Everyday Canvas

Dreamcatchers

Prompt: Dream catchers catch bad dreams. Do you believe this? Do you have any dream catchers? I am a big fan of dream catchers.

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I have two dreamcatchers sent to me by an Indian school project. They are, however, hanging on the wall next to my desk and not in my bedroom. I like the idea behind them, without believing it, but looking at them while I work makes me feel good. Maybe it is the feathers hanging on their hoop or maybe the loose basket weave strings inside it. I’ll go as far as saying that they remind me of a fancy basketball hoop because, in dinosaur time, in high school, I used to play basketball.

It might also be the idea of catching dreams that is so appealing, since dreams are so abstract and the insight or catching abstract things is very difficult. Maybe it is the woven web inside them, a reminder of the stories we weave or the life woven around us. I found out the web represents the spider, a native American’s brother of life forever repairing the eternal web of life. I am quite sure the hoop represents the circle of life or the sun. The beads are said to keep the evil spirits away. The beads on mine are brown-white-brown. White may mean the white men or the White Nation and brown the earth, which is totally my speculation.

The feathers have a meaning, too. They may represent breath or air in general. Mine are white, fluffy, and with brownish endings. I have to check on them as to which bird they belong. For what I could find on the web, owl feathers keep the mice and snakes away and they represent the departed souls; eagle feathers are for sacred pieces of spirit or a reflection of visions, which can only be owned by those of Indian descent as this is a federal law; hawk is the great messenger and observer of the sky.

Whether the dream catchers represent any one thing or other, mine cheer up and inspire me, not because I believe in them, but because they belonged to a part of humanity that respected the earth and the creations on it.