Once upon a time, there lived a nymph named Callisto & she was vowed to Artemis, goddess of the hunt. But Zeus desired her & in punishment, Hera turned the pregnant Callisto into a bear. Many years later, Arcas (Callisto's son) came across her while hunting. In her joy to see him, Callisto rushed to embrace him. But Arcas, thinking he's being attacked by a bear, shoots her. fatally In order to prevent the matricide, Zeus places Callisto in the sky as the great mother bear, Ursa Major, & Arcas as the hunter Arcturus, always chasing after her. This simple tale may have its roots in possibly one of the oldest known myths in the world, that of the cosmic hunt.

Bears & other predatory animals have been at the core of humanity's imagination, both as ferocious hunters & wise guardians, gateways to the Other-world of spirits & gods. A section of paleontology argues for the worship of cave bears by Neanderthals & early modern humans

I give up. This identity is too vast for me to put into words right now... it lies beyond all my years of speech & thinking, beyond the subconscious processes of my brain, deep into something mythical that shifts in & out of the human consciousness. It resides in mythical time, in mythical space, which is to the left of our own universe, & three times as heavy.

I have not always been myself, but since I was created, I have been the bear. I have always been the bear. In each of my lives I have been called on to embody this mythical role & sometimes I have failed but I have always borne the weight with the grace it needed.

Jung theorized that the bear lies at the very beginning of human mythology, standing for the warden of the Other-world & in my folcintera, I embody the bear as beloved guardian & protector. I carry the love of thousands of generations for this animal, who stands like a man & sleeps like a child.