The Legend Of The Dreamcatcher: Lakota Wisdom

The legend of the dream catcher comes from the Lakota tribe, an ethnic group that is part of the Great Sioux Nation. They live along the banks of the Missouri River in the United States. They are the same people who were portrayed in “Dancing with Wolves”, a film that shows parts of their culture, customs and rituals.

The Lakota tribe has a divine figure they call Iktomi. This is the god of wisdom and deception,  who has always been a teacher to the Lakota community. The Lakota people believe that Iktomi sometimes wears a human figure, a tall man with a face painted in red and yellow.

But most of the time, this god looks like a spider. In fact,  Iktomi is a very wise spider who sometimes gives wise and mysterious lessons, and other times he is a trickster. He has many stories, and some of them he has shared with us mortals. It was Iktomi who taught the Lakota people the legend of the dream catcher.

A magical mountain

Many years back in time, an old Lakota man was climbing a mountain. Iktomy appeared, in its spider form, to this man. Iktomy began to speak to the man in a sacred language.

As he spoke, Iktomi took a branch from the oldest willow tree in the area and shaped it into a ring. Then he collected horsehair and colored feathers from the most beautiful birds. Iktomi also had pearls and other small, but beautiful, objects. When he had gathered everything, he began to weave them together with his spider silk.

While carefully weaving the objects together, he told the old man that life is a cycle. He told the man that it is a beginning and an end. We do not move in a straight line, but in a circle. We start a cycle, follow it, and end it at the beginning of a new circle, and so on.

Mankind’s life and ages

The legend of the dream catcher says that Iktomi explained to the old man that our ages are also cycles. We start our lives as very fragile beings and depend on those around us. Little by little we become stronger. We start walking on our own two feet, then run and we grow up. It makes us more independent, capable and free.

This lasts for a while, but then we get old. We become left to fragile beings who depend on others. This is the time when the last cycle closes and death comes. The end is similar to the beginning, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again for each and every human being.

Iktomy still weaved inside the circular branch while the man listened to him, fascinated and engaged. The revelation seemed extraordinary. The man now understood that each end is also a beginning. And this is precisely the ultimate meaning of the dream catcher.

The legend of the dream catcher

Iktomy continued to share its wisdom. He told the old man that there are many forces in this world, which will pull you in different directions in all stages of the life cycle. Some of them are positive and others are negative. These forces can change the natural direction and harmony of fate. Therefore, it is important to be careful about how we identify them, since the good will not always seem good, and the bad do not always appear as bad.

Iktomy woven its spider web toward the center of the circular branch. However, he eventually stopped and left a hole in the middle. Then he told the old man that he wanted to give him this creation so that all the Lakota people could learn how to make the most of their dreams and visions. Good ideas and good projects will be caught online. The bad ones, on the other hand, will just disappear through the hole in the middle of the woven threads.

The old man shared the legend of the dream catcher with the rest of his people. Since then, the Lakota people have used Iktomi’s woven nets as a basis for their future. People from the western world call the object a dream catcher. Used properly, it allows us to examine our dreams in search of truths that can guide us in the right direction in life.