Artio, Gaulish Bear Goddess
As the fall season nears its end and the days grow ever shorter, we all feel the desire to embrace a slower pace and indulge in a bit more sleep. Bear Goddess Artio comes to my mind during this seasonal transition.
Artio, Celtic Bear Goddess of Wild Life, Transformation, and Abundance, is one of the more obscure goddesses in the Celtic pantheon. She is often shown with baskets of plenty and surrounded by animals. Artio is frequently depicted as a bear. Her name comes from the old Celtic word for bear, arth(e), which the Romans Latinized to artos. With the ability to shape-shift into a bear, she — like the mother bear who fiercely protects her cubs — protects wild animals and the natural world.
In Northern Europe the bear was always associated with transformation and shape-shifting. The female bear conceives in the fall, going into hibernation pregnant. She journeys in the darkness and emerges in the spring, symbolizing rebirth and a shaman’s return with new wisdom and insights to share with the world.
Artio arrived in western Europe with the Helvetii a Celtic tribe who migrated to Switzerland around 450 BC. They worshiped her as the “She-Bear”.
But her origins could be even older than that. Some feel that the bear is the oldest European deity as bones and skulls of bears have been found lovingly arranged on niches found…
