NJDEP Division of Fish & Wildlife – Know the Bear Facts-Black …
http://www.state.nj.us –
So I’ve picked-up the contents of 3 contractor bags of trash two days in a row now. That means Bear and I have used 9 huge contractor garbage bags instead of three. So this morning when I visited the fall-out of Bear’s most recent rampage, I decided to just let it lie. I know that sounds gross. And I’m not proud to admit that I’m leaving garbage all over my barn. But seriously? Come on! So I’m using the “wasteful” card. Can’t “waste” any more plastic. That , and the “I just don’t want to pick garbage any more!” card. I’ll pick it all up one last time tomorrow morning, when the dump/recycling center FINALLY re-opens and I can get rid of all the trash. A friend suggested I set-up a motion sensor camera so I can see what Bear looks like. Great idea! Several of my friends use these cameras in the woods to capture images of wild life, so I hope to get my hands on one by day’s end. Maybe I’ll get a good shot or two of Bear enjoying the smorgasbord I’ve left out for her/him.
I invited Bear to join me in my dreams last night, but my exhausted sleep was so deep that I don’t recall a single dream. However, meditating yesterday was another story. I experienced two visions, of sorts. In the first meditating vision/dream I was standing and Bear was walking towards me. S/he circled me on all fours, the stood behind me and placed her/his front paws gently on my shoulders, claws and all. There we stood for some time. After that “experience” drifted away, I was again sitting in Meditation Circle, yet a bear cub walked over to me and laid in my lap, on it’s back. We cuddled, as you would with a toddler human. Both of these “visions” felt like an initiation of sorts. An initiation and welcoming into the medicine of Bear. The journey has begun.
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll have a photograph of my night time visitor.
Mandy Meyer-Hill
Stairway Healing Arts Center 
It does seem like a welcoming from Bear. Being embraced by Bear and embracing Bear.