the heart and the catalyst

by Rain Trueax

Another interesting dream that I am still mulling over with two symbols that seemed possible to have meaning.

We are renting a small cabin in the mountains and our grown son is with us. I look out the window and see a bear approaching. It is not aggressive but striding toward the house. That's when I see my son is out there and not coming into the cabin. He looks like he does-- tall and strong, but this is a bear after all-- and my son is standing there watching as the bear approaches. I warn him to get in and go out another door to walk from the house and wave my arms to distract the bear; so my son can get in. Instead, he steadily walks toward the bear, who then turns and runs away. In the dream, I am still unsure why he did any of that. Next to the house is a pear tree. I take one and begin eating the juicy fruit. It is rich and so delicious

Dream dictionary says a bear in a dream is said to represent independence, strength, death and renewal, and/or resurrection. Bears are symbolic of the cycle of life. The dreamer may also be undergoing a period of introspection and thinking.

The pear is interesting too -- Pear in a dream symbolizes the womb and fertility. Thus, it may refer to some female in the dreamer's life.

As I woke to consider the dream, I wasn't sure how going out there to try and distract the bear from my son but having him walk his own path toward the bear fits into this. It was

something for me to think about. Perhaps this bear not being aggressive has meaning.

At this point, I think this all relates more to the books I am working on than my personas life. The work in progress (where I am editing right now) has death and renewal as its dominant theme. Can someone be dead and return to life? In a paranormal, that is possible. What is the end result when that person returns?

There are no bears in either book-- unless you count bear shifters, the grandson of the heroine of the book I hope the write next. Algoma, heroine of the novella, is after my own

heart, to whom I related (she was in Unfinished Business) despite the distance between our lives. She has accepted what must be, a woman of the earth and will be the first time I ever wrote a Native American heroine. 

I've avoided writing women outside of my own culture because to me the woman is the heart of the story even as the hero is its catalyst. 

How can I write about women of a culture I have not personally lived some part of? My heroes have sometimes been half Native American, but they also haven't had a traditional upbringing; hence, I can use what I know of the other culture but also my own. Because this next heroine raises sheep, I have the way into her heart-- I hope.

The bear though took on new meaning when I met a woman who it turned out has a Cherokee husband. He has a lot of interactions with and knew Navajos. He said he'd enjoy answering questions I might have. On Friday I called, and the three of us talked a long time. He knew many things I was curious about. About the time we were ready to hang up, I mentioned the bear dream and described what was above. They both laughed. The bear is his totem. 

And so goes the wonders and mysteries of life.