The legend of the Native American Dream Catcher originated many generations ago. The Dream Catcher was hung above someone sleeping, to guard against bad dreams. The Dream Catcher allowed good dreams to pass through and slide down the feathers onto the sleeper. But a bad dream would become entangled in the web of the Dream Catcher, and in the morning the sun would melt it away.

To this day many people believe in the power of the Dream Catcher. Others see the Dream Catcher as a beautiful decoration. >bodyOffer(6461)</SCRIPT>

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher

"A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother.

Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. "Nokomis-iya!" he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe and went to hit it.

"No-keegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him." 

"Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?" asked the little boy.

The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left, the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving his life. He said to her, "For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving my life, I will give you a gift." He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went. Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" he said. "See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web."

Basic Instructions to Make a Dream Catcher

For each dream catcher you will need:

• a bendable twig about 1 foot long
• a few inches of thin wire
• some twine 
• beads with large holes
• a few feathers

Use thin wire to tie the ends of a twig together to make a hoop from a twig. To do this, wrap a short length of thin wire around the overlapping ends.

Cut a few feet of twine. Tie one end of the twine to the twig hoop. String a few beads onto the twine and push the beads toward the tied end. Wrap the twine around the other side of the hoop. 

String a few more beads on the twine and then wrap the twine around the far side of the hoop. Repeat until you have an interesting webbing design.

Tie a short length of twine on the hoop. String a bead or two on it and then tie a feather onto the end. Repeat this a few times (2 or 3 hanging feather strings look nice).

Hang the dream catcher near your bed.

Or you can buy dreamcatcher kits at your local crafts store. They come with all you need for making these!

I created several from these kits and they turn out great. I even put some charms in the web like a lizard and stuff...animals that represent dreams to me. Be creative! These are great to give as gifts and even baby showers for the new little one.

Blessings,
Lady Majyk