When you need to put your brain to work and want your creativity and imagination to show on paper, sleep is all that comes to your mind. You end up quitting, at least I do, and the only place you then find solace in, rather on, is your bed. I did the same, and as I lay there, thinking what I should write about, I saw feathers, beautiful colourful feathers of the even more beautiful dreamcatcher hanging over my bed. Every day we come across things which we are intrigued by, but lethargy overtakes the desire to turn that curiosity into knowledge. I’ve been intrigued by dreamcatchers and their concept my whole life but never really bothered to find out more about them. Well there’s always a first time and desperate times call for desperate measures. Today, I have decided to no more remain oblivious to the concept of these beautiful objects and share the knowledge that I gain with all of you.Dreamcatchers have become extremely common nowadays. All of us know that they help keep bad dreams away from us and only let good ones reach us, but how? Do you know about the origin or the history behind these dream sifters? I really hope you do not, because if you do, the whole purpose of this article being written will be defeated and all my efforts will go in vain.
Let us try to decode the legend behind this occult. Dreamcatchers trace their origin back to ancient America (could not have been more specific) and are believed to have been of great sentimental value for the people of those times (apologies for the specificity). Dream catchers originated with the Ojibwe people, a group of natives of North America. Before I proceed, quashing my constant desire to laugh, I will take a second to appreciate the name of the clan. How do they come up with such names!? Do they purposely not want people to pronounce it in one go? Anyway, the legend speaks of the ‘spider-woman’ known as Asibikaashi, and as much as it sounds like the name of a villain from an Indian daily soap, she was the protector of children and the land, much like our ‘principal.’
It is believed that with the increase in area of the Ojibwe land, it became difficult for her to protect all the children of the land (a typical principal student tale). So, the mothers and the grandmothers started weaving magical webs for the children using nature’s elements which acted as dream sifters and protectors of children, filtering out all bad and negative dreams and keeping only the good ones. As much as I want to explain this to you, it is beyond your ability to understand.
I am a staunch believer in energies and vibes. I was gifted my first dreamcatcher a few months back and I have to admit that it really works. I don’t remember getting nightmares and bad dreams since the time I got it. Believe me people, it is worth a shot…and with this statement, I have successfully let myself and everybody else believe that I am sub-consciously working for a dreamcatcher manufacturing company.
This symbol of positivity has gone through various variations as the generations passed. The original design suggested a web and feathers hanging. While the web filtered bad dreams, feathers directed the good dreams to the sleeping owner of the dream catcher.
Another thing that everybody here should remember is that dreamcatchers are always gifted to people and never personally bought…which is nothing but sad considering how ‘gifting’ people here are. But who cares about these obsolete rules? Go get yourself one now…dreamcatcher manufacturer feels part II.
When you hang a dreamcatcher up at the window or by the bed, it becomes an address for the inspiration and ideas for your journey further to reach you. There are good ideas and bad ones. This obviously won’t work for everybody as not everybody gets good ideas and bad ideas; people like me just get bad ideas and if they get filtered out, I’ll be left with no ideas which is, again, sad.
Anyway, if you get good ideas too, they’ll slip through the central opening and gently land on the feathers, further slipping into the mind as ideas for us to use and act upon. The bad ones get caught in the web and evaporate with the first rays of the sun touching it. If you meditate with it and are open to the communication of the Universe, it will help. If you are closed…it doesn’t really matter.
Before I conclude, a small life advice wouldn’t hurt. It is all the play of vibes and energies. With every passing day, one’s life becomes complicated, more energies and elements get involved. To tackle the intricacy, it is essential that we ignore and push away all the negative vibes. Think positive, believe positive and do positive. This is what the purpose of dreamcatchers essentially is but believe me, you do not need a dreamcatcher to do this, you can use your extremely free time, considering how free we are here.
I’d like to conclude by saying, think positive, because friends, believe me, that’s all that matters. You are capable enough to sift your own dreams. Also, if you’re having a bad day, remember that some adults wear braces.
This write-up was prepared by Aishwarya (1st Year)
