Many cultures around the world believe in the power, symbolism, and importance of dreams. The various cultures of the native peoples of North America are no exception to the concept of dream importance. Because dreams are often viewed as mystical, it is no wonder that so many different peoples put such an interesting significance on dreams. Some of the groups give dreams more importance than others, but most Native Americans share the value of dreams, although they show it in different ways, and have also influenced the modern view that many people have on the significance of dreams.
Some scientists believe that the world of dreams is only a world created by the subconscious mind during the stage of sleep called R.E.M. (Rapid Eye Movement). Few people believe that the dream world is actually a separate world completely. According to the people who put the most significance on dreams, the dream world can actually be a gateway into another world or a way to travel through this one. Many Native American tribes believe that the dream world is like an alternate dimension and that things should be learned from one’s dreams, which is where an interpreter comes into the picture. (Koch-Sheras, Lemely, 38). Since dreams are so important to the culture, it is plausible that not one dream goes without being interpreted.
Our current, modern day culture holds a varied opinion on dreams. Some do place a large amount of significance on dreams, some just brush them off as the oddities of the unconscious mind, and some try to control their dreams-called lucid dreaming. Some tribes also believe that lucid dreaming is a possibility, and that dreams can be manipulated. Although many scientists are researching sleeping and dreaming, some opinions and views on the topic are based on beliefs of native peoples. People even base entire parts of their religions off of someone’s dream. An example of this would be the Native American Ghost Dance, which was inspired by a mere dream. (Jenkins, 58). Many different religions have bits and pieces based on someone’s dream.
The first things that need to be addressed are the stereotypes that many people have regarding Native Americans. Not all of the stereotypes involve the ideas surrounding dreams and their interpretation-nor are they all untrue-but even some that do not deal directly with dreams are sometimes associated with dreaming. For example, many people know that some Native American tribes saw many things in symbols. Seeing a certain animal in a certain place or doing a certain thing may have meant anything from a death in the family to luck for whoever spotted the animal.
The significance of symbols to a Native American also extends to the dreamscape-that is, the area in which dreams take place, like a landscape only concerning dreams. In fact, some of the definitions in a dream dictionary are based on definitions that the Native Americans had for different symbols. The shamans are also something that people may think of when they think of a Native American group. Some shamans do actually use dreams, their own and others, in some of their tribal rituals. Not only that, but many shamans were supposed to interpret their dreams and the dreams of others, all for the good of their entire tribe. (Lenard, 19)
The first thing that people will often think about when Native Americans and dreams are mentioned in the same sentence is a dream catcher. A dream catcher is believed by some to protect the owner from nightmares. The threads lacing in the middle of the loop act as a net to catch the nightmares. The nightmares are caught and the good dreams are allowed through so the dreamer only ever has good dreams. According to the Navajo legends, the dream catcher was created by a spider. (Lenard, 18). This is understandable since the spider is the greatest weaver of nets. The dream catcher seems to be one of the things that people who do not know much about Native Americans associate with all Native Americans.
Similar to a dream catcher is a dream shield. The point is not to shield from bad dreams, but rather to have a place where the dreams can be viewed. The idea of the dream shield actually came from some Native American ideas. (Koch-Sheras, Lemely, 156) Because dreams are important, it is important to each individual to know his or her dreams, the good and bad ones.
I have heard of instances where the dream catcher has helped to greatly reduce nightmares. Much of that, I believe, is psychological: since dreams are a part of the subconscious mind, they can be controlled to a certain extent by the belief that one really will not have bad dreams. The dream catcher acts as a catalyst for that belief, similar to giving placebos to a hypochondriac. Despite that, the dream catcher is one of the most popular “Native American crafts” to teach to children. The internet and craft stores are full of kits to buy and make your own “authentic” dream catcher. Dream catchers, tepees, totem poles, and arrow heads are probably some of the most recognized symbols of Native Americans, even though not all tribes had everything listed.
Current research shows that the dreamer can take things to enhance the dreaming ability, thereby increasing dream productivity. Not only to enhance the dreaming ability, but also to control the dreams and to enhance the vividness of dreams. Scientists have made pills that supposedly help with dreaming, but the Native Americans did not have the ability to make pills with the plants and other mind altering things that they had available. Certain types of hallucinations can also be considered dreams by the Native Americans, so the drugs that enhance those hallucinations can also be seen as dream enhancers. Different types of foods, drugs, and circumstances can affect how vividly one is dreaming.
One thing that will affect dream vividness is a change in the state of life. In my own experience, if I sleep in a different way than normal, or I was really hungry or sick when I went to bed, the vividness and type of dream I have tends to change. When I am especially ill, or I’m just sleeping in a strange position, the vividness increases by a large amount. One of the requirements to go on a vision quest is much fasting. The deprivation of nutrients can make the brain a very strange thing, and this includes the subconscious mind where dreams tend to originate. Therefore, fasting-when one is not already starving in the first place-can greatly affect the vividness of one’s dreams. Since dreams play such an important significance in the vision quest, the fasting is a type of dream enhancement.
Certain religions place some significance on dreams. A few important figures in the Bible dreamt of what God wanted them to do with their lives. The most noted dreamer of the Bible is Joseph from the Old Testament, who interpreted his dreams and other people’s dreams. A dream can be a sacred thing if it has the right elements. Many other religions also had people who had a dream from the deity or dreamed of some sort of disaster. Tibetan Buddhist monks also believe in using lucid dreaming as a means of achieving spiritual fulfillment and answering life’s questions.
For many of the North American Indians, a purification process must be undergone before one can even go to a spot where the deeply sacred dreams can occur. This purification process is known as a sweat lodge. According to a man named Black Elk, “The sweat lodge utilizes all powers in the universe, Earth, and the things which grow from earth-water, fire, and air.” (Erdoes, 20). Having all these elements together makes the sweat lodge a viable purification process. In fact, parts of the New Age religion actually use a sweat lodge as a part of their own rituals. The idea of a sweat lodge was something that many different tribes actually participated in as a part of their tribal lore.
After the sweat lodge, the individual would sometimes go on what is known as a vision quest to determine many different things about his or her life. (Erdoes 24). The vision quest is one of the things that some New Age believers have taken from the Native Americans. Some people, who have a European background, have decided that the religion of the Native American is the best religion for them. The problem is that the Native Americans often do not see it that way. In fact, some of the Native Americans are rather offended that these people would take their religion and convert it to something the white people can understand.
The New Agers do not seem to understand that the Native Americans, for the most part, do not support them in their stealing of the religion. For a Native American, a vision quest will show him a personal guardian spirit. (Jenkins, 53). The personal guardian spirit can be almost anything because Native Americans believed in the life and souls of the animals around them and saw them as a different form of sentient beasts.
Loved ones who have passed away are sometimes dreamt of by the ones they leave behind. Native Americans also have dreamed of loved ones who have died. But their dreaming has gone further than just a dream of people that they knew when they were alive. Some Native American tribes believe that it is possible to dream of one’s ancestors. (Koch-Sheras, Lemley, 70) Ancestors and history is important to many Native Americans, so dreaming of them is a very important and respected ability.
People have been fascinated by the meaning of dreams and have often wanted their own dreams interpreted. Some even call a psychic hotline to see if they can find out what their stranger dreams actually mean. In Native America, dreams hold a bigger significance than for the Western World. In fact, the person who interprets dreams in the tribe is highly respected and his advice is sought often. (Koch-Sheras, Lemley, 42) Many tribes in North America had someone who could interpret dreams.
Multiple types of dream dictionaries line the dream section of shelf at any bookstore. Many people believe in the importance of dreams, but a lot of those people also believe in the symbols in dreams. Each different thing that appears in a dream has a certain meaning, according to these people. What most do not take into account is that everyone has a different subconscious so it is highly probable that everyone’s dream symbols could mean something slightly different. This is why most of the dream dictionaries have a disclaimer in the front of the book.
In order to be sure that people do not depend only on the meanings of their dreams, the dictionaries often say that a dream can be just a dream at times. Native Americans also had meanings for different symbols seen in dreams. In fact, some of those meanings have been transferred to the meanings written in modern common dream dictionaries because of how believable the meanings really are.
People are so fascinated by the Native American views on dreams, a selling point is sometimes dream symbols based on Native American ideas. For example, some websites offer a guide to Native American dream symbols, among other Native American related rituals and techniques. (Jenkins, 193) An important reason that people are so interested in the Native American views on dreams and dreaming is that they have so much lore based around dreaming. It would seem to these people as though the Native Americans should have a sort of expert status when it comes to dreams because they do put such an importance on them.
One important symbol most likely taken from Native American culture is the coyote. The coyote was seen as a trickster-type figure, playing tricks on the people. (Lenard, 37). Some dream dictionaries today say that if a dreamer sees a coyote in his or her dreams, the dreamer may have misjudged something in waking life. The meaning of the coyote is an example of the Native American views on symbols transferring to the current, modern views on dream symbols.
In hospitals, some doctors use a visualization method with cancer patients. The patients are told to imagine the cancer cells and the treatment in a battle with each other. The cancer cells are imagined as horrible and ugly creatures while the treatment is imagined as something the cancer patient likes. The patient is always supposed to imagine the treatment side winning. Positive thinking has helped some. Dreams can be the same way: used for healing. In fact, the visualization can actually be transferred into the dreamscape and be a part of the process to heal the patient.
Dreams can be used to figure out what is wrong with someone and also used to figure out a cure for the person. For example, someone may be having pains that they don’t understand, but that person may have a dream that involves the area where the pains are coming from and the dream scares that person so badly that he or she goes immediately to a doctor to get the pains checked out before whatever happened in the dream actually happens to the person in his or her waking life. Native Americans actually used dreams to help determine how to heal someone. Sometimes the type of healing would be “symbolized by the appearance of an animal or bird” in the dream. (Koch-Sheras, Lemley, 42) The dream may come from the Shaman or from the victim, but the dream would help the healer determine the correct method of treatment.
In many mythologies, a dream has warned a deity or a hero about something really horrible or something really wonderful that is to happen. Currently, some people do still believe that some types of dreams can be a sort of omen. For example, if a dreamer finds a large amount of money in a dream, then that dreamer will get rich some time in his or her life. Some peoples even had someone who just looked for omens in his or her own and other people’s dreams to determine how the year was going to be for the tribe.
Some Native American tribes also believed in omens coming in dreams. A few examples of omens coming in dreams are the white men coming and killing the buffalo and the mistreatment of the Native American tribes. (Lenard, 18) Since the shamans interpreted their dreams as well as others’, people sometimes had omen dreams that the shaman would interpret to mean the tribe should leave the area or that the tribe would become more prosperous. Sometimes the dream was important enough to be taken to the tribe’s chief and then the tribe takes action together. (Lenard, 18) If the dream was wrong according to what the shaman said, then the shaman would be blamed.
Some people believe that dreams determine what they should do with their lives. A dream about the dreamer being a doctor may be the final push the dreamer needs to decide on becoming a doctor. For a group of people who put such a large amount of importance on dreams, a dream may determine much more than something the dreamer was leaning towards anyway.
Some cultures in Northern America had what were called “contraries.” These people dreamt of thunderbirds and this dream meant that they had to become a contrary and do everything they did completely backwards. (Erdoes, 25). It was not a choice of the dreamer to become a contrary, but if the dreamer dreamt of the thunderbirds, it was required of them to be a contrary. People who dreamed of the thunderbird beings feared being struck down and killed by lightening, so in order to live, they had to be a contrary. (Erdoes, 25). Because the fear is that they must be a contrary or die when this type of dream is had, the dream of thunderbirds is often dreaded and people avoid having that type of dream as much as they possibly can. Dreams are not as important as all this in our culture today, although, some people still view them as rather significant.
Whether or not to become a Berdache is another thing that can be determined through dreams. (Forgey) The Berdache is a man who performs the duties of the women of the tribe. Sometimes they go into war also, but mostly they perform the duties of the women alongside the women. A specific type of dream determines whether a man must become a Berdache. Two different dreams can determine whether a man should become a Berdache: many dreams of buffalo or the dream of a “wakan woman.” (Forgey) Becoming a Berdache was similar to becoming a contrary: some men were satisfied with becoming one and some were not. For those who would rather not become a Berdache, the specific types of dreams were dreaded and hated.
Dreams have held a great significance since humans have remembered their dreams. Some Native Americans still hold to the views of their ancestors and hold dreams in high regard. Dreams will be looked at and dissected for a very long time.
Works Cited
Erdoes, R. Crying for a Dream. Bear & Company Publishing. 1990. Santa Fe, NM.
Forgey, D. “The Institution of Berdaches Among the North American Plains Indian.” Journal of Sex Researh. Feb 1975, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p 1-15.
Jenkins, P. Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. Oxford University Press. 2004. New York, NY.
Koch-Sheras, P, and Lemley, A. The Dream Soucebook: A Guide to the Theory and Interpretation of Dreams. Edition 2. 1998 Lowell House Publish. Lincolnwood, IL.
Lenard, L. Guide to Dreams. Keep It Simple Series. 2002. DK Publishing. New York, NY.
