outside and all my house doors were open. It was in the living room before I could close the door, my kids were there and we were trying to get by it to hide in another room. Later it turned into a man and I felt he was not safe to be around.
Hello there I had these dream where I was in a rocky place with lots of little rivers and trees around me and out of the sudden I see this brown colored bear and a family appeared where I was and I warned them about the bear but when I screamed the bear went towards me and it tried to bite me but one of the family members gave me this huge pillow and the bear did not do anything to me but then I started talking to the bear and it turned into a little girl I dont know if its good or not but the little girl just gave me a hug and left whith th family and I ended up with the family to eating dinner
Rodolfo – A wonderful example of how dreams are created by what we feel, and can transform as we shift our viewpoints of beliefs. See http://dreamhawk.com/inner-life/inner-world/
You start the dream in feelings of relaxation in your natural feelings, having dropped your ‘out in the world feelings’. But you carried into this natural inner world you feelings of fear from your outer world experience. You do not need to be afraid of anything in your inner world of dreams. Somebody in your family must have planted a seed within you of a cushion against such fears. So when you realised that you could talk to what scared you instead of avoiding it. That change of attitude transformed the bear into a little girl who loved you for recognising her.
That in turn allowed you to have a communion with your or a family. See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/association-of-ideas-with-dreams/#Working and http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/practical-techniques-for-understanding-your-dreams/
As you learn that you create your inner world a wonderful realisation can flower in you and set you free.
Tony
a few nights ago I dreamed of bears and wolves.
they were all going in the same direction one behind the other …one bear…one wolf and so on who just kept on going in what appear to be a straight line turning to right out of sight…the wolves were not chasing the bears neither did the bears chasing the wolves they just kept on going one behind the other…
any comments