Spiders, (tarantulas in particular), occupy a peculiar position in our cultural imagination and experience. For many of us, they represent a nuisance at best and a creature to be frightened of and repulsed by at worst. I myself had always been afraid of spiders. Though the fear has subsided, I would still rather not have one crawling on my arm! Still the fascination persists as I believe it does for many of us.
Recently, a college professor asked me to communicate with Zelda, the resident tarantula in her biology lab. I was excited by the request as I had never attempted to dialogue with a spider and I wasn’t sure if it was even possible. Although I did not visit Zelda in her lab, I had the pleasure of conversing with her and the professor by phone.
During our session, I learned several things from Zelda:
● She can survive without food for weeks and months on end. Those who care for her should not feel disrespected or concerned if she doesn’t eat often. In fact, she didn’t feel hungry at the time we communicated even though she hadn’t eaten for a few weeks!
● Though she likes attention, she doesn't like being handled physically and does not like it when people tap on the glass of her aquarium.
And while she shared her preferences about diet and physicality, I also sensed a profound sadness from Zelda akin to what I have experienced when meeting an animal that is grieving.
What I discovered is that she felt a sense of loss for how the world has changed. As if possessing ancestral knowledge via DNA imprinting, she believed that human beings used to have more respect for and relate more with other species of beings. Over the years she has been in the lab, her life has also changed.
Respectful attention sustains her. She likes to be a resource for teaching others about her species and their role in the ecosystem, yet finds that fewer people notice she is there. Zelda is aware of when she is being objectified as a subject of study or ignored altogether. She lamented that the world is becoming more digital and this has caused people to become distracted and much less interested in relating to the world around them.
In their book Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power through the Ways of Animals, authors Jamie Sams and David Carson describe the spider as the being who gave humans the gift of the alphabet: “Spider wove the web that brought humans the first picture of the alphabet. The letters were part of the angles of her web.” (Bear and Company, 1988, Santa Fe, NM, Chapter 43, p. 209).
How amazing to realize that one can converse with a spider, and the wisdom Zelda holds about life really surprised me as well as her capacity for emotion. It seems fitting that my first blog shares insights from a tarantula.
In my practice, I continue to learn that all beings have intelligence and communicate in some way. How remarkable that a spider has wisdom and something important to teach if we honor her life and her experience of being.