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Dream Catchers

As the legend goes, the Dream Catcher was used by the Woodland Indians and was hung in the lodge (near the window). Its use was to catch all dreams, good or bad. The bad dreams would get caught in the webbing and be held there till first morning light, then burned off. Now, the good were caught and knowing their way to the hole in the centre, would filter down into the feathers and be held there, only to return another night, to be dreamed.

Medicine Wheels

The Medicine Wheel is the circle of lessons, which a person travels through to complete their journey. The four directions represent life's cycles, beginning with the South which represents birth, innocence, and faith. A person then travels to the West, a place of introspection, learning life's lessons until he or she becomes mature and enters the North, a place of wisdom and gratitude. At this point the Earth's walk is finished. The spirit then enters the Golden Door at the East, a place of illumination, entering the Blue Road that travels from East to West before it comes through the Golden Door in the East again. It then travels the rim of the Medicine Wheel to the South to be reborn into a new physical body.

The Legend of the Dream Catcher

Long ago when the word 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 sacred languag. 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 centre. 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 to the people, and now many indian people hang 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 center of the web and are no longer a part of their lives.

Other interesting Native American Info

Sacred Animals

The Horse

The Bufalo

The Eagle

The Wolf

The Raven