The Quixotic Jedi

Today’s subject comes from Erin Ramsdell Wright – arguably the hottest member of my Mafia Wars mafia.  If you play Mafia Wars, you can join Erin’s mafia here, and my mafia here.Erin has recurring dreams of bears.  It’s not the dream that’s recurring, but the bears – all kinds of bears, too.  Which makes this all the more interesting to think about.  Most people dream the same sequence of events over and over – but with Erin, it’s the bear symbol that she sees again and again.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much back-and-forth with Erin as I’d like, so I’m going on relatively incomplete information.  For a reading like this, I’d normally want to know more about what’s going on in Erin’s life, how the bears make her feel in her dreams, and how long she’s been dreaming about bears. 

Albeit incomplete, my information is as follows:

Q:  What happens [in the dreams]? Good things, bad things, scary things, cuddly things?

A:  Well, Ace, they are usually very quietly and patiently stalking me. Sometimes they are polar bears, plodding from great distances; sometimes grizzlies spying on me through the thicket…etc etc. I really hope this is not bad.

A very little bit of research into bears in dream symbology yielded “Bears are symbols of calm, stoic strength.  Bears also indicate a time of introspection.  If you are dreaming of a bear sleeping or hibernating, this is a message to do a little soul searching before you present an idea to the world.  If a bear is chasing you, this means you are avoiding a big issue in your life, and it is time to deal with it.  If the bear is standing up, this is a sign you need to defend your beliefs.” (citation)

Bears also symbolize hibernation, which may suggest feelings of depression or may indicate a need for rest.  They may also convey a time of healing. 

Bears also are seen as a symbol for play, and that we need to relax and allow for some creativity into our lives.  We’ve all seen bear cubs frolicking on the Discovery Channel.

In shamanism, bears remind us of hibernation – the time spent on the journey in darkness, to re-emerge into the light, bringing the wisdom of the journey and the cubs along with them.

And let’s not forget the sage advice to avoid bear cubs because the momma bear is often not far away and will generally be pretty defensive (in an aggressive fashion) of her offspring.

If Erin has only been dreaming of bears for the past several weeks, my gut would say that she’s pregnant.  And maybe that she knows or suspects this and is having issues with revealing this fact to her significant other.  I don’t, however, know how long Erin has been dreaming of bears.

If we go the other way and assume that Erin has been dreaming of bears for quite some time now, I’d say that she has something in her life from which she needs to take a break – that she needs some playtime.  Or that there’s something she needs to confront – it’s not causing her problems right now, but it’s a source of (very) mild anxiety.  If she doesn’t confront it, though, that anxiety will eventually grow and the bears in her dreams will get closer to her and start to become frightening.

From what I’ve gleaned of Erin’s Facebook profile and her words, I’m going to say that it’s not quite as negative as that last paragraph might indicate.  Erin is very intelligent in many ways.  She’s whole-brained, which means that, like me, she uses both sides of her brain equally (holistic/sequential, intuitive/scientific, overall/detailed, verbal/math).  I think she has suspicions as to what the bears in her dreams symbolize.  The fact that she also dreams about different bears is also very pertinent – she’s not just dreaming about the same bear over and over, but rather variations on a theme.  I don’t have time to get into this aspect of the analysis.

The whole-brain thing also indicates both “female” and “male” characteristics in her – which are borne out in her Facebook profile.  She likes the “girly” things one can do on Facebook – sending iSmiles and taking various quizzes.  For example, her “royal name” is Countess Erin the Talented (what’d I tell you), and she scored “a little bit” in the “How Feminine Are You? Quiz”.  But she only has one picture on her profile.  To say that most of the girls I’m fb friends with have many pictures posted would be a gross understatement.  She’s also (as of the date of this post) a level 104 Mafia Wars player.  That’s high.

Erin is also French, so I think it’s appropriate to discuss (briefly) the Celtic goddess Artio.  Artio is the Gaulish (another word for Celtic) word for Bear.  The goddess is often depicted either as a bear, or with a bear by her side.  One monument shows her sitting, holding a bowl of fruit, with the bear nearby.  If you’re reading this blog, you should be able to figure out that the fruit symbolizes prosperity and plenty, so I won’t describe that too much.  In the Roman Empire, the land we now call France was known as Gaul, and if you do a bit of research, you’ll find that the Celts are the descendants of those who once peopled Gaul – in a very Celtic-centric sense.

Again, I have very little to go on, but my impression is that Erin is an old soul – I have a vague feeling that she might be Artio herself, though she doesn’t and probably wouldn’t/couldn’t know it. 

Again, I think Erin has an inkling as to what the bears symbolize.  I think the fact that they seem to be lingering more than lurking indicates that she’s got some changes coming up in her life that only she can effect.  That is, she has to spend some time meditating on making one or more decisions.  She’s relatively happy right now – I can tell that from our brief correspondences, but she’s just at the edge of greatness and extreme happiness.  She just needs to take that last step – a leap of faith, if you will – over the edge.  It’s not that she’s standing on the edge of the cliff with nowhere to go, but more that she’s walking along the cliff and can jump at any time she likes.  The flowers in the field on her left side are beautiful to look at – the grass waves gently in the breeze and the sun shines gently upon her face.  When she decides to turn to her right and step off the edge, she’ll find herself flying.  And then the rest of us would say that “the sky’s the limit”, but she’ll already be in the sky, where there are no limits.  She’ll truly be a goddess then.