Dream catcher - Lakota

[Okwes]

Dream catcher - Lakota

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 searcher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to
him in a sacred language. As he spoke, Iktomi the spider picked up the
elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horsehair, 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, move on through childhood and on to
adulthood. Finally we go to old age where we must be taken care of as
infants, completing the cycle.

"But", Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, "in each time of life
there are many forces, some good and some bad. If you listen to the good
forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But, if you listen to
the bad forces, they'll steer you in the wrong direction and may hurt you.
So these forces can help, or can interfere with the harmony of Nature. While
the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web.

When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the elder the web and said, "The web
is a perfect circle with a hole in the center. Use the web to help your
people reach their goals, making good use of their ideas, dreams and
visions. If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your good
ideas and the bad ones will go through the hole."

The elder passed on his vision onto the people and now many Indian people
have a dream catcher above their bed to sift their dreams and visions. The
good is captured in the web of life and carried with the people, but the
evil in their dreams drops through the hole in the web and are no longer a
part of their lives. It is said the dream catcher holds the destiny of the
future.

[Okwes]

A Dream Catcher Legend - Lokota

"Long ago when the world was young, an old man sat 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 sacred language that only the old man could understand.

As he spoke, Iktomi the spider took the elder's 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 harmony 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 circle. 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 elder passed on his vision to his people and even today, many of us use the dreamcatcher as the web of our life. It is hung above our beds or in the home to sift dreams and visions. The good of our dreams are captured in the web of life and carried with them...but any bad dreams escape through the center hole." users.erols.com/brddwolf/dreamcatcher.html

It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher; it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) & the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather). This is not to say that the use of each is restricted by gender, but that to use the feather each is aware of the gender properties she/he is invoking. (Indian people, in general, are very specific about gender roles and identity.) The use of gem stones, as we do in the ones we make for sale, is not something that was done by the old ones. Government laws have forbidden the sale of feathers from our sacred birds, so using four gem stones, to represent the four directions, and the stones used by western nations were substituted by us. The woven dream catchers of adults do not use feathers.

Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dream catchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams." It is also customary in many parts of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. to have the dream catchers be a tear-drop/snow shoe shape. web.onramp.ca/rivernen/legend_1.htm