THE RAINBOW BRIDGE
The Green Bear Returns with a new story
Prelude
I am not sure how many bears have an email address, but I know one bear who does!
While teaching in the US recently, I was asked to sign a pile of books (always a pleasure!) including picture books owned by children. It was brought to my attention that some children had written to The Green Bear recently, but not (yet) received a reply. Oh dear! I contacted her immediately and she promised to get on with it…
She is not great with modern communications, so she often forgets to check her emails. Even charging up her i-pad is a palaver because it involves creeping up to a little house in the forest and finding a socket to plug it into. Usually she just hands it over the twins who live in that cottage, a girl called Linnea and her brother called Lars, and they take care of it for her. (The laptop is third-hand. It came down to The Green Bear via the twins, from their Dad. Not that the twins’ Dad knows this!)
The Green Bear is back with a new story! The title is: Lars and Linnea help Tiger cross the Rainbow Bridge. I have long wanted to write a book for children about navigating death and loss. In contemporary Western society most adults don’t have a good handle on death, so many parents struggle to support children through processes of death or serious loss, in a spiritually meaningful way. This new book is intended as an invitation to talk to young children about death and it offers a spiritual perspective.
The twins Linnea and Lars live in a remote cottage, situated deep in a forest in Sweden. In the forest surrounding their house, there are many big rocks and boulders, covered in moss and lichen. One of those rocks is really a bear in disguise. On certain days, so called Green Days, The Green Bear awakens and takes children on adventures. So far those adventures include a trip up the Milky Way, a visit to the enchanted realm of the Animal Mothers (to learn animals communication) and a lesson in Magic from the local Forest Witch.
The first book in The Green Bear series
The Covid-19 Pandemic brought Lockdowns and mass cabin fever but for me it also brought a Green Bear! One night she ambled into my dreams and demanded that I start writing a series of (spiritual) picture books for children. Creating 24 unique pieces of art to illustrate just one picture book (plus a cover design of course!) is a serious art commitment, but Lockdowns unexpectedly freed up the time for me to do this. If couldn’t teach in person (only on Zoom), why not create some picture books for children? Doing this was a dream I had cherished for years! The first book was published in June 2021 and I am determined to keep going, as and when my schedule allows.
MY VISION
Every book in The Green Bear Series offers a new teaching or tool for the spiritual toolkit any magical child needs to navigate or understand the cosmos!
Above: the third book, where the twins meet a Forest Witch (and a young reader in Germany)
Below: an illustration from that book!
My new book is about the Rainbow Bridge. The twins and their family have two cats. Both are (confusingly!) named for another animal species: Tiger and Wolfie. Tiger is a ginger cat with a stripy coat and Wolfie has the colouring of a grey wolf. Lars and Linnea know without any doubt that Tiger thinks of herself as a tiger (not a regular cat). One cold snowy morning Tiger is very ill. The twins dash out of the house to ask The Green Bear for help. She reminds them of their animal communication skills (acquired in book #2) and takes them to the Animals Mother.
The Cat Mother and Tiger Mother show the twins the Rainbow Bridge and how they can accompany Tiger some of the way. Of course Linnea and Lars are very sad, but it is beautiful to see so many cats and tigers waiting for Tiger on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge. And Tiger told them clearly that it was time for her to go Home.
Lars and Linnea learn how to let a dying pet go lovingly, with dignity. They also discover that every ending marks a new beginning.
It is extremely important for children to learn about death, because death is an unavoidable part of life. Not only that, death gives life limits and meaning. In many families the first experience of death is the death of a pet. In my own family it was the death of my paternal grandparents (spaced two weeks apart), when I was 10 years old. I was told that my grandparents were now in Heaven. There are plenty of Christian books out there (I have checked), introducing children to the concept of Heaven.
I have long dropped my Christian upbringing and I wanted to create a book written from a more earth-based or shamanic perspective. When pets die we commonly say that “they crossed the rainbow bridge” and that concept is Norse in origin. In Norse mythology Bifrost is the rainbow bridge between Asgard (the realm of the gods) and Midgard (the world of human beings). The sources report that it looks different at night (quite possibly this refers to the Milky Way!)
At this time of year we authors try to convince people to give our books to friends and family as Christmas presents. This new book is probably not the perfect stocking-filler (but the previous books definitely are!) I sincerely hope it will be found by (grand)parents or aunties, uncles and teachers who are looking for alternatives to the culturally dominant “Heaven narrative”.
The Green Bear herself hopes that one day a child will write to her and say that this book brought them some comfort and also some spiritual tools for honouring and grieving death. (She says she will try to keep that i-pad charged up, in case!)
What is next? The next skill I want to focus on is conflict resolution, so I have started a book where Linnea and Lars have a fight. I have added in some weather shamanism as well!
Of course The Green Bear is open to receiving suggestions or questions, especially from children! Her email address appears in some the books - but if you can’t find it, feel free to message me.
I try (but sometimes fail) to get out at least one essay a week (sometimes more), due to travel, international teaching commitments and family care responsibilities (our family lives with Alzheimer’s and I have written several posts about that). If you would like to see regular posts about about Nordic spirituality and my life as a Forest Witch (and of course short videos of all the wildlife here!), please follow me on Instagram or Facebook, thank you!
Imelda, London UK
Signing books, including picture books, in Wisconsin recently!
BIO FOR IMELDA ALMQVIST
Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). So far she has written four non-fiction books and two picture books for children. Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019, Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in Possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020 and North Sea Water In My Veins (The Pre-Christian spirituality of the Low Countries) was published in June 2022.
The Green Bear is a series of picture book for children, aged 3 – 8 years. The stories and vibrant artwork, set in Scandinavia, invite children to explore enchanting parallel worlds and to keep their sense of magic alive as they grow up.
Imelda has presented her work on both The Shift Network and Sounds True. She appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Mesolithic arctic deer shamanism.
Imelda is currently working on a handbook for rune magicians (about the runes of the Elder Futhark) and on more books in the Green Bear Series. Imelda runs an on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings, where all classes she teaches remain available as recordings, which can be watched any time.
Website:
http://www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk/
YouTube Channel: youtube.com/user/imeldaalmqvist
Online School: https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/courses/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imelda.almqvist/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/almqvistimelda/