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Dream Catchers: Popular, But Not Pagan
Peruse any Pagan shop or selling website, and chances are good you’ll stumble, at some point, across dream catchers. While these are popular items that have made into the mainstream, particularly in the metaphysical community, they’re not specifically Pagan, at least not in the context of modern Neopaganism – much of which stems from European beliefs and practices. In fact, dream catchers actually have their beginnings in Native American spirituality. It is believed that dream catchers originated with the Ojibwe, or Chippewa, peoples of North American. Tribal communities existed primarily around the northern part of the United States and the southern regions of Canada, in particular, around the Great Lakes.…
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Ohio’s Great Serpent Mound
Located in the small rural community of Peebles, Ohio, the Great Serpent Mound is perhaps the best-known serpent effigy in North America. It’s nearly a quarter mile long, and that makes it the biggest in the United States. The mound, which stands only a few feet high, represents an uncoiling serpent. It was originally believed that the Serpent Mound was created by the Adena culture, who lived in the Ohio Valley from around 800 b.c.e. to around 100 c.e. The Adena people built two burial mounds nearby. However, recent studies indicate that the Serpent Mound is actually much more recent than the Adena timeline, and is now attributed to the…
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Dream Catchers: Totally Not Pagan, You Guys
I love perusing Etsy and Pinterest and getting great ideas and seeing all the clever crafty things that other people are doing to celebrate their spirituality, I really do. But for the love of Zeus’ kidney, y’all. DREAMCATCHERS ARE NOT WICCAN. They’re not even NeoPagan, if we use NeoPagan in the context of “modern Paganism based upon proto-Indo-European religious beliefs.” They’re Native American. And while there’s absolutely nothing wrong with appreciating Native American spirituality, it’s completely a terrible idea to appropriate it. In other words, if you’re not Native American, you are lacking the cultural and societal context in which something sacred like a dream catcher actually works. Now, before…
