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passed down over many generations and one of my
favorites is the hoop. My North American Native
ancestors held the symbolism of strength and unity
associated with the hoop in high esteem.
Many symbols evolved from the hoop, one of which
was the DREAMCATCHER. Most of the time, a hoop
was fashioned out of willow and decorated with
bits and pieces of significant items to the hoop
maker.
The DREAMCATCHER was believed to have the power
to catch all of a person's good dreams,
filtering out the bad ones, and letting only the
good dreams pass through.
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spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had
a vision.
In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and
teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a
spider. Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language.
As he spoke, Iktomi the spider picked up
the elder's willow hoop which had feathers,
horsehair, beads and offerings on it, and began
to spin a web. He spoke to the elder about the cycles
of life; how we begin our lives as infants, move on
through childhood and on to adulthood. Finally,
we go to old age where we must
be taken care of as infants, completing the
cycle.
"But", Iktomi said as he continued to spin his
web,"in each time of life there are many
forces; some good and some bad. If you listen
to the good forces, they will steer you in
the right direction. But, if you listen to
the bad forces, they'll steer you in the wrong
direction and may hurt you. So these forces can
help, or can interfere with the harmony of
Nature.
While the spider spoke, he continued to weave
his web. When Iktomi finished speaking, he
gave the elder the web and said, "The web is
a perfect circle with a hole in the center.
Use the web to help your people reach their
goals, making good use of their ideas,
dreams and visions. If you believe in the
great spirit, the web will catch your good
ideas and the bad ones will go through the
hole." The elder passed on his vision to the
people and now many Indian people hang a dream
catcher above their bed to sift their dreams
and visions. The good is captured in the web
of life and carried with the people, but
the evil in their dreams drops through the
hole in the center of the web and are no
longer a part of their lives.
It's said that the dream catcher holds the
destiny of the future.
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air is filled with dreams both good
and bad.The dreamcatcher when hung in your place
of rest, swinging freely with the air, catches
the dreams as they flow by. The good dreams know
the way, slipping through the outer holes and
slide down the soft feathers so gently that many
times the sleeper does not know that he/she is
dreaming. The bad dreams not knowing the way,
get tangled in the web and perish with the
first light of the new day.
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You dreamers,
Bring me all of your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue-cloud cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
Angiefor the lovely graphics!
Wado, Angie!
"Mystic Waters" CD
Used with Permission ©©Elan Michaels
