Masonic & Occult Symbols Illustrate

The dream net (or dream catcher) is quite popular these days— especially for use in babies’ cribs. However, this is NOT an innocent ornament. It is actually a charm. A Dictionary of Mysticism reports that a charm is “any magic word, formula, incantation, object, sign or amulet supposed to possess occult power .” Webster tells us that a charm is an “incantation,” “the chanting or reciting of a MAGIC SPELL,” “an act or expression believed to have MAGIC power,” “AMULET.” An amulet is: “a charm (as an ornament) often inscribed with a magic incantation or symbol to protect the wearer against evil or to aid him.” A charmer is called an enchanter or a magician! (As an aside, many people wear “charm bracelets” and think nothing of it, but they are actually wearing magical symbols which have a tendency to attract evil spirits!) In Roget’s Thesaurus we find some interesting synonyms for charm. They are: enchantment, magic spell, spell, hex, amulet, and talisman. The verb form of “charm” means to bewitch or put under a magic spell. Do you want to wear any of these items or put a charm on your baby’s crib?! One witchcraft magazine, Circle Network News, in an article entitled “Amulets, Talismans & Charms,” written by Selena Fox, a witch, explains the dream net like this: “This CHARM, from the Ojibway tribe in Minnesota, is made of sinew stretched over a small hoop of ash. It is designed to bring a good night’s sleep, especially for children, and is hung horizontally over a child’s cradleboard or crib. Tradition says that the air is filled with both good and bad dreams waiting to come to a sleeping child. This net allows good dreams to find their way to the child through the hole in the center, while bad dreams are caught up in the web where they dissolve in the dawn’s light. Dream nets continue to be used by some Ojibway people today as in ancient times.”