Magickal Monday- Dreamcatchers

Look who's on time today!! HA! For the first time in about a month. And I'm rather proud :D

Today I finished up a dreamcatcher for my cousin. He's been having some troubles at his new apartment and he asked if I could make him a dream catcher to help provide some ease. So I made him a manly version of my Goddess Dreamcatcher I made for a healing swap a few months ago. Here's the Goddess one:

It's has rose quartz, amethyst, and clear quartz in the web acting as the spider/bead. Combined together they help promote love, protection, and healing. Not too shabby for the first ones I've ever made. Now, my cousin is Christian and I didn't feel comfortable putting stones in his dreamcatcher because I know that they don't hold any meaning to him. So I stuck with the traditional bead types. Which works well since I took him to his first Powwow over the summer.

His is made with hawk or quail feathers (I never know the difference), a glass bead for the spider, and then I made clay beads to hold the feathers on. The picture is crap since it's night here (silly sun thinking it can take a vacation in the fall). But I think you get the idea. I was hoping to make it a bit more manly looking. I don't think it came out half bad. It was made with things completely from my stash. If I were to go out of the way and make a real legit dreamcatcher I would have used sinew for the web and made the circle out of leather lace. Instead I just used the leather lace to connect the feathers. I like the wrapped/twisted vine look for the circle. Makes it more earthy to me. Not to mention I'm not a fan of leather lace. And I used a really thin yarn/string mostly used for making lace and doilies for the web. And now we get to the magickal part of this. The story. I'm no Native American story teller, but from my research and what I have grown up knowing about dreamcatchers this is what I can tell you about them.

A dreamcatcher is given to a child upon birth in order to protect them. It is hung above the child's bed to allow the dreams and energies of life to flow through it like a filter. The good dreams and energies are allowed to pass through the web while the bad dreams and energies become tangled on the web and flow down to the feathers. The bad dream and energies are then taken away with the wind, casting them away. Any bad dream and energies that remain are then purified when sunlight hits them. Dreamcatchers can be used by adults for the same reasons. They help keep the good energies with in the room and help to rid the person of negative/bad energies. I think every person should have one! :) If you are giving the dreamcatcher to a child there are some nice stories about why they are shaped the way they are and how they came into existence. I've done some searching around and I think my favorite story is the one found here. I like it because it talks about how the four elements come into play as well. But you can find tons of stories through children's books and google. I ♥ dream catchers!

Well, that's all I have for now. See you tomorrow!