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Practical dreamcatcher magick

18:58 / 17.10.04

A couple of friends of mine have been expecting a baby. Instead of giving them baby clothes, toys or gigantic plush animals (which they're already getting loads of) I decided to construct a dedicated dreamcatcher for the kid as a first birthday gift.

However, the little one suddenly decided to be born six weeks early. Mother and child are fine now (though it was a bit of a close call at one point), but my schedule is of course pretty thoroughly fucked - so I'm considering buying one and "fine-tuning" it from there, rather than start from scratch.

Thing is, this is not the kind of working I have that much experience with in the first place, and my time to do proper research and experimentation has become that much shorter again.
So I'm rather busy looking things up right now. Barbelith search yielded some moderately helpful stuff, but nothing really specific. So I'd be grateful for any advice that can help me charge the thing more effectively, especially when it comes to embedding personalized items into it - oils, incenses, herbs, found objects...

(I'm not going to try to get hold of personal items like hair right now, I prefer to leave such finishing touches to the parents if they wish to add them. For starters, a well-made sigil will have to do in that regard)

Thanks.

17:50 / 22.10.04

Sorry about the wait...

For herbs I would start with mullein, which is good at fighting off nightmares (among other things) - I don't know exactly how you're looking to affix the personal touches, but mullein leaf usually comes cut small (unless you have it growing wild), so maybe a tiny pouch? Mullein essential oil (and probably tincture) is also available (it's used for treating ear infections).

Flax seed is less specific to dreams, but is highly protective for children. If you're really patient, you could probably thread some flax seed and work it into the web. Otherwise, stick it in the bag with the mullein.

Feathers from an all-black hen also dust away negative influences, so you could maybe add some to the feathers already on the dreamcatcher?

Those are the first three things that spring to mind as I sit here at work - if I come up with anything else when I'm home with my books, I'll post again.

Good luck!

~L

20:30 / 24.10.04

I added the black hen feathers and some dried mullein. I had to look that name up, as I'm not a native English speaker - interesting though, I knew the plant but wasn't really aware of this particular property.
Couldn't get useable flax in time, but nevermind - there'll be other opportunities for that.

I also added a few pieces of amethyst (if he takes after his parents, that should come in helpful), and kept the sigilizing to a minimum - focusing on enhancing the dreamcatcher itself rather than personalizing it for a particular individual (because upon second thought, that seemed more restrictive than beneficial, especially when it's meant for someone I hardly know myself yet).

It was a store-bought one btw, but fortunately there's some stores around here that sell fairly decent things of this kind. The parents really appreciated the gift, now we'll just have to wait and see how well it works for the little one.

In any case, I'll definitely be doing some further experimentation in this area (and this time without deadline, at least for now... )

Thanks for the help.

Charlie's Horse

02:41 / 25.10.04

Ghostwheel - gotta say, this is such a sweet gift to give a couple with a newborn child! I hope it helps them have a few relatively calm nights, with the kid dreaming deep and far. I've some cautious advice, as I'm newly breaking into working with charms, herbs, and oils myself. I'd hazard that something like lemongrass or khus khus (vertivert) would help to empower the dreamcatcher, as they're used to fix up a mojo bag. Or you could just make some Van Van oil (of which these two herbs are often ingredients), and put some of it on the dreamcatcher. A number of recipes for it is at the bottom of this page.