Artio Greeting Card

Artio is the Continental Celtic Goddess of fertility and wild animals, especially bears, and in fact that is exactly what Her name means, "Bear". The female bear usually conceives in the autumn and spends Her hibernation time pregnant, and Artio is shown here with child in a cave in the deep winter. Bears are associated with shamanism, as the hibernation period in winter symbolises the journey into darkness and their emergence in spring with cubs the return to the light bearing the wisdom gained on the journey. The constellations of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major are behind Her; the pole star of Ursa Minor represents the centre that is the shamaness's destination. Ink and watercolor pencil by Thalia Took.