Spider is the totem of writers, of storytellers, of record keepers. They say that spider wove the alphabet so her children would remember. In many cultures, many beliefs, many mythologies, Spider is the one who knows, who watches, who records, who keeps the wisdom.

Spider is the creator to the Navajo. Spider woman wove the directions. She wove north and south, east and west, above and below. She was the seed of life and the origin of All That Is.

In West African and Caribbean beliefs, Anansi is the storyteller, and his wife writes them down. In the American South, he has evolved into Aunt Nancy.  While he is a trickster, he is also synonymous with skill and wisdom in speech. Once there were no stories in the world. The Sky-God, Nyame, had them all. Anansi went to Nyame and asked how much they would cost to buy. Nyame set a high price: Anansi must bring back Onini the Python, Osebo the Leopard, the Mmoboro Hornets, and Mmoatia the dwarf. Anansi set about capturing these. First he went to where Python lived and debated out loud whether Python was really longer than the palm branch or not as his wife Aso says. Python overheard and, when Anansi explained the debate, agreed to lie along the palm branch. Because he cannot easily make himself completely straight a true impression of his actual length is difficult to obtain, so Python agreed to be tied to the branch. When he was completely tied, Anansi took him to Nyame. To catch the leopard, Anansi dug a deep hole in the ground. When the leopard fell in the hole Anansi offered to help him out with his webs. Once the leopard was out of the hole though he was bound in Anansi’s webs and was carried away. To catch the hornets, Anansi filled a calabash with water and poured some over a banana leaf he held over his head and some over the nest, calling out that it was raining. He suggested the hornets get into the empty calabash, and when they obliged, he quickly sealed the opening. To catch the dwarf he made a doll and covered it with sticky gum. He placed the doll under the odum tree where the dwarfs play and put some yam in a bowl in front of it. When the dwarf came and ate the yam she thanked the doll which of course did not reply. Annoyed at its bad manners she struck it, first with one hand then the other. The hands stuck and Anansi captured her. Thus, Anasi gained the stories.

Many people are frightened of spiders. When an animal scares you, it might be your shadow totem, the medicine keeper for that part of you that you would rather not look at. If you are scared of spiders, ask yourself if you are avoiding learning from the past, or writing, or even your own inner wisdom. Bringing your shadows into the light is an empowering practice, one that might serve you well in the shifting energies of the planet at this time.