For the past 2 months, the spider has been showing up for me. Im usually pretty good at paying attention when animals are showing up in my life, and I need to further investigate. But this one has taken me a while. I guess Im use to relating to animals like birds and deer, ones of that nature. For me, the spider is one I tended to look the other direction. But the more it kept showing up, in random places, and in random conversations, the more I realized I needed to pay attention. And then... the other day there was a HUGE tarantula on the front of our house. Its the first one Ive ever seen in real life, and to me, this was like SCREAMING at me to pay attention!

It was kind of a funny situation. James was the one that found it, sitting up in the corner of the underside of our roof. Even being so high up, he was huge! James ran to the door and yelled at me to come out and help him. (he is super scared of spiders). He wanted to kill it (only out of fear and first reactions), but I yelled at him not to. After doing some super quick research to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything, I wanted to just let him stay up on the roof. He was most likely looking for a mate, since they don't usually show up during the day. But James was not going to let it stay near our house, so we compromised. James got him off the roof and I captured him in a box, and we walked it across the street to a pasture with lots of trees. I was afraid between knocking him off the house and the heat he would not make it, but he crawled up to a safe place just fine. So hopefully he is okay. It was a pretty intimate little moment we had with that spider.

So, even though I had read it before, I knew I needed to re-read and dig a little deeper in my Animal Speak book. The beautiful card above was sent to me the same week, from my friend Lauren of Vision Wise. The words I read in Animal Speak spoke to me. Kind of a re-affirmation of many things Ive been feeling lately. Just a few lines from the book...

"Spider teaches you to maintain a balance - between past and future, physical and spiritual, male and female. Spider teaches you that everything you now do is weaving what you will encounter in the future."

"The spider awakens creative sensibilities. It weaves a web of intricate and subtle fabric, as if to remind us that the past always subtly influences the present and future."

"Spider reminds us that the world is woven around us. We are the keepers and the writers of our own destiny, weaving it like a web by our thoughts, feelings and actions."

"Because it is constantly building and weaving new webs, it has also been a lunar symbol, with ties to the waxing and waning of the moon. For those with this totem, this pattern is a reminder to maintain balance and polarity in all aspects of life. Spider teaches that through polarity and balance creativity is stimulated."

Some questions to ask yourself:

"Are you not weaving your dreams and imaginings into reality? Are you not using your creative opportunities? Are you feeling closed in or stuck as if in a web? Do you need to pay attention to your balance and where you are walking in life? Are others out of balance around you? Do you need to write? Are you inspired to write or draw and not following through?"

These words, thoughts and questions speak to me, and have been for a while. It is most definitely something I have been needing to pay attention to. Im thankful the universe provided such a loud in my face opportunity to listen. Sometimes we need a little a help!

ANNOUNCEMENT:

There is an awesome giveaway today on From Under His Feathers, featuring works from 3 of the artists from The Bohemian Collective! Its a good one!!!