Quick Specs
- Type: Dreamcatcher-style wall hanging with eye beads and feathers
- Size: 9 1/2 by 3 inches
- Hoop: Bright silver-toned ring with a looped web, eight small eye beads on the rim and a larger eye bead at the center
- Feathers: Four silver-toned feather charms, two on each hoop
- Details: Blue-petaled eye flower above; smaller star-pattern web with a blue stone; round blue eye bead at the bottom
A Silver Hoop Set With Eight Small Eyes
The hoop sets the width of the piece at 3 inches. It’s a bright silver-toned ring crossed by looping curves in a rosette pattern, with eight small eye beads spaced around the rim like the marks on a clock and a larger eye bead sitting at the center of the web. Above the hoop, a small flower with deep blue petals holds another eye bead at its middle. Two silver-toned feathers with fine engraved veins hang from the lower rim. Beneath the hoop, a second and smaller web with a star pattern and a blue stone at its center carries two more feathers and a short chain, and the chain ends in a round, deep blue eye bead with a white ring, a light blue center and a black pupil. The full hanging is 9 1/2 inches long. Every part is silver or blue, and the bright finish of the hoop picks up the blue of the beads around it. Seen from a distance, the hanging is a column of silver with blue accents, wide at the hoop and narrowing to a single bead.
Two traditions meet in this hanging. The hoop, web and feathers follow the form of the dreamcatcher, an object that comes from Anishinaabe culture, with the Ojibwe as the people in the recorded origin account. The eye beads belong to the evil eye belief, the idea of a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy. A museum catalogue says amulets against it are worn or carried and that their designs always include an eye motif, either realistic or highly stylised. Here the motif comes in three sizes: small beads around the rim, a larger bead at the heart of the web and a full-size eye at the bottom of the chain. Sources describe a hoop with a net woven across it as the core of the traditional dreamcatcher, and this hanging keeps that outline, with an eye bead at the center of the web. The hanging brings the two together as a decorative piece, and each part keeps the history of the tradition it comes from.
Practical Ways to Display It
The hoop is the main attraction, so give it a plain wall or a window frame behind it and let the web show. A bedroom wall, a reading corner, the side of a doorway or the back of a door all work, and a small nail or hook takes the top link. The feathers and the lower web swing in a draft, so leave a few inches of clear space on either side. In a window the hoop frames whatever is behind it. A spot near a lamp or a window lets the bright silver of the hoop and the rim beads catch the light. It also works as a gift for someone who likes dreamcatcher styling. For more pieces in the same family, see my dream catchers collection.
How to Hang and Care for the Dreamcatcher Hanging
Three steps cover choosing a spot, hanging the top link and dusting the feathers.
- Pick a Clear Wall
Hold the hanging against the wall and step back. The hoop is 3 inches across and the feathers hang below it, so choose a spot where the web sits against a plain surface and nothing touches the lower feathers when they swing. Eye level shows the rim beads and the eye at the bottom together.
- Hang the Top Link
Set a small nail or hook into the wall at your mark and slip the top link over it. Let the hanging settle, then check that the hoop sits level and the lower web and eye bead fall straight below it. If the hoop tilts, move the link along the hook until the rim beads line up evenly.
- Dust the Web and Feathers
Dust the hoop, the web and the feathers with a soft dry brush or cloth every few weeks. The looped web has many small gaps, so a light touch with a dry brush is easier than a cloth there. Take the hanging down before you paint or clean the wall around it.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this hanging as a decorative piece that brings together two traditions: the dreamcatcher, which comes from Anishinaabe culture, and the evil eye belief, a living folk custom across the Mediterranean, the Middle East and beyond. Both belong to living communities, and this hanging is a reference to them, never a substitute for the teachings of the people who keep them. If you want to know what a dreamcatcher means and how it’s made and given, start with Anishinaabe teachers and writers. For other eye pieces, browse my evil eye collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wikipedia traces the dreamcatcher to Anishinaabe culture, with the Ojibwe as the people in the recorded origin account, and gives the Ojibwe word as asabikeshiinh. A Canadian college page describes the Anishnabek (Ojibwe) teaching of the dreamcatcher as a story of a spider's protective gift, and says dreamcatchers are now part of many Indigenous cultures across North America in various forms.
Wikipedia and the college page both describe a willow hoop with a woven net. Wikipedia adds that hoops were woven with sinew or plant cordage and that early netting was made of nettle fiber, and the college page names sinew as the netting and says the charms were hung from the cradleboard to protect infants. Feathers and beads are among the sacred items that may decorate a traditional piece, according to Wikipedia.
No. The dreamcatcher comes from Anishinaabe culture, and the evil eye belief is found across the Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Middle East, among other regions. This hanging combines the two as a decorative design, so each part carries the history of its own tradition.
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