Represents: Creativity, reincarnation, fate
Spider sits on her web, literally hanging by a thread, hovering between earth and sky. She is the Queen of Balance. A Spider spirit animal teaches us balance between past and future, physical and spiritual, male and female. She is strength and gentleness combined, awakening our creative sensibilities and reminding us that the past is always interwoven with the future.
Writing Spiders are thus named because of their ability to weave alphabet-like structures into their webs. In Native American mythology Spiders are the keepers of the primordial alphabet. They can teach us how to write creatively and to use our natural abilities to weave words together into beautiful structures.
Spider’s body is shaped like the number 8 and she has 8 legs. A sideways 8 is the infinity symbol. Because Spider is a living embodiment of the number eight, she is the symbol of infinite possibilities and infinite creation. Her 8 legs represent the 4 winds of change and the 4 directions of the Medicine Wheel. These combine in a symbol of infinite potential.
If Spider is your spirit animal, her message is that you are an infinite being who will continue to weave patterns of life and living throughout time. If this is your spirit animal, do not fail to see the eternal plan of creation.
The Welsh Moon Goddess Arianrhod, the Lady of the Silver Wheel (of the Moon) is often depicted sitting at a spinning wheel. As she spins her silver threads, she determines the fate of all who have ever lived or will live. The is the closest Celtic equivalent to the Native American Spider Woman, and she sits in the castle of Caer Arianrhod, creating the web of life.
Each thread in the tapestry she creates is another life; another soul. They all weave together, touching each other in many ways and supporting each other when needed.
If Spider has called to you, prepare to sit patiently, spinning out your creative projects, until an opportunity lands itself in your web. Spider teaches us to be patient and diligent. Since Spider lives neither on the ground nor in the sky, but in the in-between place, in a dwelling of her own making, she is a symbol of shamanism and the ability to dwell in both worlds at once.
Explore the significance of some common spirit animals by clicking a link below.