HI, i’m bear.
bear hickman, MSW (she/they) of Ursidae Healing Arts is an Integrative Mentor, specializing in intuitive counsel, astrological interpretation, and comprehensive Reiki training.
Since 2013 she has offered professional readings and services, and also trains and initiates students pursuing both personal and professional Reiki practices. bear often works in-residency as a partner provider at spas and businesses and travels to host healing workshops and retreats.
Her first love has always been writing. The healing power of storytelling and metaphor drives her personal journey and desire to mirror, celebrate and support transformation in others. Many of their services are tailored to support those in need of compassionate care during periods of life transition and change, often relating to aging, grief or loss of life and substance recovery.
Her healing journey has included a twenty-plus year practicum in Usui Reiki, a bioenergetic and spiritual practice originating in Japan, as well as a life-long relationship with astrology. She utilizes her background in Tibetan Buddhism, meditation and work in Naturopathic nutrition to inform her work and support clients. She received her masters degree in clinical social work (MSW) in 2024, which will expand her offerings for talk therapy and other clinical support. Social justice and a decolonized framework form foundational pillars in all offerings.
bear writes a bi-monthly astrological musing newsletter, The Moon Mailer, and produces The Inspired Astrology Podcast. She is currently co-authoring a book with integrative astrologer Ryan Evans, and living part-time in La Paz, Mexico, Baja California Sur.
SOME FACTS
Experience
Commencing metaphysical studies in their teens, lauren has dedicated her life to studying and integrating universal wisdom teachings. She has worked with Reiki since 2002 & began teaching in 2022. lauren is proud to have been in recovery from substance abuse disorder since 2009. She is a meditation practitioner and mentor, astrological writer and podcaster.
Education
lauren graduated with a B.A. in English from Central College in 2006. lauren completed a three month meditation residency in 2011. She’s apprenticed with Herbalists and Naturopaths 2012-2019.Studying Reiki under a Master Teacher for twenty years, she’s practiced third-degree Reiki since 2013 and began teaching in 2022. She completed a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2024.
Why Reiki
Reiki is widely misunderstood in the West as something external to ourselves when its nature is the underlying, permeating life force energy. Reiki has taught lauren about TRUST and she is dedicated to communicating that with her clients and students. She continues to deconstruct her practice to better understand how patriarchy and white supremacy have impacted our common relationship with spirituality and nature.
Ursidae Healing Arts is a queer-owned & LGBTQIA+ affirming service.
Ursidae is a culturally sensitive practice that provides accessible support for all populations regardless of race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, socioeconomic status, or geographical background.
MY journey
Slow and thoughtful transformation has been my journey.
Throughout my youth I found that even with the best intentions I struggled keeping consistent, healthy friendships. Trouble brewed in every relationship, and once meaningful, passionate experiences ended time and time again in tragedy. Codependency and addiction were the norm. And depression, anxiety and a general longing to disappear from this world filled my waking hours. No measure of pleasure seeking, no matter the risk, I found myself at every dead end in the maze that had become my life, and I was exhausted.
Change was on the horizon. I bounced from book to book, religion to faith system, and magic to occultism. I was assisted by a mystical astrology mentor and an occultist wisdom teacher to help me navigate the awkward first steps on the path.
With the guidance of my teachers, I gave myself permission to open my eyes take a step back and look at my life’s labyrinth from afar. The truth was, I was the constant variable in every situation that made me unhappy. I had to change. I had to heal. And so, I turned to Astrology for Guidance and Reiki for change.
My Path
Fortuitously, the Usui Reiki Method found me in 2002. Reiki, as it’s known today in the west, is a bio-energetic and spiritual way of practice, awakening a channel that exists within us innately. With roots in Tibetan Medicine Buddha practices— some believe it dates back much further— Reiki as a practice creates a portal of loving energy from the Divine to the Human world. Reiki inspires Trust in the Process of Life and its unfolding.
Reiki is a Japanese word for “Universal Life Force Energy” as well the common name for this practice.
I would translate it to TRUST.
The tradition I practice was founded in Japan in the twentieth century by Mikao Usui Sensei (great teacher). Through his dedication, the Usui Reiki Ryoho (Usui Reiki Method) was established and created a model of teaching others to tap into and utilize universal life force energy rather than depleting our own energy in service to others.
His dedication and life’s work has spread this wisdom beyond Japan, moving to Hawaii and then to the United States through his student Hiyashi who then taught the incredible Hawayo Takata. This practice has evolved through the teachers who transmit the teachings and has changed drastically once arriving in the United States.
My intention is to teach Reiki not from a hierarchical level, but to communicate that we are all divine cells in the being that is the Universe. I am dedicated to unraveling the misqualified western methods that have created distrust in this sacred practice.
I searched for more holistic instruction after a weekend course of Reiki I & II in 2002. Introduced to the Reiki Plus lineage by Joy Renee, a master teacher, I was initiated to first and second degree Reiki over the course of a year. She trained me in a method of subconscious healing work described as Psychotherapeutic Reiki. This esoteric method originated from Virginia Samdahl, one of Lady Takata’s first master students. This technique is used in The Transformer and Reiki intensives.
Joy Renee passed away in 2007. I commenced intensive studies with her only initiated student, whom I attentively studied Reiki and wisdom teachings in perception, meditation, energy and wisdom, intuition development, and counseling methods.
This twenty year relationship taught me about the student-teacher dynamic, the influence of the mentor, roles and boundaries as well immersed me in ageless wisdom teachings and metaphysical theories that influence my work as much as they do my discernment and skepticsm about the new age predatory thought models.
I completed a 200 Hour yoga certification in New York City; participated in a three month meditation intensive at Karme Chöling in Vermont and have invested hundreds of hours in adjacent coursework, class audits and continuation of my Reiki studies to third degree Reiki. I completed my mastership training in 2022, allowing me to teach and initiate students to this practice.
In 2013 I was called to see clients in both the capacity of a novice astrologer, following in the footsteps of my childhood mentor and my mother, an esoteric astrologer. By 2019, Reiki & Astrology became my full-time pursuit, writing syndicated astrological insights, and establishing myself as a resident astrologer at KIN, a modern mystical shop in Des Moines, Iowa. My move to Wisconsin in 2020 has connected me as a guest service provider at Kosa Spa in Madison as well as providing services in Milwaukee. 2020 took my services online, facilitating classes, astrology, and distance Reiki sessions across the globe, as well as producing the Inspired Astrology Podcast.
My journey has been one of a slow build, establishing solid foundations before offering my services. The seed for Ursidae was planted long ago. Healing takes time; integration takes time— as does fruition.
I strive to be of True Service to my clients. In 2024 I completed my Masters in Clinical Social Work (MSW) at the University of Wisconsin. I live in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.