Migration Period, in Europe, 146, 147
Milk, bear’s, 77–79, 184–186
Milk herbs, 184–185
Mill bear (Tale), 170–171
Milne, A. A., 253, 273
Modraniht “Mother’s Night,” 99–100
Mohicans, 132, 133–134, 134p
Montana, 62, 64
Mother Earth, 83–84, 90, 131, 135
Mother Goose/Mother Hulda, 37, 80–82, 126
Mother Holle (woman of the cave), 80
Mount Shasta, 46, 47, 48, 49
Mueller-Ebeling, Claudia, 259
N
Names, connection to animals, 8
National Geographic, bear as portrayed in, 51
Native American(s)
animal teacher and, 6
bearberry (medicine plants), 183
the bear for, 10, 12
bear illustrations form the northwest, 116p
bear images from northwestern coast, 178p
bear nicknames of, 31
bears and panicky people, 169
bear skeletons and, 190
black bear in the language of, 34
cave homes of, 53
claim of female bear, 207
doctors of the Californian, 178
Licorice for, 186
living in bear country, 18
living inside Mount Shasta, bears and, 49
medicine man or women of, 9
of the prairie, 71p, 200p
shamans, 8
warrior plant, 185
Native peoples, bears for, 52
Nauwald, Nana, 187
Neaderthals
as an old human race, 25–30, 28p, 29p
bears and, 22–24, 30
genetic links of, 30
hunting cave bear, 25p
making a bear altar, 27p
Velburg caves and, 33
Nicknames, of bears, 31
Nivkh wood carving, Siberia, 19p
North America/North Americans
bear as special creature of, 61
the bear for, 224
brown bear, 23
Northern Crown (Corona Borealis), 100
Northern hemisphere, bears in, 32–36
North Star, 130–131, 141
Norway, story from, 246–247
November days, Celts and, 99–101
Nukta, bear sacrifices of, 224
O
Odin-Grimnir, 145
Odin (Wotan), 8, 144, 146, 147, 151, 161, 234, 244
Ojibwa medicine man (Siyaka), 12
Old Stone Age, 10p, 75, 83, 207
Oroqen tribe, 42
Osborn (Asbjørn), the divine bear, 40–42
P
Paddington Bear, 244, 270
Paleolithic bear cave sites, in eastern Switzerland, 28p
Paleo-Siberians
carving of bear with fish in its mouth, 92p
ceremonies of hunters of, 226
peoples, 12
story told by, 81–82
tribe, 223
Panda, 35–36
Patron saint, 237–241
Pawnee tribe, 14–18
Pea-bear, Straw-bear and, 86–90
Pentecost Bear, 89
Petzi, 260
Pig, fat, bear caught (story), 246–247
Pilgrimage to the Holy See, 163
Plant healers’ teacher, 12–18
Plants, 12
as bear meals, 175–176
bear’s garlic, bear leek, or ramsons, 180–181, 180p
bears knowledge of, 11
burdock, 183–184
clubmoss, 181–182
healing and medical, 178
inducing sleep, 176–177
warrior, 185
Poems, 257, 275
Polar bears, 32, 35–36, 35p
Pomo tribe, 45–46
Power, places of bear, 211–228
Prasena, 112
R
Racoon (Procyon), 36, 36p
Raetsch, Christian, 11, 259
Ranchers, idea of bear, 51
Rasmus Klump, 260, 260p
Rasmussen, Knut, 188–189
Rebirth, bear as symbol of, 90
Regourdou (Dordogne, southern France), 27
Riegel, Hans, 269
Ritual bear burial, 27
Rituals of departure, 199–210
Robin, Christopher, 253, 273
Rock Smasher, 71
Rocky Mountains, 11, 54, 71, 115, 185, 229
Roosevelt, Theodore “Teddy,” 251, 252p, 253
Rules of conduct, animals and, 6
Rural year, Celts division of, 94
Russian bear, 270–271, 271p
Russian tale, 76
S
Saentis Mountain, 23, 28
Saint Christopher, 237
Saint Columba, 159–160, 164p, 165
Saint Corbinian, 162, 163
Saint Gall (Gailleach), 160–162, 161p, 164p, 168, 171, 219
Saint John, 182
Saint Lucius, 163
Saint Mang, 110, 162
Saint Martin, 163
Saint Maximin, 162, 163
Saint Nicolaus von Fluee, 171–173, 172p
Saint Richardis, 166
Samhain (Halloween), 99
Sami people, 190, 207
Samoyed, bear for, 10
Sandstone figure from Neolithic field of graves, 85p
Scandinavia, story from, 150
Schwingen, Bernese, 232–233, 233p
Sense of home, bears and, 215
Servant Ruprecht (German Knecht Ruprecht), 87
Seton, Ernest Thompson, 177
Seus, Doug, 261
The seven luminous ones, 130–131
The seven rishis. see The seven luminous ones
Shamanism
for modern people, 8
protective animal spirits and, 9
Shaman(s). see also Shamanism
bear, 10, 13p, 15–18, 31–38, 201p
bear spirits and, 12
black foot shaman during healing ceremony, 15p
Christian missionaries and, 8–9
communicating with animals, 6
communicating with spirits, 3
on magical journey riding a bear, 8p
Nepalese and Native American, 8
power of, 12
search for caves, 37
Siberian, 6, 8p, 182
snake, 9
Stone Age, 6, 8p, 182
Tungusic, 11p
Shankar-Shiva, 131
Shasta, 46–47
Shepard, Ernest H., 273
Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy, 144
Short-faced bear, 33
Siberia/Siberians. see also Paleo-Siberians
aboriginals, 219, 224
Ainu and natives of Kamchatka in, 40
the bear for, 224
bears and panicky people, 169
bear skeleton in, 190
brown bears in, 34, 194
cave homes of, 53
claiming as descendants of bears, 42
claim of female bear, 207
drawing of bear and elk with fly agaric, 179p
eastern, 114–115, 191–192
Khanty people, 206
Nanei tribe bear idols, 204p
nick name for bear, 31
peoples, 10
sandstone figure from Neolithic filed of graves, 85p
shamans, 6, 8p, 182
tales from, 43, 66
tribes, 131
Tungusic peoples in, 187, 204
wooden healing amulets with bear motifs, 192p
Sigstead, Shawn, 185
Singer, Maria, 197
Sioux bear, songs of, 13
Sivananda, 18
Slavic languages, new mother in, 37
Sleep, 60
Slovenia, 26
Smokey Bear, 272–273, 272p
Smokey Mountains, 155
Snake shaman,
9
Snow White and Rose Red riding the bear, 108p
Snyder, Gary, 21, 199
Song(s)
The Bare Necessities, 259
medicine, 200
of passamaquoddy, 132
sacred, 204
Siberian Khanty, 211
of Sioux bear, 13
Soul, shining light in bear’s, 64–66
Spectacled bear, 33
Spignel. see Bear wort (Meum athamanticum)
Spiritual culture and life, of Neanderthals, 26–27
Spring, bears during, 100–101
Spring goddess riding a bear, 97p
St. Gallen, Switzerland, 23, 29
Star Wars Trilogy, 266
Steiff, Margarete, 252
Steiff, Richard, 252
Steiff teddy bear, 253p
Steiner, Rudolph, 100
Stone Age
Ayla as girl in, 244
fossilized skull of brown bear from, 228
gathering herbs, 178
hunters and bear shamans, 31–38
Neanderthals during, 23–24
shamans, 6, 8p, 182
Story(ies). see also Legends; Tales/fairy tales
about Bodwar Bjarki (Bodwar Little Bear), 150
about Pawnee, 15–18
about sleep-inducting herbs, 176–177
“About the Origin of Disease,” 155–157
on bear’s status by Deer, 154–155
of captured women and children, 76–77
Cheyenne treatment of slain bear, 202–203
Chippewa, 76
from Finland, 248–249
grandmother’s stories, 65, 67–74
on grizzly bear protecting Native American child, 244
of hermit Gerold, 163
from Lapland, 245, 246p, 247p, 2460
of Little Bear and Cheyenne woman, 69–71
of Mogli, 258–259
mythology of the Cheyenne, 135
Norwegian, 246–247
on origin of bears, 43–44
of Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear, 267–268
recorded by Nana Nauwald, 81–82
from Scandinavia, 150
told by Paleo-Siberians, 81–82
of woman captured by bear, 72–74
Straw-bear, Pea-bear and, 86–90
Sun bear, 35, 277
Survival of the fittest, 24
Sweden, cave painting in, 41p
Switzerland
Baselland, 95
Berne, 22, 76–77, 110, 148, 191, 229–241, 232p
eastern, caves in, 28
last wild bear in, 239p, 240
Lucerne, 172
Ragaz, 89
Trentino, 240
Valais, 76, 163, 171
Syamantaka, 112
T
Tales/fairy tales. see also Story(ies)
about mill bear, 170–171
about war between king of animals and king of birds, 152–153, 152p, 153p
Tales/fairy tales continued
ambiguity of, 126
Bearskin, 65–66, 119–124, 120p, 145–146
Christian, 7
Goose Girl, 6
Grimms’ Cinderella, 6, 104–108
of John Bear, 78–79
of the Medicine Bear, 14–18
of Mother Holle, 80–82
Rose Red, 65, 104–108, 124–125
Russian, 76
Siberian, 43, 66
Snow White, 65, 104–108, 124–125
Tallbull, Bill, 5, 67–68, 135, 178, 183, 188, 191, 212
The Tao (the path), 254
Teddy Bear, 243–244, 249–253, 250p, 251p, 252p, 253p
Telepathic communication, animal’s, 5
“The Bear and the Two Companions” (De La Fontaine), 104
Theosophists, 24
Thick Fur, 72–74
Thor, 40, 161
as Bear, 141
as god of farmers, 86
hammer, 41, 41p, 175
as son of heavenly king, 42
Thor’s Wagon, 141
Three-fold goddess, 127p
Tlingit, bear sacrifices of, 224
Tom Thumb, 141
Totem animal, 39
of the Alemannic warriors, 160–161, 235
of Berlin, 263
Germanic, 162
Russian, 271
of the state of New Mexico, 272
Swiss, 240
Trainers, bear, 196
Transylvanians, 60, 124
Traveling artists with dancing bear, 169p, 189p
Treben, Maria, 182
Tribe(s)
Alemannic, 147–148, 159, 160
Algonquian, 132
Evenks, 42, 43
Kirati, 10, 259
Oroqen, 42
Paleo-Siberians, 223
Pawnee, 14–18
Pomo, 45–46
Trois-Fères Cave, 38
Tungus, bear for, 10
Tungustic shaman, 11p
Twelfth heaven, Guest from, 132–134
Tyr, 172
U
Ulfhedinn, Berserkers and, 144–149, 144p
Ursa Major, 129–130, 130p, 131, 132, 133, 136, 139–140, 141, 142
Ursa Minor, 130, 130p, 136, 140, 142
Ursus arctos californicus, 34
Uzbekistan, 26
V
Velburg, Germany, 32
Venus figures, 38, 38p
Viking invasions, 146
Vishnu (Preserver of the Universe), 111–112
Vocabulary of bears, 58
Volmar, Friedrich, 233
Von Droste-Huelshoff, Annette, 143
von Wuerzburg, Konrad, 9
W
Walt Disney’s Bambi, 272
The Waltharilied (Ekkehart), 29
Warrior bear, 143–157
Warrior Bjarki, 7–8, 150–151
Warrior fighting a bear-like monstrosity, 92p
Warrior-like Maruts, 196
Washington Post, 251
Waugh, Evelyn, 258
Were-bear, 147p
White bear, 64, 65p, 154p, 238
Wicása Wakan, 12
Wild Chapel (Wildkirchli) cave, 23, 28–29
Wild licorice, 186
Wild Man’s (Wildmannlisloch) Cave, 23, 28, 30
Winnie-the-Pooh, 243, 253–255, 255p, 273
Wise hermits, 91
Witches’ days, Celts and, 94
Wolf shaman, 9
Wolfskins, 144–149
Wolf’s Mountain, 139
Woman, enigmatic, 25–30
World Wildlife Fund (WFF), 277
Woutis (Wotan), 144, 146, 161, 172, 234, 236, 244
Y
Yakut, Evenks and, 207
Yellowstone, Smokey bear and, 212–216, 213p, 214p, 216p, 231
Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, 55, 58, 211
Yogi Bear, 273
Yonv(a) (bears), 44
Z
Zalmoxis and immortality, 113–115, 118
Zerling, Clemens, 243
Zeus, 137, 138
About the Author
Born in 1942 in Saxony, Germany, with a green thumb and the gift of writing, cultural anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wolf Dieter Storl, who immigrated with his parents to the United States in 1954, has had a special connection to nature since childhood. His specific area of research is shamanism and healing in traditional societies, focusing on the role of plants in all aspects of life, including sacred symbolism, magic, medicine, foods, and poisons. He has pursued this interest in many parts of the world. After finishing his PhD in anthropology on a Fulbright scholarship in 1974 in Berne, Switzerland, he taught anthropology and sociology in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Storl is also an avid traveler and has observed nature around the entire globe, spending time with people who are very connected to the nature that surrounds them. From 1982 to 1983, he spent a year as an official visiting scholar at the Benares Hindu Univers
ity in Varanasi, India. After returning to the United States in 1984, he spent two years with traditional medicine persons of the Cheyenne and taught courses at Sheridan College in Sheridan, Wyoming. He has traveled and conducted research in South Asia, India, Mexico, the Canary Islands, South Africa, and much of Europe, pursuing ethnobotanical and ethnomedicinal interests. His books and articles have been translated into various languages, including Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. Storl is a frequent guest on German, Swiss, and Austrian television and has also appeared on the BBC. After another visit in India and Nepal in 1986, Storl and his wife moved to Germany, where he is writes and lectures. They live on an old estate with a large garden in the foothills of the Alps.
Storl’s books are unique in that he does not treat nature with cold objectivism. He is able to delve into nature’s depths and supports his experience with ancient lore from all over the world that has been, for the most part, left on the wayside in the wake of objective science. He theorizes that science is not always as objective as it claims to be and invites his readers on a journey into a world of nature that is completely alive and has its own rhyme and reason. Myths and lore from many cultures also have a prominent place in his writings, as he claims that the images portrayed in this way often tell us more about the true nature of things than dry, scientific facts can do.
About North Atlantic Books
North Atlantic Books (NAB) is an independent, nonprofit publisher committed to a bold exploration of the relationships between mind, body, spirit, and nature. Founded in 1974, NAB aims to nurture a holistic view of the arts, sciences, humanities, and healing. To make a donation or to learn more about our books, authors, events, and newsletter, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com.
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