This morning as I was checking my blogs a tiny white spider crawled across my computer
screen. She hung around for a while criss-crossing the screen and checking out the modern ‘net. Though I am not fond of spiders, I don’t mind them, well, as long as they don’t jump or crawl on me. When I see one, I negotiate this point, and they seem happy with our compromises. 🙂
I was re-reading my Butterfly Journal posts (#1 and #2) and reflecting on how I have been re-creating my life and my home when the little white spider appeared. Spiders are the master weavers of their homes and their lives. Sometimes a silly human will walk through their intricate webs that they’ve worked meticulously and patiently on and unknowingly, or sometimes knowingly, destroy them. Sometimes, the spiders decide they need to pack up and leave to find a better location to build a new home. Sometimes they stay in the same area and repair or rebuild over and over again. It felt like my little white spider was giving me a (or eight) thumbs-up, encouraging me to keep working diligently to weave the web that is my new life.
Spiders have eight legs and eight eyes (usually). Eight is the number and symbol of infinity, the cycles of time, of death and rebirth, and of destruction and creation. It also represents repetition, momentum and movement forward, continuation, and the continuum. Though often viewed as creepy and scary, spiders seem to be content with the workings of life and nature, and hold within them an understanding of eternal wisdom.
The spider’s delicate webs with their spiral patterns are both beautiful and difficult to see. They create the illusion that there’s nothing there, sealing the fate for whatever insect becomes their next meal. The Moirai, also called the Fates or Parcae, in Ancient Greek and Roman mythology were weavers who determined the fate of every human’s life. Clotho spun the thread, Lachesis determined the length of the thread, and Atropos not only cut the thread, but chose how the end, death, would come. Humans were lost in the illusion that their lives were in their own hands, but it was actually these weaver-goddesses who set their fate.
Overall, the spider’s symbolism and meaning is profound:
- Weaving of life, fate, and destiny
- Understanding the patterns of illusion
- Seeing through illusions
- Death, birth, and rebirth
- The illusion of time
- Infinity and Eternal Interconnectedness
- Creativity and Craftiness
- Change and Progress
May we all be the masters of our own weaving to create beautiful and interwoven lives!
Life isn’t about finding yourself; life is about creating yourself.
– George Bernard Shaw
Through the Peacock's Eyes 
We have so many at the moment and hubby and I always are in awe of the work,the thought,the reasoning and practicality of these wonderful orbs..we have one in particular that makes an stunning web then before dawn packs it up..she hides all day then unpacks and starts again at night..we spend many evenings watching her work and it makes us smile..she is quite the gifted orb spinner 🙂
So awesome you get to watch every day! 🙂
I think so..they don’t bother me at all,they all play a part in our world 🙂
Thank you for alerting me to your post 🙂 Spider’s Web http://bearspawprint.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/spiders-web/
This time of year the spiders seem to encase my house. Now we are starting to get ther really big wood spiders. I have to be careful because their invisible webs appear overnight in the doorways and around the deck. Thanks for the post. Always a lesson.
Your welcome!
Inspiring! I absolutely love this post! Thank you so much for sharing the information about spider and your insights. Have a great day!
Beautiful take on life, as usual. I like the connection you’ve made between spider webs and our own lives, interesting!
Thank you! Namaste _/l\_
I really liked this post! When reading about your description of how spiders tirelessly need to re build their homes after it is destroyed…it gave me further understanding about how perseverance is important in our lives, that the process is important, and about the impermanence of things…three in one lesson!! 😀
Thank you Shree!
wonderfully inspiring post – I have always been intrigued and awed by spiders and wondered at their dexterity and resolve and cunning – i am sure the craetor had few choices when deciding to grant cerebral intelligence – one that won out was the ape mammal homo sapien mainly because there was dexterity in his evolution and in his fingers – no paw or hoof would have done ( cant hold a cup of tea let alone build marvels ) – but the spider must have been a keen contestant – its limbs are all fingers that can weave magic and more – and its numerous eyes even at the back of its head must have been a plus point also – wonder why it did not make it – or is it being tried out on some distant planet wondering why the ape is a close second ):
Beautiful insights Indrajit! Maybe the spider knows something we humans don’t. 😉 Namaste _/l\_
looks like i was a spider in my previous – lol
very interesting – when I first read Charlotte’s web to my kids I finally ‘got’ what spiders were really about – their persistence and attention to their craft is enviable:)
I was thinking of Charlotte as I wrote this! 🙂
My son asked me yesterday: “Mom, did you know that whenever you are outside, you are only six feet from a spider wherever you are?” 🙂
spiders seem to be abundant lately. I was noticing an intricate and large spider web outside my back terrace today. it is so beautiful and it reminded me of an astrological chart with the twelve distinct sections – houses. I spent some time admiring the delicate web instead of fearing it.
thank you for sharing this with us today.
P.S. Thank you for these information.
I have been hunting for spider webs lately. This is the best time to see webs.
Yes, when I lived in the PNW I always saw the best dew/fog/rain covered webs in Sept-Oct!