Thursday, July 2, 2009

Learning to Weave Dreams

The Legend of the Dream catcher

There are as many different versions of the origin of the dream catcher as there are dream catchers. My favorite is one about an old woman who would sit quietly watching a spider spin. She loved watching the spider at work and the skill of its many legs. One day, her grandson came to visit, being afraid that the would bring harm to his grandmother, he went over to kill the spider. Grandmother stopped him. He asked her to explain why she would protect a spider but she didn’t answer, she only smiled.

After her grandson left, the spider thanked her for saving his life. "For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web," it told her. "You have admired my work. In gratitude for saving my life, I will give to you a very special gift." It then smiled and continued to weave his web.

When night fell and the moon cast its magical light on the spider's work, the web glisten with a silver glow in the window as it swayed gently with the breeze. The spider went to the old woman once again and said, "This is my gift to you. See it and learn it, for each web will snare bad dreams, allowing only good dreams to fit through the small hole in the center. The web will hold the bad dreams until morning until the sunlight burns them away. Keep the web with you forever so that only the good dreams will be remembered." From then until now, the legend of the secret of the dream catcher has been passed on to the next generation as has the dream catcher.

Dreams are often clues to what we are experiencing in life or thinking about in deeper parts of our soul – legends are often lessons or inspiration to bring knowledge, wisdom and peace. The combination of what this little legend represents is special to me as I pass each dream catcher on to a new home. My dream catcher is made with prayers for the future of the recipient. May all of your good dreams be blessed by God & flow through your future while every bad dream is evaporated with each new sunrise.