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Grandmother Spider

Grandmother Spider 
Artist:  Jo Jayson


Grandmother Spider created the world by spinning her webs, and the interconnections of her weaving bonded all beings together.  The magic of spiders is featured throughout the mythology of ancient cultures across the globe, from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.  People have been fascinated with the spider's ability to weave, and although the magical spider is not always portrayed as a woman, when she is often it is as a wise and powerful elder spirit.  A grandmother.

Are you afraid of spiders?  

I once saw a strong and independent friend jump up on a chair to avoid a spider crawling across her living room floor.  Another woman friend had a hedge near her house cut down because "there are spiders in there."  In Arizona a young mother routinely (and I maintain, reasonably) entered a shed in her backyard with a flashlight and a rubber flip-flop in her hand, finding black widow spiders in the dark and smacking them to death.  The killings made her shudder but her mama instinct to protect her toddler override her qualms.  Some spiders are dangerous, but not most. 

I admire their webs and appreciate their fly-catching appetites. If I remove a (non-poisonous) spider from my home I do it gently with paper in order to deposit her in the garden.  But when a childhood friend of my daughter's used our pet store gift certificate to purchase a tarantula, I shuddered at the thought that it might escape its plastic case.  I'm tolerant of spiders, but such a BIG one?  Oh no!  (I was relieved to learn that pet tarantulas are harmless).

I'm drawn to the stories that portray Spider Woman as a grandmother full of wisdom and power, a creator.  And I'm interested that both old people and spiders can be unsettling to many people.  (See:

There are indigenous stories honoring Grandmother Spider for creating the world even while cautionary fear of Spiders has evolved since some spiders carry the potential to deal out death to the unwary.  

Icons are powerful, I think, because they carry danger along with their blessings.

Something to think about ... or, to steal a phrase from Sandra, one of my dear wise women peers:  
"I need to sit with that idea."



Comments

  1. GraceFebruary 17, 2018 at 12:53 PM

    Yes, we have so many negative images of spiders that are mostly helpful in controlling insects and provide that sense of mystery. My daughter was convinced the spider had chosen her as totem as she experienced the wild initiation of a straight line of spider bites that appeared after a vision quest and sleeping the night in a sleeping bag on the ground. She is wise beyond my aged wisdom thinking nothing of the crows feet that have appeared on her face and her transition from Maiden to Mother. Perhaps her totem has had something to do with that. On another tract, spiders demand respect and attention least you find yourself in their realm. Love the image and the idea of the fear that aging inspires or perhaps those who have aged into their power inspiring fear in those that plan to deceive and take advantage. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  2. JSCFebruary 17, 2018 at 5:15 PM

    Thank you for reading and commenting. I think our totems are strong, especially when we acknowledge and accept them.

    ReplyDelete

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