Esoteric Symbology of The Spider & The Web

Part I. Spider in Mythology, & Folklore

The symbol of Spider & the Web it Weaves features prominently in the mythology of various across the globe.  Comparative analysis of myth across cultures often reveals deep truths about the nature of culture, reality and the self.  The obvious question at hand concerns the prevalence of the Spider Goddess archetype across cultures. What could be the reason for this ancient cross-cultural mythical archetype? Could it have deeper scientific and/or occult significance? 

Before, we can answer that question let's briefly examine some of the mythological portraits of the Spider:

1. In  the Teotihuacan culture (Ancient Pre-Mexican Civilization) the Great Goddess was the Spider Woman. 

2. In Native American Hopi Cosmology, as well as Cherokee, the creator of the universe is know as Grandmother Spider

3. The Egyptian Goddess Neith was the Goddess of War and Weaving. 

4. In Babylonian Mythology the Goddess Ishtar was often depicted as a Spider and her symbol was an 8 rayed star connecting to the 8 legs & 8 eyes of the Spider. 

5. In African mythology Anansi was a trickster god depicted as spider

6. The Goddess Arachne, of Greek Mythology, is associated with weaving and spider.

7. The Infamous Nazca Lines contain a depiction of a Spider that corresponds to stellar bodies above (including Sirius~Isis in Egyptian Mythology)

8. When the Vedic God Indra fashioned the world, he made it as a web, and at every knot in the web is tied a pearl. Everything that exists, or has ever existed, every idea that can be thought about, every datum that is true—every dharma, in the language of Indian philosophy—is a pearl in Indra's net. Not only is every pearl tied to every other pearl by virtue of the web on which they hang, but on the surface of every pearl is reflected every other jewel on the net. Everything that exists in Indra's web implies all else that exists

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Part II. Spider Webs and Modern Science 

The spider web is an interesting mythological symbol considering the current scientific understanding of the universe as illustrated in quantum theory, string theory and general relativity.  As I will illustrate below, the symbolic nature of the spider and the web she weaves is truly an apt allegory for the operation of the universe, and the operation of our brains; more importantly, the operation of our brain in terms of its connection and dialogue with the creator.

The Second Hermetic Principle of Correspondence states:

This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: "As above, so below; as below, so above." And the grasping of this Principle gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, and hidden secret of Nature. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us. This Principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental, and spiritual universe — it is an Universal Law. ---The Kybalion 

Therefore, there should be a web above, and a web below.  Additionally, the two webs must necessarily be connected somehow, and have an effect on each other.  

The following image shows the side by side comparison of the web-like structure of the neurons in a human brain to an astounding image of the dark matter of the universe which is nearly identical to the web-like qualities of the human brain. 

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Part III. The Third Web or "Veil" & Communication with the Divine

As amazing as these revelations are, if we dig even a little deeper we will discover and even more profound truth to the mythology of the Spider Goddess. 

On the Temple of Neith in Egypt there is an inscription that reads:

I am the things that are, that will be, and that have been. No one has ever laid open the garment by which I am concealed. The fruit which I brought forth was the sun

In Judeo-Christian scripture, Islamic scripture, and Japanese Folklore there is a virtually identical tale that is told in all three cultures. The essence of the story is as follows:

1. A hero (King David, Mohammed, Yoritomo) is being pursued by his enemies.

2. The hero comes across a cave in which he hides from his enemies. 

3. A spider builds a web across the entrance of the cave.

4. When the enemies come upon the cave they do not search for the hero due to the presence of the spider web. 

5. The hero is then able to escape his enemies and become the powerful self-realized being that they were destined to become. 

What could this myth be describing that occurs in our natural world? Is this perhaps something that takes place inside our brain? 

There is in the human brain a layer or "veil" of protective tissue that surrounds the inner most parts for the brain called Arachnoid "the spider's web". 

What lies beyond this protective layer of netting in the brain? 

Pia Matter which is translated as "tender mother" 

To summarize, thus far: The entire structure of the universe at level of the subatomic (dark matter) is like the web of the spider.  The network of neurons, in our brain, also resembles a web-like structure and is identical to that of the universe.  Additionally, there is a third spider web located in the brain called Arachnoid. This thin web- like layer that covers and protects the Pia Matter or "tender mother" the most vulnerable part of the brain. 

So what lies at the center of the web in our brain?

Our greater spider, our higher-self, or daemon whatever you choose to call it, but it is located in the precise center of our Brain-Web and it is called the Pineal Gland or Third Eye. 

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Part IV: Contacting the Divine Spider

In nature, the spider knows when it has caught prey in its web via vibrations that travel along the web.

In meditation (especially chanting of Aum) we can "tap" the web and call our daemon spider to come and keeps us within our cave (pineal gland/Pia matter) in the arms of our most ancient mother. Through deep meditation we will be cradled by the holy mother and reborn the self-realized hero. In other words, enlightenment or higher consciousness is achieved (or at least attainable) through repetitive stimulation of the pineal gland in meditation. 

If we return to the inscription at the shrine of Neith in Egypt we now have a more lucid understanding of these enigmatic words:

I am the things that are, that will be, and that have been. No one has ever laid open the garment by which I am concealed. The fruit which I brought forth was the sun

The concealing "garment" is in fact the Arachnoid membrane of the brain which restricts energetic flow to the pineal gland unless it is stimulated through meditative techniques. The "fruit" that one brings forth is the enlightenment that pours forth from the great Mother of us (The)ALL: the Spider Goddess.  

"But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."

~Galatians 4:26

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One final thought to consider. Have, the collective we, become like the weaving Spider Goddess of Creation? Have we created an analagous  web "below" to the web "above" that is our brain? 

Indeed we have. We have most aptly named it "The World Wide Web" 

Like our consciousness, and the consciousness of the macrocosm (Adam Kadamon) which is nowhere and everywhere our internet is an interconnected intelligent web that is non-local, but instantaneously connected. The quantuam theory of entaglement provides a scientifc basis for this model of reality and the First Heremetic Principle of Mentalism provides the occult framework.

Imagine a multidimensional spider’s web
in the early morning covered with dew drops.
And every dew drop contains the reflection
of all the other dew drops.

~Alan Watts, The Middle Way