GroshLink

So I'm not the only one interested in Dream Catchers :-) Check out the review on Urbana's site (also don't miss the transcript of Cross-Cultural Conversion, Urban 03 presentation given by Ray Aldred, Director of the First Nations Alliance Churches of Canada, Cree Nation):

As Jenkins explains, this marketplace demand for individualistic spirituality has profoundly affected Native religious life. Native religions have become much more "religious" and less ethnic. Rituals have become more abstract and esoteric, as millions upon millions of Americans have sought "pure" spirituality, accessible to tribal outsiders.

Most New Age seekers, Jenkins notes, have come from Christianity, and are seeking within native spirituality that magical something they found lacking in Christianity. Natives are thus under financial (tourist) pressure to downplay those overly other-worldly elements of their cultures, when working with non-Natives fleeing the perceived otherworldliness of Christianity. Conversely, Natives must often deemphasize the earthy, communal and moral elements of their faiths to appease non-Natives who are seeking individualistic and amoral spirituality.