Great Spirit

The Great Spirit is an omnipresent supreme life force, generally conceptualized as a supreme being or god, in the traditional religious beliefs of many, but not all, Indigenous cultures in Canada and the United States. Interpretations of it vary between cultures.

In the Lakota tradition, the Great Spirit is known as Wakan Tanka. According to Lakota activist Russell Means, a more semantically accurate translation of Wakan Tanka is the Great Mystery. Often, Lakota language prayers begin with the phrase "Tunkasila", which translates to "grandfather, Great Spirit." In the Haudenosaunee tradition, the Great Spirit is known as "the Creator". Haudenosaunee men's lacrosse team captain Lyle Thompson characterized it as "the Creator that lives in all of us. It's in the sun. It's in the moon. It's in the stars and the water. It's in the earth." In the Algonquian tradition, the Great Spirit is known as Gitche Manitou.

Due to perceived similarities between the Great Spirit and the Christian deity, European colonial missionaries drew comparison between the two deities as a Christianization conversion technique.

The Great Spirit has at times been conceptualized as an "anthropomorphic celestial deity," a god of creation, history and eternity, who also takes a personal interest in world affairs and might regularly intervene in the lives of human beings.

Numerous individuals are held to have been "speakers" for the Great Spirit; persons believed to serve as an earthly mediator responsible for facilitating communication between humans and the supernatural more generally. Such a speaker is generally considered to have an obligation to preserve the spiritual traditions of their respective lineage. The Great Spirit is looked to by spiritual leaders for guidance by individuals as well as communities at large.

While belief in an entity or entities known as the Great Spirit exists across numerous indigenous American peoples, individual tribes often demonstrate varying degrees of cultural divergence. As such, a variety of stories, parables, fables, and messages exhibiting different, sometimes contradictory themes and plot elements have been attributed to the same figure by otherwise disparate cultures.^{[citation needed]}

Wakan Tanka (Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka) can be interpreted as the power or the sacredness that resides in everything, resembling some animistic and pantheistic beliefs. This term describes every creature and object as wakan ("holy") or having aspects that are wakan; tanka corresponds to "great" or "large".

Prior to the Christianization of indigenous Americans by European settlers and missionaries, the Lakota used Wakan Tanka to refer to an organization or group of sacred entities whose ways were considered mysterious and beyond human understanding. It was the elaboration on these beliefs that prompted scholarly debate suggesting that the term "Great Mystery" could be a more accurate translation of such a concept than "Great Spirit". Activist Russell Means also promoted the translation "Great Mystery" and the view that Lakota spirituality is not originally monotheistic.