Dream catchers are circular wooden hoops with a handcrafted web design and feathers that filter dreams, letting through only good ones. They originate from Native American traditions and have various legends surrounding their purpose. They are often hung over cribs to protect babies and are believed to focus good energy and neutralize negative energy. Today, they are popularized in Western culture as New Age tools and decorative items.
Dream catchers are based on the Native American tradition of hanging a symbolic web over a sleeping person to protect them from bad dreams. They consist of a circular wooden hoop containing a handcrafted web design with a hole in the center. The bottom of the circle features two or more dangling feathers. Hanging above the dreamer, the net filters dreams from the night air, letting through only good dreams or important messages.
There are many beautiful legends tracing the origin of dream catchers, which can impact how one works. The Lakota, for example, believe that good dreams are caught to become part of the web of life, while bad dreams slip through the central hole. Navajo, Ojibwe, and Chippewa legends claim that the net catches bad dreams, preventing them from passing into the dream, while good dreams slip into the center. In these legends, the morning sunlight cleanses the web of bad dreams. The children’s versions, fashioned with these latter legends in mind, have a feather in the center of the hole so that good dreams can slide down the feather into the dream.
Traditional dream catchers have eight points where the web attaches to the circular hoop, representing the spider’s eight legs. The spider is symbolic of feminine creative energy, wisdom and learning. In Native American culture, it is especially important to hang one of these hoops over cribs to protect babies from bad dreams or “bad air” (bad energy). They are made of all natural willow hoops and sinew webs and are not meant to last. When the baby has grown, it is usually replaced with a new one for its next life cycle.
While the idea of dreams has been emphasized in these devices, their ultimate meaning appears to be broader. Lakota legend holds, for example, that many forces come into play in the course of a lifetime that can block awareness of the Great Spirit. Belief in the Great Spirit causes the dream catcher to keep not only good dreams, but also good visions, ideas and opportunities to help people achieve their ideals and goals. These hoops aren’t just for sleep, then, but they’re totems that some believe to focus good energy and neutralize negative energy.
Today, dream catchers have been adopted and popularized in Western culture as New Age tools and decorative items. They can be found online and in specialty gift shops.
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