Long ago when the word was sound, an old Native American 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 children, move on through childhood and on to adulthood. Finally we go to old age where we must be taken care of as children, 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 bad ideas and the good ones will go through the hole."
The elder passed on his vision onto the people and now many Native American people have a dream catcher above their bed to sift their dreams and visions. The bad is captured in the web of life and dissipates with the early morning sun and ,are no longer a part of their lives, but the good in their dreams drops through the hole in the web and is carried with the people. It is said the dream catcher holds the destiny of the future.
Another old Native legend says that the night air is filled with good and bad drerams. The dream catcher catches the dreams as they go by. The good dreams know thwe way and slip through the center hole, then slide gently down the soft feathers. The bad dreams, not knowing the way, get caught in the web and perish at first light. Dreamcatchers were hung on cradle boards and other places in the lodge for all to have good dreams. Hang one above your bed............... and Happy Dreaming!
