In many Native American tribes, a dream catcher is a handmade willow hoop woven to a web or literally, a net. A dreamcatcher also includes such features as feathers and beads. They are traditionally suspended on cradles as a form of armor and protection.

Dreamcatchers can be traced back to the Ojibwes. The Ojibwe people started the phenomenon and over time, dreamcatchers became adopted by other tribes, cultures and even Nations.

It is believed that dreamcatchers originated with Asibaikaashi who was known as the Spider Woman. She was a custodian of all the infants and the adults. It became a difficult task for her to take enough care of all the Ojibwe people as they started spreading geographically even to the hooks and crannies of North America.

The women were in charge of weaving the magical webs for the infants. The women made this possible by using willow hoops and sinew to weave the webs. The children were provided with charms as a medium of protection. These charms were idealized to catch any sort of harm that might be present around that place or time.

Each part of the dreamcatcher has meanings tied to the physical world. One notable meaning is the dreamcatcher has a round shape that represents the earth’s physical shape. The number of points on the woven web of the dreamcatcher is also significant and holds different meanings. A dreamcatcher with 13 points represents the 13 phases of the moon, 8 points symbolizes the spider woman in the Native American legends, 7 points refers to the seven prophesies, 6 points represents an eagle, and 5 points symbolize a star.

The dreamcatcher acts like a spider's web by trapping the bad dreams or visions while allowing the good ones to filter through. The bad dreams caught in the web get destroyed when the sunlight of morning hits the dreamcatcher, while the good dreams filter down through the feathers and gently reach the sleeping person below.

So come in to the Emporium of the Enchanted Forest today and get your own dreamcatcher, and sleep peacefully at night, safe in the knowledge your bad dreams are trapped, burned in the light of day and only the good ones will filter through.

The Dreamcatcher