Weaving a Web of Spider Magic

Arachne in Greek legend was a talented weaver who challenged Athena, the goddess of wisdom to a weaving contest which resulted in her being turned into a spider. Illustration: dated 1574

        The Spider's iridescent, sparkly web is a complex creation of intricate beauty that shimmers with ethereal mystery.  A collection of strands that hold everything together.  The internet, known as the world wide web, now helps us realise how closely linked all humans are and communicate and create in collaboration from wherever we might be the world.  We are all one in the universe, linked by invisible strands in the ether that connect us. The spider through it's web can move inter-dimensionally and has therefore been used by tribal people across the globe for divination purposes.

The Three Fates by Emily Balivet, 2014

     
In mythology the Three Fates, known in Greek as the Morai spun the threads of human fate from birth until death.
Clotho spun the “thread” of human fate from her distaff onto her spindle, 
Lachises dispensed it, measuring the thread of life with her measuring rod.
Atropos cut the thread (thus determining the individual's time had come). 





       

        It's well known that spiders are feared by a high percentage of humans due to their risk of biting and poisoning, even killing.....we've all heard the story of man eating spiders haven't we? Nobody every complains about the man eating cheese sandwich though do they? (sorry, cheesy joke). Anyway, I was once very afraid of these mysterious creatures so thought I would delve into their world to find out more about the furry eight legged wonders.

        For the Navajo and Hopi of Arizona, thousands of years before the internet existed, spider woman was not only a tremendously talented weaver, she was a creator of all things.  She cast out her threads to create the four directions, she gave life to twin goddesses who created the sun and the moon. She she was the creatrix who bore twin sons, the north and south poles who then brought the cycles of the seasons into being. 

Photo Credit: Amethystmoonsong

        Grandmother Spider is from the Cherokee tradition.  According to their legends, there was darkness around the time of creation, light and heat was needed for the Cherokee people. Grandmother Spider had heard that there were people on the other side of the earth who were warm and dry and had plenty of light.  She stole the sun for her tribe after other creatures such as the possom had failed due to it's intensity.  Grandmother Spider made a heat resistant clay pot and spun a strong web which reached all the way to the other side of the world. She used the web to get across and put the sun in her clay pot then carefully get return home across the web with the sun to light up their sky.

        From tales by the Ashanti Tribe of Ghana, West Africa we learn of Anansi, the god who often took the form of a spider and is known as the god of all knowledge of stories. He was a 'trickster' who according to legend, went to the sky god asking if he could buy his stories from him because at that time in the world there were no stories out in the world to be shared. Anansi is also celebrated in the folk tales of Jamaica.

Anansi the spider god as known in Jamaica.
Illustration: Martha Warren Beckwith

The sky god told Anansi that it would be impossible for him to buy stories but Anansi, not to be put off asked the sky god to name his price.  The sky god set him the challenge of returning to him with acquisitions including a particular python, a swarm of bees, a certain leopard and an actual fairy to prove his worth. Only then could the stories be traded.  This indeed was a challenge for Anansi who had to try every trick in his book to capture the creatures and deliver them to Nyan the sky god.  When Anansi came back with everything he had been asked for, Nyan immediately handed over his stories.  These became known as the spider stories.

Once upon a time I was completely scared of spiders and had been known to scream the house down if a spider appeared in the bath. My friend Tash inspired me though when back in 2015 she handled a very hairy tarantula on a visit to the Petting Zoo at Longleat, to overcome her fear of spiders.  Tash, throughout our lives has always been one step ahead of me, having introduced me to texting and so many other things I'd never heard of, including some great music.  Anyway, it took me another couple of years before I was ready to do the same, and I got the opportunity at the Mid-Somerset Show in Shepton Mallet when I too experienced the thrill of holding a very hairy tarantula in the palm of my hand.  It really did help me to get rid of my fear and start thinking of spiders as fascinating creatures. This, in turn opened me up to some real spider magic in Glastonbury.

After shuffling my Animal Magic cards one Sunday evening, I picked out  "Spider"
stunningly illustrated surrounded by crystals.

         Later on, I could hear the Karaoke coming from our local pub (no choice but to embrace it - it's very loud!).  Spiders From Mars by David Bowie came on and it sounded like there were loads of people in the pub singing along. About half hour later we were reading in bed and a beautiful, small spider dropped down from the ceiling and hanging on a thread of cobweb, it dangled between our heads as if to say 'hello'. Brian touched it and it quickly made it's way back up towards the ceiling. Then Bri picked it up and carefully put it out of the window.

        Next morning we felt like getting energised and blowing away the cobwebs, so we walked to the top of Glastonbury Tor. It was very windy and the cobwebs blew away.  When we returned to the bottom of the Tor and were about to turn left on the street, I said to my husband Brian, 'let's see if the temple is open by the White Spring'. So we turned right. We got to the gate and it was closed. The sign said it opens at 1.30pm on Mondays. I asked Bri what the time was and he said '1.29pm'. While waiting outside for it to open, a girl came along holding a crystal. She went up to a bloke who was sitting on the wall by us and said somebody had just given it to her and asked him if he knew what crystal it was. he didn't know. I looked at it and said it was Hematite and that it would be good for her blood circulation. She thanked me and asked the bloke his name. He said "I'm Spider".

        The girl wandered into the temple which had just opened. We stayed chatting with Spider who said he used to have a hippy-junk shop called Cobwebs which was now closed down and that he was a 'Free Man of the Land' He and Brian were chatting outside for ages about land and law and environmental stuff while I went into the temple, where a girl called Briony was singing beautifully and there was a completely naked man sitting at an altar filled with candles and all kinds of crystals, feathers, paintings and objects from nature. I decided not to sit and meditate next to nudie man, and went back outside to join Brian and Spider. He really does look and move like a spider!

Spider (spelt Spyda) told us he lives in a tree and showed us a photo of his tree home. He was an interesting character and he and Brian swapped numbers - maybe we will visit him on his land one day. After all this spider activity, I went into Elestial the crystal shop and treated myself to a silver spider ring. To this day, I haven't taken it off.

        I believe there are messages to be learned from spider synchronicity and according to the book that comes with my cards, spider is weaving the etheric vibrations of the universe into my physical body as it calls me to 'create, create, create'. It also said that number thirteen was particularly lucky for me at this time - which was completely bonkers because the day was August 13th!!

        Outside the temple there was a dream-catcher hanging from a tree. The art of story telling and weaving dream catchers comes through Spider Magic. I thought I should have a go at constructing my own spiders web, just to see how hard those little fellas/lady spiders work.  I tried umpteen times to create a spiders web from a piece of wall in the style of the 'cats cradle' we used to have fun with in the school playground.  I was following a youtube video called 'String Tricks! How to Do the Spiderweb String Figure Step by Step. I still haven't been able to work it out - I mess up about half way through, but I'm not giving up trying.  If you want to have a go yourself, there's a link to the video at the bottom of this page.

There are several links to spiders in ancient Chinese legends.  One is that women would leave a spider on utensils such as two chopsticks and leave them in a container outside on the seventh day of the seventh month. When they checked the next morning, if they found cobwebs on the chopsticks, it would confirm that the woman was a skilful seamstress and embroiderer.

The legends of the Lakota tribe show both fear and reverence of the spider. On the one hand, the spider gave all the animals their names shapes, personalities and identities and led man from the darkness of caves into the light of the earth and on the other hand, the spider is a trickster who was once a god of wisdom, who abused his trust.

Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders.  As almost all spiders are venomous, it's no wonder we are scared of them and their hairy-ness and all those legs!  They are great for pest control though and can eat roaches, earwigs, flies and even those awful clothes moths who chomp away at your best jumpers and wool rugs.  In East Africa there is a species of jumping spider called Evarcha Culivicora which could be recruited for the war on malaria.  It makes a web in the home and lays in wait for mosquitoes as it prefers to eat blood-filled mozzies rather than biting at humans. 

        So by killing a spider, people may be getting rid of an important, possibly life-saving predator from their home. I would hope to steer well clear of a Redback/Black Widow spider though and it's probably advisable for all of us to become familiar with the 10 most dangerous spiders in the world you can find a link to at the bottom of this page.

       Justin Timberlake may (for some reason, although I can't think why!!!) have the nickname 'Trouser-Snake' (possibly due to rumours started by his ex Britney Spears) and therefore not have Ophidiophobia, but he's apparently terrified of spiders; as is Harry Potter author J K Rowling, although being Arachnophobic hasn't exactly stopped her from being creative with her spooky stories. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, she writes of Aragog, an Acromantula, a rare and gigantic spider with venom thats an important ingredient in magic potions. He is loyal to Hagrid but watch out, as he sees all other humans as prey.

        January is a time of Spring cleaning and getting rid of the cobwebs.  One way householders keep their territory spider-free is by dotting conkers around the place, because conkers omit a noxious substance that spiders detest, although apparently that's an old wives tale with no scientific evidence to prove it works. Should we be sweeping them away though?  My mum has brought me up to never kill a spider, saying if I did I would get bad luck. Spiders are quite possibly as afraid of us as we are afraid of them. The Who even sung about this in their song 'Boris the Spider' (1966) with the lyrics 'Maybe he's as scared as me, where he's gone now I can't see.....'

        Couture fashion hasn't escaped from spider magic.  This incredible electronic 'smart' dress was created by Dutch technical engineer and designer Anouk Wipprecht. The dress is said to react to movement and protect the wearer from the threatening social behaviour from the outside. The spider legs on the dress come out and retreat in a creepy, crawly kind of way! This happens when the spider reacts to sensory and respiratory signals from the wearer about how she is feeling eg. whether she is stressed or chilled etc and mechanically the feelers respond by going into attack position.....or not, as the case may be! Wow!

Photograph: Courtesy of Anouk Wipprecht

        In the V&A museum in 2012, on display was a tasselled cape of golden silk, it had taken hundreds of industrious workers four years to make. The whole 'cobweb' cape was constructed from raw, undyed golden spider silk. The Madagascan spiders who's raw silk was used were from the Nephila genus. Their name is from Greek and is translated from a combination of two words and means 'fond of spinning'. Sub-species of this spider have been known in Australia to weave invisible webs across whole streets which have been frequently run into by joggers! This spider silk is said to be far superior to the silk produced by a silkworm. Strong and long lasting, there it's use is now being investigated for everything from bullet proof vests to body armour; from biodegradable fishing lines to artificial tendons and the finest silk shirts in the world.

Model Bianca Gavrilas wears a a hand-embroidered cape made from the silk of the Golden Orb Spider in the V&A Museum's Medieval and Renaissance Gallery

( GETTY IMAGES )

The cape was spun from the naturally golden threads of 1.2 million female spiders from Madagascar

'Golden Orb' spiders were collected every morning for silk to be extracted from them by trained handlers. The spiders were not harmed in the process and were returned to the wild at the end of every day. The process was developed by Simon Peers a British textile expert and Nicholas Godley, an American designer both based in Madagascar.

The only other known garment woven from spider's silk was said to have been made for an exhibition in Paris in 1900 but no examples of it appear to remain.

        Some might even think twice now before removing spiders from their home.  Those curious creatures full of magical mystery could well be the bringers of luck and good fortune!  I find it helps me to get into a meditative state by watching a spider weaving it's web, it's quite trance like and mesmerising to focus on.   Spider's really can chill you out! 

         With all this magic and myth surrounding them, what's not to love about them?  If all else fails, you've had a go at handling one of these gorgeous creatures at a petting zoo and yet are still scared of spiders, if one turns up in your home and frightens the living daylights out of you, why not just tell it a joke? Yep really. It says so in the chorus of my son's favourite cartoon 'Spider in the Bath' from when he was a toddler in the early 90s........  

A spider in the bath, a spider in the bath!

A creepy crawly, creepy crawly spider in the bath!

I know he's only there because he wants to have a laugh!
See? What is there to fear?  He only wants to have a laugh............go on, tell him a joke! xx

Tash setting a great example!

    Oh....and he's only scary 'cos he's hairy!

Me finally taking the Tarantuala challenge

Little Miss Muffett eat your heart out!










Biography

Animal Wisdom, the definitive guide. Jessica Dawn Palmer.

The 10 Most Dangerous Spiders in the World (website link below).
Transference Healing Animal Magic. Earth, Mystical & Elemental Cards. Alexis Cartwright.

The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects. Barbara G. Walker.

The Golden Thread. How fabric changed history. Kassia St Clair.

Links to sources:

How to Do the Spiderweb String Figure Step by Step

https://www.planetdeadly.com/animals/most-dangerous-spiders

Boris the Spider. The Who
Smart Couture. The Spider Dress. 2.0.

To purchase a print of the Three Fates by Emily Balivet

The Gown of Gold. Daily Mail article.

Anouk Wipprecht

P.S. Ophidiophobis is fear of snakes............keep a look out for my up and coming blog on snakes.