Spider, Pagan Symbol - Weaver of Fate

Symbolic of Creation, Creativity and Linking Past and Future

Oct 25, 2008

Spider embodies female energy, with the exception of Lakota Sioux tradition. According to Native American legends, she created the first alphabet and the dream catcher.

Spider’s powers and medicines are global and similar. Her body is shaped like a figure eight, which, on its side, represents eternity. She has links to the past, future, birth and creation. The Greeks associated her with the Fates; Asian Indians with Maya, weaver of illusion and the Scandinavians, with the Norns, women who wove the threads of life. Many Native Americans believed that Spider wove the first alphabet, the dream of the world become manifest. Spider’s web signifies the tapestry of life.

Spider the Animal

Spiders are in the arachnid family, along with daddy longlegs, scorpions, mites, and ticks. They have four pairs of segmented legs and a body with two parts. Native to all continents except Antarctica, spiders are carnivorous, feeding on insects, small vertebrates and other spiders.

They use venom transported through a duct in their fangs to paralyze or kill their prey. Spiders don’t eat solid food. Enzymes are regurgitated to liquefy it. Although spiders are venomous, there are only four species in the USA that are toxic to humans: black widow, brown recluse, yellow sac and hobo.

Some spiders weave webs to trap their prey. When the quarry flies into the web, it gets stuck and, as it struggles to escape, becomes more entangled. The arachnid’s legs are covered with an oily substance which prevents them from becoming enmeshed.

The bird-eating spider, native to South America’s Amazon River area, is one of the largest spiders. Its body is about 15 cm, 5.91 inches long, and outspread legs approximately 25 cm, 9.84 inches. These nocturnal spiders hide in a cavities or cracks. They capture their prey, small mammals and birds, by quickly pouncing on them.

Spider Symbolism, Weaver of Fate and Creativity

Her energy is the feminine one of creative forces weaving life’s designs. Spider’s lessons are maintaining balance between physical and spiritual, past and present and feminine and masculine. Her expressions of magick are that of creation, creative power and the spiral energy linking the past and the future.

Spiders, despite the female’s mating habits, are usually non-aggressive creatures and, like Deer, embody gentleness. Like Bat, symbolic of rebirth, her bite represents the process of death and rebirth.

Lakota Sioux call Spider Iktomi, a Supernatural Spirit who tries to deceive by shapeshifting into human form. Like Coyote, he outsmarts himself, reveals his nature, bringing laughter and lessons taught by his foolish actions.

Two Native American Spider Legends

Deer asked Spider what she was weaving and why the lines looked liked symbols. Maka’s, Earth’s, children needed to make records. Deer said they already had petroglyphs. Spider said this was true, but life was getting more complex and future generations will have forgotten how to read them and needed an alphabetic system.

According to another legend, Grandmother Spider created the first dream catcher. She was sad because Earth’s children had bad dreams. She asked Willow for a branch to construct a circular frame and Eagle for a feather. Spider wove her web within the frame, allowing for a hole in the middle and attached the feather to Willow’s branch. Bad dreams got trapped in the web, but good ones entered Dreamtime though the opening. In the morning, Wi’s, Sun’s, rays turned the bad dreams into dew which fell to Maka from Eagle’s feather and were neutralized.

The Lakota Sweat Lodge Cards, Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer &and Helen Sarkis, (Destiny Books, 1994)

Native American Tarot Deck, Magda and J. A. Gonzalez, (U. S. Games Systems, Ink, 1982)

The copyright of the article Spider, Pagan Symbol - Weaver of Fate in Paganism/Wicca is owned by Jill Stefko . Permission to republish Spider, Pagan Symbol - Weaver of Fate in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.