It is believed among the Lakota that if you had a dream or vision of birds you were destined to be a medicine man, but if you had a vision of the Wakíŋyaŋ Thunderbird, it was your destiny to become a Heyókȟa, or sacred clown. Like the Thunderbird, the Heyoka are both feared and held in reverence.
 
"When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm;...