I have been off work for a few weeks after having a hernia repair operation. I had a general anaesthetic because it’s classed as major surgery. The surgery was successful, and I am healing well.
After the surgery when I was coming round, I had some weird dreams that I was talking to people who weren’t there. I was then coming round and realising that they were just dreams.
The dream that felt the most realistic, though, was one where I was in a clearing in a forest. Stood in front of me near the treeline was a bear.
Two things that struck me about this bear were the enormous size of it and the fact it had antlers. It approached me and spoke. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what it said.
I did a bit of internet searching for a bear with antlers, and what I found is that in Finnish mythology some nature spirits take the form of enormous bears which have the features of other animals, in some cases the atlers of deer.
These spirits must be prayed to before a hunt or disaster will befall your expedition.
It’s thought that the original name for bears would draw them to you, so other names were used when talking about bears. The one I found the most was Otso.
Before this I knew nothing about Finnish mythology. It might just be a cohincidence, but I found it interesting.
Paul J. Kearns 