#unktomi

Iktomi is a shape-changing trickster hero in the folklore of the Lakota people of North America. Said to be the son of Inyan, a powerful spirit of the rocks, he was once known as Ksa, or wisdom, and acted as a sort of muse. However, he was stripped of his powers due to his mischief.

Iktomi naturally appears as a spider, but can take on any form. When he appears as a human, he dresses in red, yellow and white, and has black rings around his eyes. He can control people with his webs and make potions.

Image source.

Monster master list.

Now that it's been a few hours and I've come to the horrifying realization that Iktomi has now been presented to a very mainstream audience, I feel it's necessary to post at least this little bit before someone fucks up their life because he's not some quirky old grandad.

Disclaimer: I know this is tumblr and people will inevitably learn things the hard way, but unless you are an indigenous American (aboriginal to the North and South American continents at the least, if not Lakota/Dakota), I strongly advise against contacting this entity. I am not warning you out of any kind of feelings on my behalf, I warn you because he’s capricious as fuck and not a force to be tangoed with unless absolutely fucking necessary even if he approaches you first. I hesitate even to post this because I know it’ll be eventually co-opted, but some poor soul may need this. Y’all been warned.

He is the guy in the VIP room, observing and relaxed but in total control. He IS power, and has been for so long that his confidence is really just understated fact. The aura of a lifelong drug kingpin. He is respectful, but three things I always keep in mind are the poem of The Spider and the Fly, the tale of the Scorpion and the Frog, and a phrase I once heard: 

"A man and a bear may become friends, but the man must never forget that his friend is a bear, for surely the bear never forgets his friend is only a man."

Associations include spiders, communication, travel, language, and change

He is hella gifted in dream work and I dare say it’s his favorite method of communication. He will make you instantly lucid and there will be no guesswork -- you’ll know exactly who he is.

He will send spiders when he wants to bring attention to something. In droves, if you’re being stubborn. I swear, if you kill his messenger, he’ll just send another. Not sure yet if there’s any correlation in breed/size of spiders to the message being sent.

Also capable of bridging worlds to allow communication with beings from other planes

Pretty chill for a deity? As far as I’ve seen, he doesn’t request any offerings, but I’d like to note that a) I have no contract of any sort with him, be it priestess/slave/worshipper/wife or whatever. There is absolutely no definition to our interaction. And b) I haven’t asked him for anything, and therefore owe him nothing. I’d also like to note that I don’t believe in getting something for nothing, even just attention. He probably wants something from me, I just don’t know what it is yet.

He gives direction to the lost, will give a head’s up when a Big Change is coming, and is fond of people doing their own research.

His energy is surprisingly calm and casual yet commanding of attention. That feeling you have when you’re ultra clear-headed and in-the-zone focused? That’s how he feels energetically. (But No, he doesn’t care what you are doing, he is Talking and you are going to Listen.) His disposition is mercurial; if he gets you out of a bad situation (without asking, no less) consider the possibility that it was him who put you there. I may be wrong, but elementally I’d classify him as Earthen.

Sometimes he speaks with words, sometimes he’ll just jab me with highly specific feelings. I don’t know if his communication style simply fluctuates or if it’s me fluctuating in my ability. He is also fine communicating via tarot but doesn't seem to care for shufflemancy.

He WILL follow up to see if you Did The Thing. And yeah, it’s a free world or whatever and you don’t have to, but don’t say he didn’t tell you so.

Suspicions / Not confirmed:

His way about things leads me to think his cruel side has the pretense of kindness. There may be no difference between the two for him; kindness and cruelty may be one and the same to a god of chaos. I haven’t experienced it thus far, but I get the feeling he would be the type to straight up lie to you for shits and giggles.

Me: *wakes up thinking about him*

Unktomi: *laughter*

Me: please tell me you had nothing to do with that

Everything: *spiders*

There’s a witch I follow on tumblr who (I’m summarizing) complained that spiders were invading her personal and sacred spaces, despite being a friend to spiders. My tip to her was that, when spiders show up en masse, out of season, and seem particularly hellbent in appearing in places/on things you treasure, it’s a message. And the specific places she mentioned made me think it was a warning to her of bad energy and I told her so. This was back in the spring. She posted recently that her relationship with her roommates has soured and she’s looking for somewhere else to live.

Listen to the spiders, man. They’ve always got a crumb of information because they’re very observant creatures. If you’re a friend to them, they’ll alert you to changes, but you’ve got to learn how to understand the message. I’ll be blunt, I don’t even like spiders. I mostly don’t even tolerate them. What I’ve learned about spider communication, I’ve learned exclusively from Unktomi’s methods.

I guess the more general takeaway is this:  any balanced relationship involves reciprocity. If you have allies trying to tell you something is wrong, listen to them. 

Small tangent here: if you’re a witch, it’s important that you understand when someone’s trying to give you a message. If you don’t understand a warning when you’re given one, how can you understand a request for help? Not all witches participate in animism or spirit work, but if you do, communication is key!

Tfw a deity from your ancestral culture contacts you and you don’t know as much about your own culture as you should.

So it turns out the being sending an absurd amount of spiders at me is Unktomi. Makes sense because he is the pathmaker and is all about languages (I’ve been trying to pick up Dakota) and is a quintessential teacher archetype … but he’s also a trickster and I don’t know how to deal. I guess I can ask an elder about it but I realllllllly don’t wanna do that. It’s too intrusive and it shows my ignorance.