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Dream Catchers

What Do You All Think of Dream Catchers?

  • They work just as they are supposed to.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • They work through the power of suggestion.

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • They might work, but this is by no means certain.

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • They don't work at all.

    Votes: 5 45.5%
  • Total voters
    11
  • Poll closed .
R

RainyOcean

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
May 19, 2004
Messages
1,139
When I was little I used to have a lot of nightmares. Then my grandmother gave me a dream catcher. I hung it over my bed just like it said to and for a very long time I stopped having bad dreams. As I got older though I started to wonder if it worked simply because I thought it would. Anyway, I was just wondering what you guys think about dream catchers.
 
Ok, I tried to include the option "other" but I don't think it worked, so sorry if you don't like my options.
 
I think it's hilarious when people hang them on the rearview mirrors of their cars--is that so they won't have nightmares when they fall asleep at the wheel?
 
Another item snatched up by New Age marketing companies from native religions. Pick-and-mix several different items, treatments and theories from any native culture, shake well then serve to the gullible alongside "new blockbusting novel", videos, residential courses. Wait for the bank balance to swell then search for another novelty.
 
That's very cynical Stormkhan! What you need is one of my original Native American Heap Good Feeling Bracelets, as shown in The Da Vinci Code. Machine copied from a hand crafted original, the bracelet comes in two sizes; "Ouch to small" or "Bugger, it fell off again". Cast in the finest of nickel alloys, its guaranteed to bring good luck to your family, wealth to your business and verility to your farmyard animals. Yours for only 4 payments of $19.95 (S+H not included).

One of these will get you back on track!! ;)
 
I've got a dream catcher and had a very long zombie dream last night (actually featuring some of the cast of Zombie Flesh Eaters, which was nice), so they plainly don't work.

Although it was, admittedly, a really really lame zombie dream, with all gruesome action off camera, so perhaps they do do something!
 
They're the twee kind of things that are a circlet (meant to be made of wood but is mass produced in plastic) bound with ... er ... string, with a web and bead pattern across the circle. Chuck in a couple of pidgeon and chicken feathers and you have a western, mass produced version of a native North American Indian charm. You're meant to hang them above where you sleep and they'll keep bad spirits - and nightmares - away.

Well, that's the theory anyhow.
 
There's actually a member on the board somewhere called Dreamcatcher with a picture of one for their avatar. I just saw it today when I was digging around. Can't remember where though :?

Aren't dreamcatchers just early versions of home-made mobiles? You know the things we hang over cribs to give babies something to watch at night? The are quite nice to look at.
 
Works for me. I just look up, watch the thing and then I ...
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 
Well I think Stormkhan has the merchandising angle worked out pretty well but these things may work. The act of buying and then displaying such a charm may have a certain suggestive power, even if the charm itself is a bit of tat.

More negatively, if you dig up some supposed Anglo-Saxon heads and attribute evil to them, your life may suffer - even if they turn out to be toys made twenty years before.

:?
 
I bought one ( one inch diameter) from the friendly Navajo in Arizona so it's got to be genuine!

I just retired it from my rear view mirror because it's so sunlight faded.
If I start having bad dreams in the car it's going right back!

But seriously it was just a little bit of the South West to hang in the car and brighten up my commute to work thinking about the desert sunshine.
 
That's very cynical Stormkhan! What you need is one of my original Native American Heap Good Feeling Bracelets, as shown in The Da Vinci Code. Machine copied from a hand crafted original, the bracelet comes in two sizes; "Ouch to small" or "Bugger, it fell off again". Cast in the finest of nickel alloys, its guaranteed to bring good luck to your family, wealth to your business and verility to your farmyard animals. Yours for only 4 payments of $19.95 (S+H not included).
Click to expand...
:rofl: :rofl:
 
Ringo said:
That's very cynical Stormkhan! What you need is one of my original Native American Heap Good Feeling Bracelets, as shown in The Da Vinci Code. Machine copied from a hand crafted original, the bracelet comes in two sizes; "Ouch to small" or "Bugger, it fell off again". Cast in the finest of nickel alloys, its guaranteed to bring good luck to your family, wealth to your business and verility to your farmyard animals. Yours for only 4 payments of $19.95 (S+H not included).

One of these will get you back on track!! ;)
Click to expand...

Reminds me of this.
 
There was a great cartoon a few years back advertising 'Kachina Doll Action Figures' :twisted: and the like.

More seriously, though, I see about half of us have voted for 'yes, through the power of suggestion' and the same amount 'no, they don't work at all'. Could any of the 'no' folk explain why they voted that way? Because it sounds close to saying that we, as individuals, have no influence over (in a general way) what we dream about. Really? I guess one of the things that I find fascinating about dreaming is that while we don't seem to be controlling the action, or even the subject(s) of the dream, the mental state that I'm in/choose to put myself in does have an effect on what I dream. (No scary movies before bedtime!) :D If a person believes a dreamcatcher keeps out bad dreams don't you think that would make a difference? It seems rather different to me than say, believing a talisman or charm will protect you from a shark or from lightning.
 
My take

The earliest record of what could be a dreamcatcher was mentioned by George Nelson, who was a trader amongst the Saulteax (plains Ojibwe) in the first decade of the 19th century. Nelson describes them as a small hoop, wrapped with grass and woven with leather that they hang from the cradleboard to protect the child from illness. Never mentions them preventing bad dreams, though.
The Minnesota Historical Society also holds and example of such an "amulet" that was colected sometime before the turn of the 20th century. They describe it as a "(t)hin circular wooden frame completely wrapped in a grass fiber. Filling the circle is a spider web design woven of grass fiber, tied to the hoop on the cradleboard using a leather thong. Usually hung on the hoop of a cradleboard, this item is said to "catch everything evil as a spider's web catches and holds everything that comes in contact with it."
Again, no mention of dreams in particular.
mf000765.jpg

The traditional cultural meaning beinhd the dreamcatcher is no longer evident in the mutlitude of poorly made contemporary versions.
 
Re: My take

Dave T said:
The traditional cultural meaning beinhd the dreamcatcher is no longer evident in the mutlitude of poorly made contemporary versions.
Click to expand...
That goes for most "Folk", "Ethnic" or "Traditional" items and techniques lifted for the mass market. IIRC, Feng-Shue was originally the art and method of positioning tombs to promote spiritual goodness for the deceased. It is now the money-spinning province of a furniture mover.
 
I think they should have made it something more useful,like a fart catcher,youknow only catches the stinky ones and lets the harmless ones "pass" through.
I know lots of people who could make use of those.
They could be hung in elevators.
 
Which the fart catchers or those who fart in an elevator?

Personally, I can see a market in selling odour-eaters(tm) dangling from a bit of string.
 
I made a dremcatcher out of printer paper and scotch tape before.

It worked well.
 
Leaferne said:
Underpants lined with charcoal?
Click to expand...

Actually , the Japanese have already produced the underpants lined with charcoal !
I don't know if it is a big s(m)eller yet though. :D
 
My daughter was having loads of nightmares a couple of years back so we bought her a dreamcatcher and they went away - 'sprobly the power of suggestion (esp on a little girl) but if it works, so what?
 
oooh-ooh Dreamweaver...

I believe Dreamcatchers do work but not the plastic, mass produced ones. The ones that seem to work best are the ones that are handmade by the individual using them and using feathers from birds that have significance for the individual. For instance, if crows scare the beejeezus out of you, don't use them in abundance. It'll bring you nightmares. The flip side of this is to use a feather from a bird that scares you (like, say, the crow) and surround it by feathers from a non-threatening, protective bird. All of this wont work a whit until you connect with the birds. If you have bad dreams and want a stop gap instafix, it won't do jack. BTW, what works for me is an owl feather sandwiched between two crow feathers.
 
Incidentally, I won a dreamcatcher, a nice looking shiny gold thingy with little crystals tacked onto it, in a local (Adelaide, South Australia)commercial radio station competion a handful of years ago...

Not really a believer in such things, but it worked for number one child straight away who at the time did have fairly consistent nightmares (He thought it was 'Spooky') 'cos it worked!

The Radio program was called Psychic Saturday Night, of all things
 
Coincidentally (or not? - this is the FTMB after all) my daughter brought a Dream Catcher home from school yesterday - her best friend made it for her and she wants to replace the old one - "because it's now full of bad, spiky dreams, so it needs emptying"
 
If something works,be it placebo or whatever , as long as it is beneficial to someone I see no harm in it.
Unless of course it's of the ouija board nature,you know, brings on evil or something bad.
 
I know she works, if she doesnt I want to know where she is between 5 and 9.30 at night and where the money comes from.
 
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