Dream Catchers by Annlee Cakes

The story as told at the Fire Rings:

A spider was quietly spinning his web in his own space. It was beside the sleeping space of Nokomis, the grandmother.

Each day, Nokomis watched the spider at work, quietly spinning away. One day as she was watching him, her grandson came in. "Nokomis-iya!" he shouted, glancing at the spider. He stomped over to the spider, picked up a shoe and went to hit it.

"No-keegwa," the old lady whispered, "don't hurt him." "Nokomis, why do you protect the spider?" asked the little boy.

The old lady smiled, but did not answer. When the boy left, the spider went to the old woman and thanked her for saving his life.

He said to her, "For many days you have watched me spin and weave my web. You have admired my work. In return for saving my life, I will give you a gift." He smiled his special spider smile and moved away, spinning as he went.

Soon the moon glistened on a magical silvery web moving gently in the window. "See how I spin?" he said. "See and learn, for each web will snare bad dreams. Only good dreams will go through the small hole. This is my gift to you. Use it so that only good dreams will be remembered. The bad dreams will become hopelessly entangled in the web.

We believe this still works To-Day!

One of the old native  traditions was to hang a dream catcher in their sleeping area. They believed that the night air is filled with dreams .

Dream Catchers were made from Weeping Willow, Honey Suckle and Grape Vines.

Today many are made from metal rings wrapped with leather and decorated: Not traditional?

We craft with original Honeysuckle vines and Grapevines.

Picture Stones: by pabear48

A story was told of an old wise Medicine Man named Mugwa who one day was sitting along a running stream which ran uphill.

Mugwa heard a vision that said" "Look at the stones!" Hearing this, Mugwa began to search the stones around him And one caught his eye. Upon picking it up he saw a picture of Katonka upon the stone, and knew then the humor of the Creator, and the wonder of the gift from Mother Earth.

To this day Medicine men and Medicine woman have had the gifts of Picture Stones given to them by Mother Earth. Each having its' own story and great power of insight upon the stones. Some even feel warm as some even feel cold. Creators' humor is upon each stone crafted from The Hand which holds us all as One Blood and One Nation.

I am Wha-O Chee ( Bear Standing )

[ of the Mide manido ("Grand Medicine spirit") ] (Eternal Medicine Lodge)

And I share to the Nations that which I have received: Every stone has been cleansed and stood upon the Fire Ring Every picture stone has been within the smoke of the tobacco Picture stones are good medicine!

Remember tradition! Mugwa!

Have you visited The Bear Cave Shops?

Using the Art Master Paintings of Arkansas City, Kansas artist/author Robert William Vincent (aka) pabear48 to create jewelry, clothing, household items, camping, pets, baby items and a whole lot more.