The Dream Book of Self-Knowledge
- symbolizes an unclear inner instinctual life, often a sexual subtext (if there are three bears, then the dream is telling the dreamer that the symbol is working on a physical, emotional and intellectual level).
- a fight with a bear (seen or experienced): represents the inner fight with one's instinctual essence, and therefore it is good if the dreamer wins in the fight and even better if he is able to change the fight into a harmless game.
- female bear (usually with her young): one of the less frequent symbols of the Mother archetype (see the effect of the mother archetype in the Father – Mother archetype).
- seeing many bears: the dreamer will have to make all efforts to defend his emotional and spiritual consciousness from a predominance of instinctual personifications that uncontrollably arise from within.
- a dangerous or attacking bear: instincts are penetrating too quickly from within the dreamer to waking consciousness and to dreams and are becoming a great threat for smooth emotional and spiritual development; at this time the dreamer should more observe his urges for sexual acts and try to replace them with emotional experience.
- standing before a stag: see Stag.
- changing into a dog: a frequent image that shows us the interdependence of instinctual symbols.
- it is good for successful development if we see bears together with emotional personifications (usually siblings) or even with personifications of the spiritual level (e.g. in the experiences of the UFO – Initiation Ceremonies archetype or in experiences of the Numinosum archetype); the dreamer has in this view and with significant help the chance to easily recognize the instinctual essence of the symbol and find the way for its future assimilation.
- speaking with a bear, understanding its language: the dreamer has understood the instincts and traits linked to the bear.
- killing a bear: the dreamer will temporarily rid himself of the effect of instinctual traits on his subconscious, but this effect will soon (once the bear's offspring grow up) rise to life again and threaten the dreamer's power over himself; the life and death of bears needs to be left to the unconscious which shows us through their fate the true state of the mind and paves the way to assimilating the lower nature by a higher mind.
- a dead bear: if the dreamer is not responsible for its death, then it is a very positive dream since the unconscious has in a single image appraised the dreamer's victory over one of the strongest instinctual symbols; yet even after such a victory there must occur final assimilation of the living symbol that indicates final and perfect conscious control of the instinctual symbol.
- rescuing a bear: a very significant dream in which the dreamer subconsciously realizes that killing instinctual symbols is misguided, and understands that the only way to the full control of the body's instinctual essence is friendship, love and assimilation through emotional and spiritual principles.
- a bear pelt (as a trophy): indicates victory over instincts, a victory that semantically relates to the bear.
- changing into a toy stuffed animal: such a transformation is conditioned by the burning of natural relations to Mother Earth, by the burning of those very relations through which Greek mythology describes the battle of the gods and giants – a battle in which the emotional hero Heracles brought victory to the gods.
- playing with a bear: unless the game changes into a fight or the dreamer is threatened, this is the result of assimilating an instinctual symbol through a higher mind (emotional and spiritual) and the bear that has lost its instinctual essence becomes a loyal friend.
- polar bear: see Polar bear.
