Recently, a Portland store catering to a fetishized experience of spirituality received a much needed wake-up call regarding its creation of a dreamcatcher workshop taught by a woman who does not have any literal or direct connection with any of the 566 federally recognized tribes within the United States.
If you are of European ancestry and are looking for an ancient (vestigial origins in Indoeuropean) story about the power of dreams and weaved thread, check out the myth of Briar Rose and Princess Aurora (the dawn, Goddess of Spring and the new day. Hausos in Proto-Indoeuropean religion).
I.e., if you can let go of the unnecessary notion that fairy tales are 'just children's stories' then look at Sleeping Beauty.
Folk tales are one of many repositories for knowledge we hold about nature; of our understanding of time, space, and our relation to seasonal cyclical change. They are not the only container, of course, and we have the opportunity to hear the stories of many cultures, especially those of the people whose origin is here on this continent. We have a responsibility to listen to those who have been on the receiving end of a major project of cultural genocide for generations. But, if you are of European ancestry, your source for spiritual connection need not be done at the expense of others. Your desire for spiritual connection can, ultimately, be a way of engaging more fully with others.
In the story, a young girl is cursed to endure a long period of sleep after being pricked by the flax of a spinner's wheel. In the most immediate sense, this is a tale of the transition between night to day and the transition from winter (night) to spring (day.) The glue holding these transitions together is Dawn (Aurora) and, well, her dreams. I prefer to view the spinner as an agent of change and growth for the young girl, contrary to the popular portrayal of the spinner as simply 'evil.' The spinner is the darkness required for growth to occur; she is the source of the Dawn's dreamtime.
I will not say that the spinner woman of Sleeping Beauty is an exact parallel with the Spider Woman, Asibikaashi, of the Ojibway tradition. Both women, however, in their own way aid in the return of the Sun at Dawn.
Both women participate in the creation of the archetypal web that connects us, either in its natural form as with a spider web or in its symbolic utilitarian form in woven fabric.
In some versions of the Briar Rose tale, there are only twelve fairies invited to the birthing ceremony for young Aurora, although there are thirteen fairies. These fairies represent the transition from a lunar based calendar system (13 months) to a heliacal calendar (solar based with 12 months). The extra month(fairy) is insulted at being uninvited.
Before the last fairy offers her gift, the thirteenth fairy barges in and curses baby Aurora with death on her fifteenth birthday (my guess is this is a nod towards the lunisolar calendar, which periodically included an extra month in a year to sync up the lunar and solar cycles. A 15 year or 16 year lull would be a 'death time' for the 13th month. Also, conveniently, the 15th and 16th years for a young woman are her 'spring' into womanhood.)
(Relatedly, the Romans were particularly concerned in later years to ascertain the 'correct' date of Easter and had a whole method to do so. There was a need, after all, to celebrate the return of spring accurately. Hausos/Easter are derived from similar sources.)
The twelfth fairy amends the curse to say it won't be death, but instead a long sleep. All is not lost.
As above, so below.
The earth in it's yearly cycle has a six month long 'day' and a six month long 'night.' Each winter(night), the old crone spinner transfers her power of sleep dreaming to the young maiden who awakens in the dawn (spring) to encourage new life for everyone around her. And, thus the cycle continues.
If you are of European ancestry and are looking for an ancient (vestigial origins in Indoeuropean) story about the power of dreams and weaved thread, check out the myth of Briar Rose and Princess Aurora (the dawn, Goddess of Spring and the new day. Hausos in Proto-Indoeuropean religion).
I.e., if you can let go of the unnecessary notion that fairy tales are 'just children's stories' then look at Sleeping Beauty.
Folk tales are one of many repositories for knowledge we hold about nature; of our understanding of time, space, and our relation to seasonal cyclical change. They are not the only container, of course, and we have the opportunity to hear the stories of many cultures, especially those of the people whose origin is here on this continent. We have a responsibility to listen to those who have been on the receiving end of a major project of cultural genocide for generations. But, if you are of European ancestry, your source for spiritual connection need not be done at the expense of others. Your desire for spiritual connection can, ultimately, be a way of engaging more fully with others.
In the story, a young girl is cursed to endure a long period of sleep after being pricked by the flax of a spinner's wheel. In the most immediate sense, this is a tale of the transition between night to day and the transition from winter (night) to spring (day.) The glue holding these transitions together is Dawn (Aurora) and, well, her dreams. I prefer to view the spinner as an agent of change and growth for the young girl, contrary to the popular portrayal of the spinner as simply 'evil.' The spinner is the darkness required for growth to occur; she is the source of the Dawn's dreamtime.
I will not say that the spinner woman of Sleeping Beauty is an exact parallel with the Spider Woman, Asibikaashi, of the Ojibway tradition. Both women, however, in their own way aid in the return of the Sun at Dawn.
Both women participate in the creation of the archetypal web that connects us, either in its natural form as with a spider web or in its symbolic utilitarian form in woven fabric.
In some versions of the Briar Rose tale, there are only twelve fairies invited to the birthing ceremony for young Aurora, although there are thirteen fairies. These fairies represent the transition from a lunar based calendar system (13 months) to a heliacal calendar (solar based with 12 months). The extra month(fairy) is insulted at being uninvited.
Before the last fairy offers her gift, the thirteenth fairy barges in and curses baby Aurora with death on her fifteenth birthday (my guess is this is a nod towards the lunisolar calendar, which periodically included an extra month in a year to sync up the lunar and solar cycles. A 15 year or 16 year lull would be a 'death time' for the 13th month. Also, conveniently, the 15th and 16th years for a young woman are her 'spring' into womanhood.)
(Relatedly, the Romans were particularly concerned in later years to ascertain the 'correct' date of Easter and had a whole method to do so. There was a need, after all, to celebrate the return of spring accurately. Hausos/Easter are derived from similar sources.)
The twelfth fairy amends the curse to say it won't be death, but instead a long sleep. All is not lost.
As above, so below.
The earth in it's yearly cycle has a six month long 'day' and a six month long 'night.' Each winter(night), the old crone spinner transfers her power of sleep dreaming to the young maiden who awakens in the dawn (spring) to encourage new life for everyone around her. And, thus the cycle continues.
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