Tamed By a Bear: Coming Home to Nature-Spirit-Self

by Priscilla Stuckey

Overview

"Priscilla Stuckey shines a brilliant light on the relationship we long to cultivate with the deepest wellsprings of our wisdom and love . . . This is a groundbreaking book, written with extraordinary clarity, beauty, and radical honesty." —Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

In an age of materialism, language of spirit or spirits seems at best suspect and at worst alien or naïve. When Priscilla Stuckey begins hearing Bear’s voice, she is a writer and religious studies professor in her fifties. Though she enjoys communing with trees and birds and the land, she intellectually knows better than to try talking directly with spirit. Yet searching for the truth of her own identity leads her directly toward what she is most skeptical of. As Stuckey opens to her spirit animal helper and his affectionate, jovial wisdom, she begins to realize the slow dawning of faith. Tamed by a Bear shows one person responding to the call of her heart, which is also the call of Earth to all human beings today: to listen to a more–than–human wisdom so people can address the social and environmental crises facing the world.

At this moment, when the future of life on Earth as we know it hangs in the balance—threatened by climate change, species extinctions, and extreme economic inequality—the key to survival is found in answering one question: How can humans live more peaceably and sustainably with the rest of nature? The heart–opening conversations between Bear and Stuckey suggest a reinvigorating of nature–spirituality in everyday life. Their dialogues show an educated, thoughtful person grappling with her skepticism about Earth spirits and gradually saying yes to a call from beyond her intellectual understanding.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781619029866
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	07/01/2017
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	663 KB

About the Author

Priscilla Stuckey is a writer and spiritual counselor with a passion for reconnecting people with nature, including their own natures. Her first book, Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature, won the 2013 WILLA Award in Creative Nonfiction. Stuckey received a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, in religious studies and feminist theory. She has taught humanities and writing in the graduate programs of Prescott College and Naropa University. She lives at the base of the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque with her partner, Tim, and their dog, Bodhi.

Editorial Reviews

07/17/2017
When the publicity tour for her previous book leaves religion professor and advocate of nature awareness Stuckey (Kissed by a Fox) feeling unmoored personally and professionally, she embarks on a shamanic guided journey. In these meditations, she encounters a “helper” in the form of a jovial, pleasure-loving bear. She records her disjointed, impressionistic conversations with Bear, structuring them for her reader around small personal crises in her life over the course of a year. Bear advises patience on her housing search and an encouragement to return to cheese after years of lactose intolerance, as part of a general encouragement to pay attention to our bodies, make time for pleasure, and not waste so much time worrying. Stuckey expresses frustration with people who assume Bear is just a projection of her subconscious, arguing instead that he is a force outside of her she has tapped into. While the details of her life will not apply to most, Stuckey’s book is a fine model of the type of knowledge one can gain through a similar process. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Tamed by a Bear

“Stuckey's book teaches me to pay attention to the other beings accompanying us on our daily journeys. Whether we listen to their voices or not will make the difference in our future together.” —Daily Camera

“In Priscilla Stuckey’s latest book, we are warmly encouraged to enjoy rearranging our lives to honour our relations in the larger–than–human world. This is not another DIY shamanism or self–help manual. It is an intimate reflection on listening, on trusting our senses, on being in the world. It is about rooting ourselves in concern for well–being for everyone we know and encounter, including ourselves.” —Graham Harvey, Open University, UK, author of Animism: Respecting the Living World and editor of Shamanism: A Reader

“What would the voice of aware consciousness sound like and say, if I could listen deeply enough? In Tamed by a Bear, Priscilla Stuckey shines a brilliant light on the relationship we long to cultivate with the deepest wellsprings of our wisdom and love. With Bear, her animal Helper, she shares her Journey to a life of communion between spirit and our physical nature. This is a groundbreaking book, written with extraordinary clarity, beauty, and radical honesty.” —Gail D. Storey, author of I Promise Not to Suffer: A Fool for Love Hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award

“With wisdom and a sweet tempo, Priscilla shares her process of trust and receiving through a beautifully envisaged and shaped journey.” —Joanie Clingan, Prescott College, Faculty Emeritus in Sustainability Education and Arts & Humanities

“Dialogue is a staple format in mystical writings, and for good reason. Whether we're eavesdropping on Arjuna and Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, or the pilgrim and his staretz in Way of a Pilgrim, the conversations can quickly start to feel personal, because in a very real sense, Arjuna is just a stand–in for you and me; his questions are uncannily close to the ones we ourselves would raise if we could. Taking up a shamanic practice brought Priscilla Stuckey to the infinitely wise and tender teacher she calls, simply, 'Bear.' Their conversations, recorded in Stuckey's lovely new book, prove definitively that the mystical dialogue is alive and well. More than that, I believe they demonstrate the age–old power of the format itself—to draw us in and make us feel that Bear is our teacher too—our staretz, our Krishna.” —Carol Lee Flinders, author of Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics

“Tamed by a Bear is an adventure story, about an inner journey available to us all. Author Priscilla Stuckey shares with honesty and insight her relationship with Bear, the spirit guide and helper who appears in her inner world to teach her about the things we need to know most: joy, relationship, receiving help, and welcoming the adventure or everyday life. Her stories delight and challenge us to consider the inter–beingness of reality and the wealth of support and guidance that is available to us all. It lifted me, reminded me of what I thought I could never forget. And I am grateful.” —Oriah “Mountain Dreamer” House, author of The Invitation

“Every page of this book sparkles with wise, clear, profoundly important insight that will resonate with anyone seeking reconciliation and communion with the Earth community. This is spiritual wisdom earned by quieting enough to receive guidance from within and without. In a time when technological clamor threatens to overwhelm our lives and devastate the planet, Priscilla Stuckey offers a simple, but not easy, path forward through the noise. This is essential reading for any spiritual or ecological warrior.” —Elizabeth Allison, PhD, Founder and Chair of the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion graduate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies

“What do you do once your last, best dream is fulfilled? After publishing her first book, Priscilla Stuckey feels surprisingly lost. In an effort to find her path, she embarks with some skepticism on a journey, a shamanic journey, and takes us with her every step of the way. Written with grace and simplicity—and luminous descriptions of nature—each of the 67 short chapters embodies a teaching. And the fact that Priscilla’s spirit guide is a friendly and cheerful bear keeps things grounded, and invites us along for the ride. As Priscilla finds her path unfolding, one step at a time, we too are shown how to listen deeply and find more acceptance and joy ... and a deeper relationship with all of life. Like Bear, this book is warm, engaging, and wise. A journey worth taking.” —Rivvy Neshama, author of award–winning Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles

“Tamed by a Bear is a wonderful surprise! Not only will this book change the way you see the world, it will change your life. With artistry, mastery, and patience, Priscilla Stuckey, along with the help of Bear, breaks through the barriers of the skeptical mind and invites the reader to share in the intimate dialogue between a human and their unseen Helper. This book is not another philosophical discourse on the relationship between nature and spirit. Nor is it an abstract discussion about the value of invisible realities. Rather, it is a love story between two very real beings—Stuckey and Bear—who together will open both your heart and mind.” —Betsy Perluss, PhD, Wilderness Guide, School of Lost Borders

“In Tamed by a Bear, Priscilla Stuckey chronicles her journey into the heart of this numinous living world, guided by a stunningly wise and delightfully down–to–earth bear spirit. This story is an extraordinary and courageous gift, full of wisdom riding on the shoulders of joy. And of course, as Bear says, love, the thing we humans do best, and which we need so much more of, especially now. May we all learn to listen to the rich wisdom of nature and spirit, and may we all find more joy, wonder, trust, and, yes, love along the way, as Stuckey has with Bear.” —Susan J. Tweit, author of Walking Nature Home: A Life’s Journey

“An open–hearted, playful account of learning to listen to the wisdom of interconnection.” —Elizabeth Enslin, author of While the Gods Were Sleeping: A Journey Through Love and Rebellion in Nepal

From the Publisher

2017-05-01
Albuquerque-based spiritual counselor Stuckey (Kissed by a Fox: And Other Stories of Friendship in Nature, 2012) delivers a tale of the bear as yogi.What's a person to do when, having written a "memoir showing my deepening connection with nature," the drudgery of book tours and talks and appearances sets in? Naturally, summon forth an ennui-busting bear, introduced courtesy of the neighborhood shaman for hire, a "Spirit Helper" who "loves and supports a person throughout their life and who provides a face—a point of contact, a relationship—for connecting with spirit." Bear, the spirit helper that materialized, weighed his helpee and found her wanting in the listening-to-the-spirits department. Then, as if having read a little Carlos Castaneda by way of brushing up, Bear instructed Stuckey in what passes for bruinic/druidic philosophy: "Compassion for the body and for the material world is a sure foundation," he says. When she realized she "simply couldn't afford living in this town" (Boulder, Colorado, her home at the time), Bear told her, "Come to the neutral mind! Come to joy!" For Bear, it seems, joy involves appearing in dreams wearing "a frilly maid's costume" or a golfer's hat. ("I mean, really, Bear—golfing?") But if that's your bliss, well….Bear sends mixed messages, too, telling Stuckey to sit in peacefulness on one page while inviting her, paw extended, to "lead me on yet another marvelous if puzzling adventure." Puzzling indeed, though David Carradine might feel proud to utter Bear's concluding thought: "When a person realizes that the path is just one of daily communion with what-is, that is the point." The book may find a few appreciative readers in Santa Fe and Sedona, but fans of actual ursines will want to look elsewhere, while those seeking wisdom from a bear ought to look no farther than A.A. Milne.

Kirkus Reviews