Untitled

{"id":715,"date":"2023-03-30T13:09:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T11:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/?p=715"},"modified":"2023-05-02T14:54:05","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T12:54:05","slug":"dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Spider Woman<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the myth the Ojibwa clans used to live in a place called Turtle Island. Their protector goddess was Asibikaashi, the spider woman. In the myth, Asibikaashi helped to bring the sun deity Giizis back to the people. She built a special lodge before dawn. It was completely made of a spider web. Asibikaashi catches the sunlight (Giizis) into the sparkling dew drops. Ojibwa nations grew larger and Asibikaashi had difficulties keeping track of everyone so Ojibwa women; mothers, sisters and Nokomi (the grandmothers) decided to help her. They started to weave magical webs into willow loops. First dream catchers were hanged above baby cradles. Air playing with the feathers was entertainment for the newborns.<\/p>\n

Symbolism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The round shape of the dream catcher represents the sun goddess Giizis who travels across the sky each day. The gemstone in the middle of the web is the symbol of the great spirit, whose energy flows in every living being. Gemstones have become so rare that the modern-day Ojibwas don\u00b4t tend to use them anymore in their dream catchers. Eight knots that tighten the web into the hoop are the eight legs of the spider woman. Sometimes feather is added to the middle of the dream catcher. The feather symbolizes air. Owl\u00b4s feather is known as the woman\u00b4s feather and it stands for the \u201dkeeper of wisdom\u201d. Eagle\u00b4s feather is known as the man\u00b4s father and it symbolizes courage. Not all Ojibwa dream catchers are round, one can also find tear-shaped dream catchers. The shape of the tear symbolizes the dew that Asibikaashi collected.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to initiate your\u00a0dream catcher<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a big fan of dream catchers and I love making them. You can basically create a dream catcher from anything and they come in all shapes and forms. Ojibwas initiated their dream catchers in a ceremony and you can do the same. Lit a sage and let the smoke go through your dream catcher (you can cleanse your room at the same time). While you are doing this visualize what kind of dreams you wish your dream catcher to bring to you. At the end of the ceremony thank the Spider woman for bringing you peaceful dreams.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the Ojibwa, the dreamcatcher symbolizes natural wisdom. Ojibway is the name of the tribe in Canada, and the name of the American tribes is Chippewa. Ojibwas reside in southern Canada in Manitoba and Ontario and in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4819,"featured_media":721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,253],"tags":[259,256],"class_list":["post-715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-goddess","category-native-american","tag-dream-catcher","tag-ojibwa"],"yoast_head":"\nDreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Myths and Folklore\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-30T11:09:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-02T12:54:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1612\/2022\/10\/photo-1519471245485-5d5981842a2b_orig.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Niina Niskanen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Niina Niskanen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/\",\"name\":\"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-30T11:09:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-02T12:54:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ad9344b23fb63f8db3a01699a1db85\"},\"description\":\"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/\",\"name\":\"Myths and Folklore\",\"description\":\"Myths and Folklore explores the intersections of myths and religion and different forms of spirituality, the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ad9344b23fb63f8db3a01699a1db85\",\"name\":\"Niina Niskanen\",\"description\":\"Niina aka a Fairychamber is an artist and a folklorist. She is specialized in Finno-Baltic folklore, chanting, and storytelling which she likes to combine with mindfulness exercises and guided meditations. Born in northern Finland and travelling the world, Niina has studied a wide range of different wisdom practices from nordic shamanism to druidism. She loves reading, cats, and autumn aesthetics. She likes to play Jew\u00b4s harp and kantele (Finnish harp).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/author\/nniskanen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess","description":"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess","og_description":"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/","og_site_name":"Myths and Folklore","article_published_time":"2023-03-30T11:09:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-02T12:54:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":375,"height":501,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1612\/2022\/10\/photo-1519471245485-5d5981842a2b_orig.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Niina Niskanen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Niina Niskanen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/","name":"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-30T11:09:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-02T12:54:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ad9344b23fb63f8db3a01699a1db85"},"description":"Dreamcatchers are iconic, well-known symbols within Native American cultures. The tradition of dreamcatchers originates from the Ojibwa tribe. For the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/2023\/03\/dreamcatchers-and-the-spider-goddess\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dreamcatchers and the Spider Goddess"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/","name":"Myths and Folklore","description":"Myths and Folklore explores the intersections of myths and religion and different forms of spirituality, the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/#\/schema\/person\/b8ad9344b23fb63f8db3a01699a1db85","name":"Niina Niskanen","description":"Niina aka a Fairychamber is an artist and a folklorist. She is specialized in Finno-Baltic folklore, chanting, and storytelling which she likes to combine with mindfulness exercises and guided meditations. Born in northern Finland and travelling the world, Niina has studied a wide range of different wisdom practices from nordic shamanism to druidism. She loves reading, cats, and autumn aesthetics. She likes to play Jew\u00b4s harp and kantele (Finnish harp).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/author\/nniskanen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mythsandfolklore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}