The Dreamcatcher was a treat!

Now I have a dreamcatcher hanging in my bedroom to catch all the evil that comes my way in the night. Well, I would have, but somehow I lost it between the end of the meeting and getting home.

It was a fun meeting though.

Marie Brunelle and her daughter Jennifer did a great job of teaching us how to do it. Marie is retired from her job as historic interpreter at St. Marie Among the Hurons and has a craft business called Marie's NatureCrafts.

At the beginning, I found it a bit tricky getting the web in the middle and I made a serious mistake when I went to cut the end off. I cut more than the end and, of course, it started to come apart.  But I could do another one perfectly, I'm sure.

Marie also told us that sometimes a single bead representing the One Creator was added to the web. Marie brought some of her own work and many of those had some pretty fancy beadwork in the web.

 This Dreamcatcher was created by Cindy Vilpors and she provided the photos as well.

Here is the legend of the Dreamcatcher, or Dream Keeper, that Marie gave to us.

"The Legend of the Dream Keeper
There lived long ago an old Indian Chief and his daughter. This chief guided his tribe with the help of kind spirits who visited him in his dreams. His people prospered and lived in harmony with their world.
However, as time passed, the chief was visited more often by evil spirits. His people became confused and grew careless, suffering both illness and poverty.
The chief's daughter, searching for a way to help him, remembered something she had learned from an old and wise woman. Taking a stick, she bent it into a circle to represent the endless cycle of life. Then she wove a many-pointed star so that each point represented one of the gifts of the universe -- all that is green and growing, all that moves and breathes, the different elements, the Mother Earth herself, and the clouds and stars and all the things we cannot touch. Every point was necessary to support the web. The feather and beads, representing sky, water, animals, soil and plants, were added at the end.
The Daughter explained that the web, or keeper, should be hung above the chief's bed to catch the good spirits, while the evil ones would disappear through the hole in the middle. Thus the chief grew in strength and wisdom, and his people regained their balance and prosperity. And from that day forth, they have kept Dream Keepers above their beds."