Spider Medicine is undocumented by source from old notes. Some will repeat but that simply shows the support for those issues presented.
*Creation. Making things of beauty and weaving webs of experience because our heart expresses the desire to share that creativity with others. To use our Medicine Bowls and seek the visions that will reflect the desires hidden within our hearts. To seek answers to what is coming into our web that we have woven out of our hidden desires. To trust that we have chosen well and that our dreams will be fulfilled.
*Wisdom, creativity, new life. Being industrious. Be cautious: you are involved in a tempting but entangling situation,. Bringing in divine inspiration and creativity. Beginning a new project. Becoming pregnant.
*Messengers. Good or bad signs. Poisonous are bad and bad power. Warn of samll danger. Tells of jealousy, or when someone is lying to you. Warns of minor upset or danger. Tells the weather and helps to find things. Good spiders do not bite us. A challenger-type messenger does. Sorcerers use spiders to hurt people and to spy on people. Artists use spiders to develop better craft skills such as weaving. Best not to kill it but set it outside if it is in the house. Too many in the houseis an indication of jealousy, potential conflict, confusion, and bad health forthcoming. If it acts aggressively then be forewarned.
*Creative process, warns of entanglements, deceptions, and represents teh illusory spiral of reality. As a recent totem animal you have joined energies with an ally that will assist you in grasping the interworkings of personal dynamics more than ever before in your life. You will begin to have a completely new perspective on how seemingly disparate facets of your life are all woven together in intricate patterns with infinite possibilities. If you have been feeling somewhat disassociated from others and confused about what specific earthpath you should be following, your spirit helper will guide you to a much clearer understanding of your niche in life. Spider wil also assist you in perceiving the application of ancient wisdoms to your life today and help you to separate the webs of illusion and confusion from your worldview.
*Creativity and the weaving of fate. Grandmother, link to the past and future. Infinity. Wheel of Life. Learning to walk those circles or even hold your position within the middle between two. Teaches you to maintain balance--between past and future, physical and spiritual, male and female. That everything you now do is weaving what you will encounter in the future. The Wheel of Fortune. Rhythms, the rise and fall, the flow and flux. Energies of honor and fame, and the sensitivities necessary to place ourselves within the rhythm of nature. Weaves a web to remind us that the past is always subtly influencing the present and future. Spirals are the traditonal form of creativity and development. We are the center of our own world. We are the keepers and writers of our own destiny weaving it like a web by our thoughts, feelings and actions.
*Magic. Creative power. Assertiveness of the creative force. Spiritual energy. Guardian of the ancient languages and alphabets. Death and rebirth. Lunar cycle. Maintaining balance and polarity in all aspects of life. Gentleness and strength in union. Agile, walking the threads of life between the physical and spiritual. Move into inaccessible ares in the dark. Teaches to use the written language with power and creativity so that your words weave a web around those who would read them.
*Weaving. Spider wove the first primordial alphabet, as she had woven the dream of the world that had become manifest. Body is #8 in form, legs #8, symbol of infinate possiblities, of creation, of completion, of eternity. 8 legs = 4 winds of change and 4 directions of the Medicine Wheel. Weaves the webs of fate for those who get caught in her web and become her dinner. The web of illusion in the physical world, and never seeing beyond the horizon into other dimensions. The web of fate also represents the wheel of life, which does not include any alternatives or solutions. If we are not decisive enough about changing our lots in life, we may end up being consumed by our fears and limitations.
*Female energy of the creative force that weaves the beautiful designs in life. Her web has hundreds of intricate patterns which catch the morning dew. Tells you to create. Warns that you are coming too close to an entangling situation. Asks you to use a journal to write out and review your progress. Notice opportunity on the outskirts of your web/reality. See that something you have woven has become fruit. You are an infinite being who will continue to weave the patterns of life and living throughout time. Do not fail to see the expansiveness of the eternal plan.
*Contrary Spider is a negative woman. She will eat her mate if she gets too caught up in herself to see the validity of honoring male energy. May be your mate or a member of your family or a workmate to harass. This breaks down relations and is a reflection of something you hate about yourself. You are entangled in the web of your own illusion about who you really are. Look at why you are being critical and why you are feeling so weak that you must attack others. Lack of creativity. Use your talents to get the web spinning, or you can change it to destructiveness. If stagnant and unable to move in a positive direction, you may come to resent others who are doing well. This will eat you up. Get moving, find joy and new ideas in the accomplishments of others, and use them to propel you into a new place of creative spinning on your own web of delight. Find pleasure in the ideas you receive from Spider's web and her universal language.
*From a post I made on Spider about 10 years ago at AMG and what follows will be the comments of others on the matter:
It is said that Spider spins the fates of humanity/life knowing when it will be created and when it will end (the length of her strands being equal to the term of life). She is also capable of creating a cocoon and taht aspect of her talent can be seen as protective and her web as a source of that protection. She can be called upon when we feel the need to capture knowledge, to shield ourselves, and when we need her wisdom to guide us on the paths we are taking. finally there is her ability to rise and fall from her own innerself upon her spun threads--the ability to drop in and out of situations to gain perspective. Spider has so many, many things to teachus and through it all our own interpretations and perspectives demonstrate this.
Different spiders offer different teachings aside from the general rules of thumb here. For instance if you approach a Daddy Longlegs for direction, or to help you find something that has been lost, speaking your question simply and clearly, he will either move in the direction you should follow, lead you to the item if nearby, or he will lift a leg and point you where you need to look for your answers. It works too!
Spider teaches the written alphabet, runes, and symbols that we use in our Medicine. She will attract your attention to things you have accomplished, and teaches you to weave new goals. She teaches the need to honor the male energy, the warrior side of our balanced nature, and often reflects is imbalance through our negative attitudes and breaking down of relationships. Ego is the illusion. Stagnation is failure to create. Resentment will destroy you, catching you in the web of your illusions. When we celebrate the success of others we celebrate life and begin to be creative ourselves, we grow more positive and our outlook expands. Let her inspire you.
*October 1999 by Tink:
Grandmother Spider is a Cherokee legend. I don't remember all of it but when the people came to this world it was dark and they needed light so after fox, opossom, and buzzard tried to steal the sun and failed, Grandmother Spider made a huge clay pot and quickly wove a web to the sun. When she was ready she gathered the sun in the pot and brought it back to the people. The Cherokee say that she game them the gift of fire of the sun and pottery. She is also credited with giving them the original dreamcatcher.
*Tink wrote to me later with the legend as follows:
"When the people first came to this world it was dark and cold. The people talked to the animmals to find out what they could do. Fox said he knew where the sun was and that he would go and try to bring it back for them as he was fleet of foot and he thought he could get it back before it burned him too badly. Fox managed to catch the sun and get it in his mouth but it started burning his mouth very badly. He had to let go before he had gone too far and thats why the inside of Foxes mouth is black to this day. Opossom had a very long and beautifully bushy tail so he volunteered to be the next to go. He thought he would wrap his tail around the sun and bring it back but it burned all the hair off his tail and burned his poor tail so bad that no opossom has had hair on its tail since then. Buzzard was the next to volunteer, he was a very vain bird with the most beautiful crest of feathers on his head and he was very proud of them. Buzzard tried to push the sun back with the top of his head and it burned away all of his beautiful feathers and seared the top of his head so that no buzzard has ever had head feathers since. None of the other animals would volunteer to try and the people were desperate.
Finally someone noticed little Grandmother Spider trying to get their attention. She said that she could bring the sun back for the people and even though they didn't see how anything so small could possibly succeed they told her to go ahead. First she went to the river bank where the good red dirt was wet and made a fine clay, she worked and worked until she had a giant ball of clay, then she started hollowing out the ball until it was a very large pot. When she was done she started weaving her web, she wove the web all the way to the sun then she went back down the web, attached her pot to her by another piece of web and quickly and quietly ran up the web, she scooped up the sun in her bot and ran back down the web bringing the sun back to the people. The sun baked the clay as she was coming back down the web and so she gave the people the gifts of the fire of the sun and pottery.
Grandmother Spider remained close to the people who honored her greatly for her feat. Later on she noticed that many of ther people were very sad and afraid because they were having bad dreams. This made Grandmother Spider very sad so she decided to help them again. She went to the Willow Tree and asked him for a few branches, then she went to Eagle and asked him for a few feathers. They were glad to grant her request so when she had her branches and feathers she bent the willow branches into a large circle that connected all the people of the world. She then wove her web of wisdom around the branches, making little knots to catch all the bad dreams. Every morning Grandfather Sun's morning rays burned away the bad dreams caught in the web, the good dreams turned into the morning dew and trickled down the Eagle Feathers as a gift to the Earth. How could anyone not be fond of Spiders?"
*Continuing this discussion Ambrose Hawk wrote:
Material taken from Native American Tarot Deck, Instructions by Magda and J.A. Gonzalez (US Games Systems Inc).
"The Stars show Grandmother Spider, messenger of the Creator and benefactress to the people. There are legends of her in many tribes, from the Shawnee of the Eastern Woodlands to the Hopi and Piman of the Southwest. The Piman legend, as told to the authors by their teacher, Harry Sparrowhawk, goes this way:
"The Piman Creator, Earth Doctor, had Grandmother Spier sew the sky to the earth with her webs. Then he sprayed water from his mouth onto the sky-web. The drops of water crystalized and became the stars."
In some legends, the Creator placed Grandmother Spider in the sky to keep the webs in good repair as the constellation known as Scorpio. Grandmother Spider helped the wandering tribes, just as the stars help navigators lost at sea. She and the tribes made a hide circle and threw it into the sky, making the sun to light their way and give them warmth; but the sun, in its flight around the world, left half the day dark, so the sky-web came into being with its starts to light the way for the people at night.
The essence of the Stars is favorable, showing the proper balance of spiritual and physical elements: earth and sky woven together to bring enlightenment. However, baser passions could cloud perception creating an imbalance."
*I'll be adding more from documented sources.
*Creation. Making things of beauty and weaving webs of experience because our heart expresses the desire to share that creativity with others. To use our Medicine Bowls and seek the visions that will reflect the desires hidden within our hearts. To seek answers to what is coming into our web that we have woven out of our hidden desires. To trust that we have chosen well and that our dreams will be fulfilled.
*Wisdom, creativity, new life. Being industrious. Be cautious: you are involved in a tempting but entangling situation,. Bringing in divine inspiration and creativity. Beginning a new project. Becoming pregnant.
*Messengers. Good or bad signs. Poisonous are bad and bad power. Warn of samll danger. Tells of jealousy, or when someone is lying to you. Warns of minor upset or danger. Tells the weather and helps to find things. Good spiders do not bite us. A challenger-type messenger does. Sorcerers use spiders to hurt people and to spy on people. Artists use spiders to develop better craft skills such as weaving. Best not to kill it but set it outside if it is in the house. Too many in the houseis an indication of jealousy, potential conflict, confusion, and bad health forthcoming. If it acts aggressively then be forewarned.
*Creative process, warns of entanglements, deceptions, and represents teh illusory spiral of reality. As a recent totem animal you have joined energies with an ally that will assist you in grasping the interworkings of personal dynamics more than ever before in your life. You will begin to have a completely new perspective on how seemingly disparate facets of your life are all woven together in intricate patterns with infinite possibilities. If you have been feeling somewhat disassociated from others and confused about what specific earthpath you should be following, your spirit helper will guide you to a much clearer understanding of your niche in life. Spider wil also assist you in perceiving the application of ancient wisdoms to your life today and help you to separate the webs of illusion and confusion from your worldview.
*Creativity and the weaving of fate. Grandmother, link to the past and future. Infinity. Wheel of Life. Learning to walk those circles or even hold your position within the middle between two. Teaches you to maintain balance--between past and future, physical and spiritual, male and female. That everything you now do is weaving what you will encounter in the future. The Wheel of Fortune. Rhythms, the rise and fall, the flow and flux. Energies of honor and fame, and the sensitivities necessary to place ourselves within the rhythm of nature. Weaves a web to remind us that the past is always subtly influencing the present and future. Spirals are the traditonal form of creativity and development. We are the center of our own world. We are the keepers and writers of our own destiny weaving it like a web by our thoughts, feelings and actions.
*Magic. Creative power. Assertiveness of the creative force. Spiritual energy. Guardian of the ancient languages and alphabets. Death and rebirth. Lunar cycle. Maintaining balance and polarity in all aspects of life. Gentleness and strength in union. Agile, walking the threads of life between the physical and spiritual. Move into inaccessible ares in the dark. Teaches to use the written language with power and creativity so that your words weave a web around those who would read them.
*Weaving. Spider wove the first primordial alphabet, as she had woven the dream of the world that had become manifest. Body is #8 in form, legs #8, symbol of infinate possiblities, of creation, of completion, of eternity. 8 legs = 4 winds of change and 4 directions of the Medicine Wheel. Weaves the webs of fate for those who get caught in her web and become her dinner. The web of illusion in the physical world, and never seeing beyond the horizon into other dimensions. The web of fate also represents the wheel of life, which does not include any alternatives or solutions. If we are not decisive enough about changing our lots in life, we may end up being consumed by our fears and limitations.
*Female energy of the creative force that weaves the beautiful designs in life. Her web has hundreds of intricate patterns which catch the morning dew. Tells you to create. Warns that you are coming too close to an entangling situation. Asks you to use a journal to write out and review your progress. Notice opportunity on the outskirts of your web/reality. See that something you have woven has become fruit. You are an infinite being who will continue to weave the patterns of life and living throughout time. Do not fail to see the expansiveness of the eternal plan.
*Contrary Spider is a negative woman. She will eat her mate if she gets too caught up in herself to see the validity of honoring male energy. May be your mate or a member of your family or a workmate to harass. This breaks down relations and is a reflection of something you hate about yourself. You are entangled in the web of your own illusion about who you really are. Look at why you are being critical and why you are feeling so weak that you must attack others. Lack of creativity. Use your talents to get the web spinning, or you can change it to destructiveness. If stagnant and unable to move in a positive direction, you may come to resent others who are doing well. This will eat you up. Get moving, find joy and new ideas in the accomplishments of others, and use them to propel you into a new place of creative spinning on your own web of delight. Find pleasure in the ideas you receive from Spider's web and her universal language.
*From a post I made on Spider about 10 years ago at AMG and what follows will be the comments of others on the matter:
It is said that Spider spins the fates of humanity/life knowing when it will be created and when it will end (the length of her strands being equal to the term of life). She is also capable of creating a cocoon and taht aspect of her talent can be seen as protective and her web as a source of that protection. She can be called upon when we feel the need to capture knowledge, to shield ourselves, and when we need her wisdom to guide us on the paths we are taking. finally there is her ability to rise and fall from her own innerself upon her spun threads--the ability to drop in and out of situations to gain perspective. Spider has so many, many things to teachus and through it all our own interpretations and perspectives demonstrate this.
Different spiders offer different teachings aside from the general rules of thumb here. For instance if you approach a Daddy Longlegs for direction, or to help you find something that has been lost, speaking your question simply and clearly, he will either move in the direction you should follow, lead you to the item if nearby, or he will lift a leg and point you where you need to look for your answers. It works too!
Spider teaches the written alphabet, runes, and symbols that we use in our Medicine. She will attract your attention to things you have accomplished, and teaches you to weave new goals. She teaches the need to honor the male energy, the warrior side of our balanced nature, and often reflects is imbalance through our negative attitudes and breaking down of relationships. Ego is the illusion. Stagnation is failure to create. Resentment will destroy you, catching you in the web of your illusions. When we celebrate the success of others we celebrate life and begin to be creative ourselves, we grow more positive and our outlook expands. Let her inspire you.
*October 1999 by Tink:
Grandmother Spider is a Cherokee legend. I don't remember all of it but when the people came to this world it was dark and they needed light so after fox, opossom, and buzzard tried to steal the sun and failed, Grandmother Spider made a huge clay pot and quickly wove a web to the sun. When she was ready she gathered the sun in the pot and brought it back to the people. The Cherokee say that she game them the gift of fire of the sun and pottery. She is also credited with giving them the original dreamcatcher.
*Tink wrote to me later with the legend as follows:
"When the people first came to this world it was dark and cold. The people talked to the animmals to find out what they could do. Fox said he knew where the sun was and that he would go and try to bring it back for them as he was fleet of foot and he thought he could get it back before it burned him too badly. Fox managed to catch the sun and get it in his mouth but it started burning his mouth very badly. He had to let go before he had gone too far and thats why the inside of Foxes mouth is black to this day. Opossom had a very long and beautifully bushy tail so he volunteered to be the next to go. He thought he would wrap his tail around the sun and bring it back but it burned all the hair off his tail and burned his poor tail so bad that no opossom has had hair on its tail since then. Buzzard was the next to volunteer, he was a very vain bird with the most beautiful crest of feathers on his head and he was very proud of them. Buzzard tried to push the sun back with the top of his head and it burned away all of his beautiful feathers and seared the top of his head so that no buzzard has ever had head feathers since. None of the other animals would volunteer to try and the people were desperate.
Finally someone noticed little Grandmother Spider trying to get their attention. She said that she could bring the sun back for the people and even though they didn't see how anything so small could possibly succeed they told her to go ahead. First she went to the river bank where the good red dirt was wet and made a fine clay, she worked and worked until she had a giant ball of clay, then she started hollowing out the ball until it was a very large pot. When she was done she started weaving her web, she wove the web all the way to the sun then she went back down the web, attached her pot to her by another piece of web and quickly and quietly ran up the web, she scooped up the sun in her bot and ran back down the web bringing the sun back to the people. The sun baked the clay as she was coming back down the web and so she gave the people the gifts of the fire of the sun and pottery.
Grandmother Spider remained close to the people who honored her greatly for her feat. Later on she noticed that many of ther people were very sad and afraid because they were having bad dreams. This made Grandmother Spider very sad so she decided to help them again. She went to the Willow Tree and asked him for a few branches, then she went to Eagle and asked him for a few feathers. They were glad to grant her request so when she had her branches and feathers she bent the willow branches into a large circle that connected all the people of the world. She then wove her web of wisdom around the branches, making little knots to catch all the bad dreams. Every morning Grandfather Sun's morning rays burned away the bad dreams caught in the web, the good dreams turned into the morning dew and trickled down the Eagle Feathers as a gift to the Earth. How could anyone not be fond of Spiders?"
*Continuing this discussion Ambrose Hawk wrote:
Material taken from Native American Tarot Deck, Instructions by Magda and J.A. Gonzalez (US Games Systems Inc).
"The Stars show Grandmother Spider, messenger of the Creator and benefactress to the people. There are legends of her in many tribes, from the Shawnee of the Eastern Woodlands to the Hopi and Piman of the Southwest. The Piman legend, as told to the authors by their teacher, Harry Sparrowhawk, goes this way:
"The Piman Creator, Earth Doctor, had Grandmother Spier sew the sky to the earth with her webs. Then he sprayed water from his mouth onto the sky-web. The drops of water crystalized and became the stars."
In some legends, the Creator placed Grandmother Spider in the sky to keep the webs in good repair as the constellation known as Scorpio. Grandmother Spider helped the wandering tribes, just as the stars help navigators lost at sea. She and the tribes made a hide circle and threw it into the sky, making the sun to light their way and give them warmth; but the sun, in its flight around the world, left half the day dark, so the sky-web came into being with its starts to light the way for the people at night.
The essence of the Stars is favorable, showing the proper balance of spiritual and physical elements: earth and sky woven together to bring enlightenment. However, baser passions could cloud perception creating an imbalance."
*I'll be adding more from documented sources.

