The Meaning of Spider Tattoos
The symbolism of spiders is usually associated with the complex webs that they build around them. The web has been interpreted by ancient cultures as the connection between everything that exists, between all the parts of life and nature, thus the spider becoming a powerful symbolic creator.
In the culture of India, the spider is seen as a creature that weaves reality, being associated also with the order of the planets in cosmos. The Indian book of wisdom is called “The Upanishads” and it has many philosophical learnings about life and the world in general. The spider is associated with this learning book because it is a creator and distributor of wisdom, through its complex and multidirectional web.
Except for its wisdom association, the web of the spider is also connected by the Hindus with the concept of Maya which means “illusion”, because of the deceptive way the spiders are weaving their webs.
Other symbol that people have attributed to spiders is the sun. They are solar creatures because of their radial appearance and because of the way they build their webs, looking similar to the sun. Also, the eight legs of the spider symbolize progression, infinity or harmonic balance.
The mythological gods that are associated with the spider belong to different cultures: the Greeks have Arachne, the goddess that turned into a spider after defeating Athena in a weaving contest; the Egyptians have Neith, their weaver goddess; the Africans have Anansi, a spider god from whom humans learned how to weave and the Native Americans from Southwestern tribes have Grandmother Spider, an entity that connects the spirit of nature with creation and wisdom.
As you can see, the spider is a multidimensional creature that bears many interesting interpretations and symbols. If you decide to choose a spider tattoo as your guardian creature, you can start off with a temporary design to see how it would look. We have a few options for you to choose from!
