When a creature shows up in your life over and over, that can be for various reasons.  It can just be the time of year when they tend to hang out, and that’s certainly true of spiders in September here in the South.  But sometimes, if you see them even more than usual, it can mean that you’re meant to glean something from their repeated appearance.

Not only have I been seeing a lot of spiders, which is pretty typical for the fall here, but I’ve been seeing at least 2 or 3 a day.  I’ve been dreaming about them.  I haven’t been having the scary, ‘there’s something crawling on me’ dreams, but I’ve been dreaming that I’ve been watching them.  Or that they were watching me.  The dreams have been benign and also pervasive.

As far as spiders I’ve been seeing, there have been wolf spiders, black and yellow garden spiders, grass spiders, and something that looked like a grass spider, though it was black, white, and red.  I can’t seem to find it online anywhere.

None of these encounters have been scary, really, though when I first noticed the black and yellow garden spider, I was startled by her size.  I’m usually not afraid of spiders anyways, unless they’re fast and jumpy, but these have all been quiet, peaceful encounters.

According to Ted Andrews in <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0875420281/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0875420281&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwamieravens-20&linkId=RMBXKL6ORQMXCZ6O”>Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small</a><img src=”http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=wwwamieravens-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0875420281″ width=”1″ height=”1″ border=”0″ alt=”” style=”border:none !important; margin:0px !important;” />, Spider represents “creativity and the weaving of fate”.  This is INCREDIBLY timely for me right now.  I can’t help but think of Scheherazade, and her weaving of story after story in the 1001 Arabian Nights.  I also can’t help but think of my ex-boyfriend who collected tarantulas.  One of those tarantulas was an enormous Mexican red knee that we named Scheherazade.  She was calm and gentle, and rode around in my exes shirt pocket.  Kids loved to pet her fuzzy abdomen, and she tolerated it well.

As a weaver of stories, Spider is especially relevant to me right now.  I’m very focused on my writing, VERY focused on improving my fate with my creative skills, and VERY MUCH trying to keep all the threads of my life together in some sort of orderly way.  Of course I’m seeing Spider every place I look.  I’m taking that as a good sign that I’m on the right track.  We’ll go with that.

Also according to Ted Andrews, Spider represents the mixture and balancing of the past and future.  As the two segments of Spider’s body form a kind of figure 8, or infinity symbol, Spider brings the past and future together in a loop.  We’re also going to say that’s timely, because I’m drawing on my past to create stories of a future that I would like to see.  I’m also learning lessons from my long past of trying to find a way to make a living creatively.  I have to believe that this time, I will actually put my creative project out there, and it will be successful.  If I don’t believe that, there’s just no point.

“The spider awakens creative sensibilities.  It weaves a web of intricate and subtle fabric, as if to remind us that the past always subtly influences the present and future.  Often the webs will take a spiral shape, the traditional form of creativity and development.  The spider found within the web reminds us that we are the center of our own world.  The ancient mystery schools had one precept inscribed above their portals: “Know Thyself and Thou Shalt Know the Universe!”  Spider reminds us that the world is woven around us.  We are the keepers and the writers of our own destiny, weaving it like a web by our thoughts, feelings, and actions.”

Cool!  In this context, Willowisp is my web, and I’m weaving it around me.  I’ll take it.  🙂

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I’ve also recently hit upon the Native American concept that each person is born with 9 totems.  Those totems are often revealed over time, and I’ve been thinking about totems that have been particularly meaningful to me.  Obviously, with a mind towards getting tattoos of each.  😉

So far, there’s Goat, Raven, Owl, Opossum, Toad, and Fox.  Could Spider be another one?  Is Spider revealing herself to me as another long-term totem?