The Bear: meaning of Lenormand card 15

The card at a glance

The image on the card

In the Sol da Alma Lenormand, a brown bear with a thick coat, gilded by the light, stands on all fours on top of a great grey rock, gazing into the distance to the left. Around it opens a mountain valley: a tall cliff on the left, slopes covered in pines, a river far below, and in the background, among bluish mists, mountains that stretch out of sight. The sun, round and bright, shines between orange clouds. The bear commands the landscape from above, like a guardian. In the corner, the number 15 and the ten of clubs.

In the Engraved Lenormand, the bear is on the ground, on open land of grass and stones, with low hills in the distance and a clear sky with clouds. It is a big brown bear, drawn in profile, walking to the left with one front paw raised and its head lowered, heavy and sure of itself. The engraving shows the bear on the move, strength that advances without hurrying; the Sol da Alma shows it standing still up high, strength that keeps watch and guards its territory. In both pictures the bear faces the same way — to the left.

The symbolism, detail by detail

The bear

Physical strength and power: the strongest animal in the forests of Europe, which nobody attacks head-on. On the card, it is authority — whoever carries weight in a situation.

The heavy body

Volume and mass: what is big, what takes up space, what does not move easily. The Bear enlarges the cards around it and makes them heavier.

The rock

In the Sol da Alma, the bear is up high, on solid stone: a position of command, the security of someone standing on their own ground.

The gaze into the distance

The bear keeps watch. This is protection — someone who looks after their own and pays attention to whatever approaches their territory.

The slow walk

In the engraving, the bear moves slowly, head lowered: strength that has no need to hurry and always reaches its destination.

The reserves

The bear stocks up for winter and hibernates on what it has stored. Hence the meaning of money put by, of savings and accumulated resources — and of appetite.

The ten of clubs

A ten, the end of the suit’s cycle, with the abundance and the weight that brings; clubs, the suit of energy. It gives the Bear its stored-up strength, and also the load of someone carrying a great deal of responsibility.

The history of the Bear

The Bear was already card 15 of ‘Das Spiel der Hoffnung’, the Game of Hope published by Johann Kaspar Hechtel in Nuremberg around 1799, with the ten of clubs in the corner. It was a board game of thirty-six cards, played with dice, and the miniature playing cards meant it could also be used to tell fortunes.

After the death in 1843 of Marie Anne Lenormand — the most famous fortune-teller in Paris — publishers began selling the deck under her name, though there is no proof that she ever used it. In Portugal and Brazil it became known as the ‘Baralho Cigano’, the Gypsy Deck, a popular name that does not reflect any historical Romani origin.

For centuries the bear was a symbol of strength and power in Europe: it appears on coats of arms — the Swiss city of Bern has one on its own — and fables gave it the role of the powerful, somewhat rough animal. Reading the Bear as money in reserve and as a protective figure is one of the most common interpretations among today’s Lenormand readers.

The meaning of the Bear

The Bear is the card of power: authority, leadership, influence, strength. It represents whoever is in charge in a situation — the boss, the employer, the director, the father or mother, an older or stronger figure — and the querent’s relationship with that power. It can be a powerful protector, a solid source of support; it can be someone who imposes, who controls, who smothers.

The second meaning is that of resources: money in quantity, savings, assets, investments, reserves. Not the money that comes and goes — that belongs to the Fish — but the money that has been built up and is kept. Next to cards of gain, the Bear is one of the best financial cards in the deck.

And there is the meaning of the body and appetite: physical strength, weight, food, a taste for good eating and comfort — and, in excess, greed, laziness, possessiveness. The Bear protects what is its own, so it also speaks of jealousy and a sense of ownership. It is a strong card, but a slow one: everything it touches gains weight and is slow to move.

The Bear in love

In love, the Bear is the protective, strong partner who gives security — the person you can count on. In a relationship, it speaks of stability, support and someone who takes care. The flip side is possessiveness: jealousy, control, a person who wants to run the relationship or who smothers with too much protection.

It can also point to a difference in power or age between the two, or to interference from an authority figure — very often a father or mother. Next to the Heart, protective love; next to the Whip, a relationship with power struggles; next to the Ring, a solid commitment with material foundations.

The Bear in work and money

At work, the Bear is the boss, the management, whoever makes the decisions. With positive cards, a supportive superior, a promotion, a position of responsibility; with difficult cards, authoritarian management or a power that blocks the way. It favours those who lead, those who manage resources and those who work with finance, with food or with physical strength.

In money matters it is one of the strongest cards: reserves, savings, investments, assets that grow slowly. With the Fish, wealth and abundance; with the Mice, reserves being eaten away; with the Fox, be careful with whoever manages other people’s money.

The Bear in health and wellbeing

In questions about wellbeing, the Bear speaks of physical strength, stamina, food and weight — and of the balance between the pleasure of eating and taking care of the body. It also calls for rest: even the bear hibernates. As always with the Lenormand, the reading shows tendencies and attitudes, and it is no substitute for any medical consultation or health care.

The Bear as a person

As a person, the Bear is someone strong, with authority, protective, generous to their own and formidable to anyone who crosses them. Very often it is an older person or someone in a position of power: a boss, a father, a mother, a mentor, someone influential. Their difficult side is control, a bad temper, possessiveness; their good side, loyalty and protection.

The Bear as advice

As advice, the Bear says: own your strength. Be firm, protect what is yours, take the reins, and ask for support from those who can help. Put resources aside for the future. But it also says: beware of excess — the strength that protects must not become the strength that controls.

The timing of the Bear

The Bear is slow. What it announces takes time, because it is big: assets that are built up, authority that is earned, a process that depends on whoever is in charge. In a question about timing, it speaks of months, and of a pace that cannot be forced.

In the Grand Tableau: house 15

In the Grand Tableau — all thirty-six cards laid out in rows — the fifteenth position is the house of the Bear. The card that falls there shows where strength, power or money lie in the querent’s life, and who has authority over it. And the Bear itself, wherever it falls, lends strength and weight to the theme of that house: in the house of the Heart, a protective or possessive love; in that of the Tower, a powerful institution.

Combinations with other cards

• Fish — Wealth, large reserves of money, solid assets.
• Fox — A strategic boss; or a power that does not play fair.
• Heart — A protective love — or a possessive, jealous one.
• House — A strong figure in the family; the home as an asset.
• Tower — A large institution, a powerful company, the civil service.
• Whip — Conflict with an authority; power struggles.
• Mice — Reserves being spent; loss of assets.
• Key — A powerful person who opens doors; strength that gets things done.
• Ring — An important contract; a commitment on solid material foundations.
• Child — Protection of the young; a strong parental figure.
• Anchor — Lasting financial stability; a secure position of power.
• Lily — An older, respected person; calm and wise authority.