Dreamcatcher.... | Jason Lee Willis Nov

The Fire Handler

Book #1 in the Dream Catcher Chronciles

Born Tewapa Askibikaashi, fifteen-year-old Lily Weber willfully rejects the ways of her Sioux and Chippewa ancestors and models herself after the Christian teachers of the Sacred Heart Indian Mission, but when she returns home for the summer of 1897, she finds her childhood home at Lake Manitou threatened—by corrupt businessmen willing to do anything to claim the land and by darker forces from legend and lore. When a hero arrives in the form of Father Jean Nicholas Guerin, a mysterious Jesuit priest who knows the dark secrets of her family, LIly begins a journey that will challenge her understanding of good and evil, reality and myth, and duty and love.

The Fire Handler is a modern fantasy set in the old forest of Minnesota, where Anishinaabe, Oceti Sakowin, Norse, and Christian lore crash together upon the rocky shore of Lake Manitou, where an ancient evil slumbers in the heart of Hiawatha County.

Learn the Lore...

Anishinaabe

Described by historian Basil Johnson as "the Beings Made from Nothing," the Anishinnabe begn a westward migration from the Atlantic and through the Great Lakes to Minnesota, where they are also known as the Ojibwe or Chippewa.

Asibikaashi

The spider is a common motif in legend, especially the Spider Woman in North America. Often seen as a Creator deity, Grandmother Spider is also instrumental in the creation of dreamcatchers.

Dreamcatcher

Although seen in various forms in various cultures, the Anishinaabe originated the "spider web charm," which is often used with infants to ward off evil spirts.

Fire Keeper

In Anishinaabe ceremonies (Midewiwin lodge/Sweat Lodge), the Fire Keeper serves and a priest in officiating ceremones.

Gitch Animiiki

The Ojibwe version of the myth states that the thunderbirds were created by Nanabozho for the purpose of fighting the underwater spirits. They were also used to punish humans who broke moral rules. The thunderbirds lived in the four directions and arrived with the other birds in the springtime. In the fall they migrated south after the ending of the underwater spirits' most dangerous season.

Gitchie Manito

In more recent Anishinaabe culture, the Anishinaabe language word Gichi-manidoo means Great Spirit, the Creator of all things and the Giver of Life, and is sometimes translated as the "Great Mystery". Historically, Anishinaabe people believed in a variety of spirits, whose images were placed near doorways for protection.

Gookooko-oo

The owl. There is a unique belief that owls are harbingers of
death and should be avoided at all costs.

Horned Serpent

a prominent figure in many myths and legends. Literally, a water serpent, yet this figure seems to also represent the universal serpentine symbol for evil. At times, it is synonymous with a watery manitou. Its enemy is the thunderbird.

Inyan

A Sioux creator god whose manifestation is exposed stone formations. Since Inyan sacrificed himself to help shape the world, rock formations are seen as holy by the Sioux peoples. Prior to Chippewa settlement, the Sioux viewed the unique rock formations around Lake Manitou as sacred.

Ironwood Log

a relic mentioned in the Seven Fires Prophecies. The Ironwood Log is the container for the sacred scrolls (most likely birchbark) that held the prophecies. Generations prior, the Ironwood Log was hidden. Prophecy believed this sacred container will one day be found and its secrets revealed to the Anishinaabe and all mankind.