you made a home in my dreams

dreamcatcher:the two stories!

Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee symbol.  If hung over your bed your bad dreams are filtered through the web and dissipate into the Universe; your good dreams remain caught in the web.  Thunderbird thinks it is a shame to lose some of those bad dreams because those are the teaching dreams, and they have presented themselves because there are teachings and messages that need to be listened to. There is another school of thought that reverses the process by capturing the bad dreams and allowing the good ones ones to fly free.  Thunderbird likes this version better, but maybe it is because she is a Dreaming Traditional Teacher.  However, whatever the choice, Dreamcatchers works wonders with restless children.

STORY: It was a hot August day and Grandmother was sitting in her lodge making snowshoes for her grandson. The summer was the preparation time for the long winter ahead. Her grandson was visiting and playing at her feet. He said, “One day, I am going to a great hunter.” She smiled and listened to the young one brag about his great exploits.  All of a sudden he said, “Grandmother, Grandmother, don’t move, many legs hangs above you and is about to strike, I am a great hunter and will kill it and destroy the web.” Grandmother immediately cautioned the boy, “No, No, son, Many Legs is a great healer and teacher and weaves her teachings in her web. You must not kill her. Go out and play now.” The young boy scampered off and Grandmother continued to work on the snowshoes. “You have done well, Grandmother,” a soft voice spoke above her head. “You have saved me and understood my life. Listen and I will teach you how to make a web so that your dreams will be forever woven into the fabric of your life.” 

At Many Leg’s instruction, Grandmother gathered willow together and made a circle, it was not a perfect circle because Many Legs had advised her that each individual life would not be perfect. In other words, the wise one told her, ” life is as you dream it. So dream good dreams.”

Grandmother also wove a beautiful blue stone into the web as a symbol of Father Sky and the dreams that lay with the universe. “The good dreams will reside within the blue stone,” said Spider, “to be visited often. The challenging dreams would be caught up in the web and burned in the morning sun.” All My Relations. Kopet, that is all.