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. |