Long ago when the world was young,
an old lakota spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a
vision. In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher
of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to him
in a scared language that only the spiritual leaders of the
Lakota could understand.
As he spoke Iktomi, the spider, took
the elders willow hoop which had feathers, horse hairs, beads
and offerings on it and began to spin a web. He spoke to the
elder about the cycles of life....how we begin our lives as
infants and we move on to childhood, and then to adulthood.
Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as
infants, completing the cycle.
Iktomi said, "In each time of
life there are many forces and different directions that can
help or interfere with the hawrmony of nature, and also with the
great spirit and all of his wonderful teachings." Iktomi
gave the web to the Lakota elder and said, "See, the web is
a perfect circle but there is a hole in the center of the cirlce.
If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good
dreams and ideas - - and the bad ones will go through the hole.
Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals
and make good use of your people's ideas, dreams and visions."
The Lakota elder passed on his
vision to his people and now the Lakota's use the dreamcatcher
as the web of their life. It is hung above their beds or in
their home to sift their dreams and visions. The good of their
dreams is captured in the web of life and carried with them...but
the evil in their dreams escapes through the center hole, and
are no longer part of them.
