Today the noble polar bear was listed by the US Government as a threatened species because the icy environs in which it thrives are diminishing. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said this step did not denote a policy shift to lessen ‘global warming.’ It appears to be the government’s first use of the Endangered Species Act to note the loss of animal habitat caused by dramatic man-made or naturual climate changes.

But far away from the world of argument about what or who causes what, in the world of dreams and ideas, the bear carries ancient names: La Osa, El Oso, in Spanish, and in the Latin, Ursa (female bear), and Ursus (male bear).

Throughout folktales and mythos of people who live anywhere in the world wherein also live bears, there are myriad stories about the bear as an enchanted human being…

…one who is destined to wander as a bear in survivor mode, until a challenging and magical event takes place. Sometimes, the bear is transformed back into human form again– if and when the bear is loved by a human being of great heart.

Thus sometimes bear stories are called in variation: The Old Man In the Black Fur Coat. Or white, brown, yellow or red fur coat.

There’s an idea in archetypal psychology– the study of symbols and the psychological catalysts they seem to represent in the human psyche– that some ancient stories can mimic the human condition in such a timeless way that the ancient stories are as relevant to our inner lives today… as they once were to peoples who lived thousands of years ago.

There is an old Greek story that qualifies as such, I think. This story has remained alive since time out of mind, and concerns a young woman who is transformed into the Mother of all bears… ironically — as in our own times– this ancient being was endangered, for she was driven out of her original habitat, and in the midst of being hunted to extinction…. but at the last moment she was saved and protected in a most stunning way.

The story goes like this…

In Greek mythos, Callisto was a beautiful nymph, a spirit of the forest. She’d given her troth to Artemis, the Great Huntress Goddess, to live without mundane human connection, but rather to live her life by higher, more divine ideals. This included not marrying.

Nonetheless, one day, the chief God, Zeus, espied Callisto and was overcome by the idea of having her. He changed himself into a mime of Artemis and thus appeared to Callisto at her bath while she was naked. Callisto, seeing it was her beloved teacher Artemis, let down her guard. But, Zeus then changed back into his own form and overcame Callisto, some say by artful seduction, others say by force.

And Callisto, became pregnant and tried to hide her growing belly from Artemis.

But now the real Artemis came upon Callisto at her bath and saw the young woman’s growing belly. Artemis became so angered that Callisto had seemingly turned away from her promise to live our her promise to remain a virgin, that she exiled Callisto, dooming her to wander and give birth to her child all by herself.

Came then Hera, Zeus’s insanely jealous wife who had heard what happened and how, and had been hunting down Callisto. Finding her now, Hera threw her to the ground where Callisto, by the grace of the gods, was turned into a bear.

From that day onward, Callisto was hunted now in a whole different way. The son she gave birth to was spirited away and raised by demi-gods. And Callisto wandered, ever more vulnerable to hunters and lack of food and water.

Years passed and the old rugged bear managed to dodge all hunters and heal from the wounds of the arrows that struck but did not kill.

One day, she spied a young hunter coming toward her. But, instead of being filled with fear, she was filled with joy, and rushed to greet the hunter for it was her son… now grown up and strong.

But the young man only saw a she-bear charging at him with arms raised and all black claws splayed. He raised his mighty bow to shoot straight into the bear’s heart to kill it.

And Zeus, watching from Olympus, scooped up Callisto from right out of the forest. Up and upward and more upward he carried her, and gently placed her in the sky… where the white hot lightning of her mother love for her son made her into a chalice of stars.

But, she so missed her child that Zeus took more pity, and also scooped up the young man, carrying him near to his mother and placed him too in the sky.

And thus we have Ursa Major, the Greater Bear, and near her always, her beloved offspring Ursus Minor, the Littler Bear… both said now to be lighting the night sky for those on the ground to spot and see, so they can always know which direction they face and which way to travel next.

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CODA
One might think this story is about the hunter and the hunted, or about virgins and not virgins, or about philandering and jealousy, or about one force overwhelming another. And it could be said, it truly touches on all those elements in a single psyche…

the ideas we pledged ourselves to but find ourselves being unfaithful to for a time; the things we try to force on ourselves; the new life that sometimes remarkably comes from being overwhelmed; the desire to punish ourselves for not being good enough… all matters like those.

But most of all perhaps, this could be said to be a story about grave imbalances in the world, in one’s life… and about how, through transformation in both painful as well as divine ways, more balance can be brought… dare I say it… to bear?