Anise is said to keep away the evil eye, and it’s often used to keep bad dreams away in a dream pillow. We’ve used dream or sleep pillows for years with our kids with great success. True dream pillows often contain herbs that stimulate the dream cycle; when making these for kids, I like to think of them as “good” dream pillows, so these work to keep bad dreams away, rather than stimulating dreams. You can add other dried herbs to this basic project: consider chamomile, rose petals, lavender, or rosemary.
Materials:
- Two 2-inch squares of fabric
- Scissors
- Needle
- Thread
- 2 tablespoons rice
- 2 tablespoons aniseeds
Instructions:
- Place your fabric squares right sides together and sew around the square, leaving 1 side open.
- Turn your square right-side out.
- Fill the square with the rice and aniseeds. Add a bit more rice if you feel your pillow isn’t full enough, but be careful not to overstuff or it will be hard to sew shut.
- Sew the remaining side of your pillow.
- Place the dream pillow under your pillow or in your pillow case. When you lay down, or if you toss and turn, the seeds will release a bit of scent. You can also reach under your pillow and squeeze the dream pillow to release the calming scent.