Dreamcatcher in Four Directions Earrings
SKU:
T839
$37.00
$37.00
per item
These "Four Directions" earrings symbolically represent a balanced, healthy life. I weaved into the dream catcher web a small turtle. See below for additional information.
Description: Hoop earrings
Length: 5 cm diameter (approx. 1 7/8")
Materials: seed beads; sinew; metal turtle; fish hooks
3 available
The Medicine Wheel and Four Directions - Nature is referred to as “Mother Earth” and because of her significance, she has been adopted into numerous customs and traditions. One example of this concept is the medicine wheel, which symbolically represents perfection as well as the circle of life. Most medicine wheels, also called sacred hoops, have four common compass points, each with a guiding spirit, that symbolize the four stages of life and offer lessons and gifts that support the development of a balanced life. The wheel represents the four seasons, the four human needs – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, the four kingdoms – animal, mineral, plant, and human; the four sacred medicines — sweetgrass, tobacco, cedar, and sage.
Dream Catcher - In many Native American tribes, a dream catcher is a handmade hoop woven to a web or literally, a net. They are traditionally suspended on cradles as a form of armor and protection. Dream catchers can be traced back to the Ojibwes. The Ojibwe tribe is responsible for the creation of the spiritual item and their inspiration originates from spiders, which is why the woven thread in the center of the dream catcher resembles a spider web. The mystical Asibaikaashi (Spider Woman) job was to protect and take care of children as well as other members of the tribe. As the tribe grew and migrated to expand farther around the country, she was no longer capable of protecting the entire tribe. As a result, she created the dream catcher as a way of protecting the growing tribe. Dream catchers became widely adopted by Native Americans in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the Pan-Indian movement.