Along with his box of breakfast cereal this morning, my son discovered this eight legged monster, lurking around the shelves of our pantry.
She joins the list of “visitors” to our house this week; including the other two cute guys…the green frog and the little baby hare.
I’d hardly call this visitor cute, although we do manage to co-exist quite okay with our spider population.
We are sure that this spider is a female Huntsman, with the males having somewhat longer legs and smaller bodies.
My son put the spider in a glass jar, which is where she is in this photo. She posed patiently for me whilst I played around with the settings on my camera, finally finding what I was looking for. My clever little camera has a setting for taking photos behind glass…perfect!
It seems that we humans are not the only creatures being rattled by the heat we have experienced of late. The small creature population appear to be turning up in the most unexpected of places!
In My World 
Oh icky! You win. My spidey was at least 10 feet away!
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Ten feet away sounds good. I’m glad my son (the eldest) found this one. I may have said more than icky!
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I like spiders. And snakes. But not TOO close-up. lol! She looks pretty interesting to me.
That is a clever camera! I don’t think my camera has that sort of setting. One of these days I might download the manual and find out all the things it does have.
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We have some quite harmless snakes around here with the most beautiful colours and markings, Robin. But then we have brown snakes, which are deadly. They’re the one’s I don’t like!
It’s fun when you discover a really good setting on your camera, which is just what you need. My camera isn’t anything fancy, so I am quite pleased with some of the settings I come across. 🙂
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Spider medicine is showing up in your life, Joanne! Here are some possible interpretations from http://www.whats-your-sign.com/spider-symbol-meaning.html:
(Feel free to edit and cut if this is too long…)
Spider Symbolism
The Spider is an ancient symbol of mystery, power and growth.
We take our first lesson from the ancient symbol of the Spider by contemplating its web.
Just as the Spider weaves a web, so too must we weave our own lives. The Spider symbol meaning here serves as a reminder that our choices construct our lives. When the Spider appears to us, it is a message to be mindful of the choices we are making – and ask ourselves:
How are my choices affecting my life?
How can my choices improve my life?
How are my choices affecting others in my life?
Not only do Spiders and their webs draw attention to our life choices, they also give us an overview of how we can manipulate our thinking in order to construct the life we wish to live.
Spiders do this by calling our awareness to the amazing construction of their webs. Fully functional, practical, and ingenious in design – Spider webs serve as homes, food storage, egg incubators – seemingly limitless in their functionality.
When we consider this ingenious diversity, we can also consider the web-like construct of our own lives. How are we designing the most effective life?
When we see our decisions, choices and actions as far-reaching, effective tools in life – we can see how we weave a web that can either serve us or enslave us. The Spider symbol meaning beckons us to be mindful of our behaviors – be smart about the life we weave for ourselves.
We can derive more Spider symbol meaning when we consider certain subtle characteristics that represent ancient symbols of infinity.
The infinity symbol meanings occur when we consider most Spiders have eight eyes and all have eight legs. The number eight is also a symbol of infinity or lemniscate (an eight turned on its side). Also, the vibrational frequency indicates the meaning of number eight involves cycles, passage of time, and evolution.
Further Spider symbol meaning:
Cunning
Progressive
Female
Cyclical
Rebirth
Death
Crafty
Resourceful
Creation
Protection
Fate
In Native American symbolism, the Spider is a symbol of protection against torrential storms. In yet other Native American lore accounts, the Spider (personified as the Grandmother) was the teacher and protector of esoteric wisdom.
The meaning of Spider in India is associated with Maya. The term Maya comes from the Sanskrit root “Ma” which means no form or limit. The term Maya describes the illusory nature of appearances. The Spider’s association with Maya brings about the understanding that not all things are as they appear to be.
The Spider symbol meaning in Egypt, is akin to Neith, a complex deity usually depicted with arrows as she is associated with hunting. Along with hunting, she is also associated with the creation, specifically the process of recreation in the dawning and dusking of each day. Neith is also a weaver, and is often shown with a shuttle in her hand (a tool used for weaving). It is this activity that gains her association with the Spider.
And of course, no conversation about the meaning of spiders is complete without discussing the Greek myth of Arachne, a mortal (although of noble stature) who was a spectacular weaver. Acclaim for her luscious lively looms spread over hill and dale and ultimately reached the immortal ears of Athena. Arachne claimed she was the best weaver, and thus prompted a challenge from Athena.
And so, they played a round of “dueling looms,” but no one could confirm the victor. However, Arachne was quite smug about the whole process. So much so, that Athena smote her with a mighty blow of conscience and a dose of guilt. Arachne took the dosage hard, and could not live with the intense feelings of guilt and sorrow so she killed herself. Athena felt awful over the whole mess and decided to resurrect Arachne in the form of a spider so that she and all her offspring would forever be the best weavers of the universe.
One final note, if you’ve visited my website often, you know I’m a big proponent of individual interpretation. Symbol meanings are very personal and profound. I merely provide a foundation of symbol meanings; utlimately, only YOU can determine what the meaning of Spider is to you.
I hope you have enjoyed these observations and ancient symbol meanings of the Spider.
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This is so interesting Kathy! No need to edit at all. The funniest thing is, I have been weaving the life of my choice recently and especially so this year! I’ve even been taking photos of spider’s webs…
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Wow,
So some good can come of spiders after all! And here I was thinking they’re just something to avoid.
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Isn’t the article Kathy posted fascinating Josie? I still wouldn’t want to get too close to some of those big guys though!
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That’s a big spider! And Kathy’s information is fascinating! Looking up the link you gave us to Huntsman spiders, I discovered they are a relative of our Tarantulas, which are a lot hairier and brown-and-black. Luckily, I’ve never seen one in my pantry, or you would hear the yell all the way from here in the States!
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Yes, you’re right Quinn. Our huntsman spiders are related to tarantulas, in fact, as a child, I called then tarantulas myself, due to my English born parents calling them that. They really are quite grusome looking creatures and certainly can startled the unsuspecting human!
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Oh icky again. That just makes it worse, until now I had no idea they were related to tarantulas. . .
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*laughing* You learn something new every day, Josie! 😀
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