Weave a Spider Web Dream-Catcher of the Seventh Fire -3

Real Dream-Catchers teach spirit wisdoms of the Seventh Fire

Real Dream-Catchers teach the wisdoms of the Seventh Fire, an Ojibwe Prophecy, that is being fulfilled at this moment. The Light-skinned Race is being shown the result of the Way of the Mind and the possibilities that reside in the Path of the Spirit. Real Dream-Catchers point the way.

When you get back to the starting point, always loop around the innermost strands.   When you have woven around  7-8 times, draw the hole closed by passing the shuttle down through, up through, down through….all around the hole and gently close the opening. Leave a 12” tail hanging from the center and cut off the remainder. 

Roll the cut tip of the sinew between your fingers to make it small enough to pass through the hole in one of the stones beads.  Thread a stone of your choice onto the rolled tip and slide it up toward the center. Tie around one of the intersections in the center.  Use a double tie-off in which you make a loop by going down through one hole and up through another next to it and then pass through that loop a second time.  Keep the two loops separate.  Close the first loop first and the second loop second. Leave the tail in place.  You will tie a feather bundle to the tail later.

Keep the remaining sinew. You will now use the remainder on the shuttle to tie feathers and make a hanger.

From the shuttle, cut about 18 inches of sinew and tie a loose overhand knot six inches from one end.  Lay this piece nearby

Hold two or more feathers back-to-back so the tips flare forming a graceful upside down V.  Smaller feathers that curve the most can be laid in against the longer feathers at the center.  Holding the feathers about ½" from the quill tips, lay the looped sinew over the tips and tighten.

Now form a loop using the short tail of thread and lay the loop up past the quill tips about 1" and pinch the tips and the loop between the fingers of your other hand so that you can tie the feathers together in a bundle.

Wrap the longer tail around the feathers twice.

Then, with your other hand, hold the feathers at the point where they are tied and continue the spiral wrap toward the quill tip.

When you have wrapped the tips you will need to tie a half-hitch around the wrapped area to keep it from unravelling.  Make a baggy loop around the tip and return through this loop.  As you tighten this half-hitch radially from the feathers, pull up and down on the sinew as though it were a lever attached to an axle.  This breaks the knot free of friction that prevents the knot from closing tightly.  

Hold the wrap between your thumb and forefinger and spin the feather bundle back and forth. This pastes the feather fluff into the beeswax coating of the sinew making your craft neater and hiding the sinew a bit.

Thread the tail of your dream catcher through the feather loop and tie an overhand knot around the loop.  Adjust the distance between feather set and dream catcher by pulling this knot close to the bottom of the ring. 

Make the loop disappear by pulling on the tail of the loop that emerges from the bottom of the wrap. You can add stones, shells, fetishes, etc. to the three tails that dangle from the feather set.  Stones can be held in place by tying a knot around the stone.  Cut off excess sinew  leaving about 1/4" remaining.

Cut another 18" piece of sinew from the shuttle.  Holding it at one end, use the other hand to hold about 3" below and bend the top down to form a loop.  Hold the two pieces where they come together.  Insert a finger on the other hand through the loop you've just made to spin and stick together the doubled sinew.  Tie this into an overhand knot by making a loop of the doubled sinew and passing the doubled end through it. 

Pull apart the two legs of the knot to move the knot to make a loop about 1/2" in size, and then tie the two legs together to keep the knot from moving further.  Cut off excess leaving about 1/8".

Clamping your spider web dream catcher between your knees as at the beginning, tie a half-hitch around the knot that holds the twig ends, and then tie a knot on top of it. 

Holding the dreamcatcher firmly, pull up on the hanger to pull the knot tight.  Cut off the excess sinew leaving about 1/4" remaining.

Congratulations, you have just created a beautiful Spider Web dream catcher!  Before you hang it above your bed you might want to perform a traditional ceremony of purification with sage, sweet-grass, and tobacco.

Smudging has been used since ancient times by many people as a ceremony of cleansing and purification—among pre-Christian pagans as well as Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, among Hindus and Buddhists as well as Cherokee and Lakota.  Called "incense" in some traditions, it can be made of a variety of fragrant plant materials.  Native Americans have used their local plants or obtained more exotic materials through trade with the tribes of other regions. Among the plants they used for smudge are tobacco, sweetgrass, calamus, red willow bark, red osier dogwood, cedar needles and sage.  (This is not culinary sage of the genus Salvia.  Rather it is one of the species of the genus Artemisia, which includes the landscape perennials, silver mound and silver king, as well as sagebrush and mugwort.) 

I gather my favorite sage in the Rocky Mountains of Utah, Nevada, and northeastern California.  Its fragrance is wonderful before and during the smudging. The sage is dried and, with cotton string, tied it into bundles as thick as my hands can hold.  Four colors of string are combined to honor the four directions—red for the east, yellow for the south, black for the west, and white for the north.  A sage bundle with instructions is available from White Eagles Soaring for $7  plus shipping.  More information can be found at http://www.real-dream-catchers.com/sage_ceremony.htm

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