Spider

Often the dependent emotions and conflicts one feels ‘caught in’ connected with mother or family; any emotions you don’t want to ‘handle’, such as those surrounding a spouse leaving; wanting to ensnare, or feeling trapped by someone. Sometimes symbolises a mother’s power, as in the way we are caught in the web of her desires and emotions. So inability to become independent of the mother.

But it can also be feeling caught and wrapped up to be eaten later sort of feeling, so being ‘handled’ by someone; or having all the time to watch for subtle signals in order to survive. See big spider dream

The spider can also be used as a symbol of sexual orgasm, but only if we are terrified, disgusted or guilty about such feelings.

The spider can also depict any emotions you don’t want to ‘handle’, such as those surrounding a spouse leaving; wanting to ensnare, or feeling trapped by someone; the basic survival instincts in us such as a spider might have – can I eat, or will I be eaten in this meeting/relationship? This level of our sensory and feeling perception is important. Like a spider it keeps one of your feet/fingers on the web or influences that connect you with other people and the world. Like the spider, if you are wise, you thereby know something of what is coming your way – do you advance or run? See: Web.

Portugal 128a The following waking fantasy by a man undergoing depth therapy shows an aspect of the spider.

I realise there is something I am looking for, and I don’t find it in my wife, or at least I don’t sense it in her. It is a frightening thing and partly exciting. This leads me on to fantasising a struggle with a young woman. It is about wanting to have sex, but seems to be some sort of power struggle. The image was of a smart very confident and aggressive young woman. She was attractive and attracted, but her approach was one of attack, so to have a relationship I needed to fight her. What I appear to be meeting is that I have the sex drive, but what I am facing is a monster. In fact I have the image of a huge spider that comes out from hiding and drags me helpless into its lair, its many eyes shining. I’m afraid. It’s not that my sex drive abates, but within this fantasy you have to time it just right. One must wait for the ‘beast’ to become passive then dash in and plunge into the wonderful hairy cavity. Otherwise the ‘beast’ will rip you apart. It is exactly like the horror films one sees of the monster that drags men or women back to its lair. It is actually all about my fear of women based on past pain. I want sex, but to get it I have to confront memories of being torn apart emotionally by a woman.

Here is fascinating dream about spiders, and its exploration:

I found your email on the internet for dream interpretation. If this is not correct, I am sorry to be bothering you.

I have had the same dream as I fall asleep for several years. I have it nearly every night just once, sometimes, rarely, twice as I fall asleep.

I dream that I find a dried piece of skin or scab somewhere on my body, usually my foot or my hand, tho it has varied over the years. I begin to pick at the skin/scab and scratch it until it comes off. When it comes off it unleashes a flood of seed spiders that engulf me. Another variation is I find some odd black hairs growing out of my body and when I examine them more closely they are regular sized spiders crawling out of me and they begin to engulf me.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Again, if this is not correct, I am very sorry for the disruption of your time. Best C

Here is a interpretation:

Dear C –   What I see with your dream of spiders is that there is a possibility of an underlying fear, so that when you begin to sink just below waking, just under the surface of your mind, this feelings of being overwhelmed arises. If it were a big thing that emerged it would be easier to deal with. But thousands of little things are difficult to handle because you kill some but there are so many left to get at you. A big thing you could hit with a cricket bat or kill it in some way, but the small things are more difficult. They are a sort of ultimate enemy. You need to find an image that enables you to deal with those feelings. An image that might be helpful is that of jumping into a very hot shower, one you can just about cope with. The water is pouring down and is going to burn up the little bugs. Another image might be that you walk quickly through flames that you are big enough to pass through with perhaps only your hairs being burnt, but the little spiders are going to get burnt up.

Were you at some time frightened of sickness? A sickness that could engulf you and you would be powerless against? If not that, then perhaps an image of something, or an idea of something that has stayed with you just under the surface of your mind. Tony

Dear Tony: Thank you….THANK YOU for getting back to me with the dream information. I am fairly well educated about things but could not come up with anything for myself. I think I may have been too close to it.

You mentioned several things that seem to “hit the nail on the head” and I will explore those. The most important thing you mentioned was that of being “powerless against” illness. I do have a life long disease that is manageable but could be fatal. I think this is where I am going to start as that is what seemed to really set off bells.

I really do thank you for this. It has not been interfered with my sleep and the dream only occurs as I fall asleep….once asleep, I am fine.

I thank you so much and I am sure that my partner thanks you as well……

Thank you…thank you….thank you…. With gratitude, C

So having seen spiders in a dream occasionally indicate an illness, if you are in any doubts it is wise to have a health check.

Covered on spiders: If they are large it might mean you feel someone will smother. Or that you have no way of escaping from someone or something.

 

Comments

-melissa 2015-03-28 23:22:41

I had a dream about big red and black spider was sitting there and it’s back was covered in tiny little spiders and then the little spiders broke free from the mother’s back and flew towards me. I ran into the next room and ducked under the table which it came at me and hit me in throat.
The next day I had a dream about a brown and black spider that dropped on top of my throat when I was laying down it just happened to appear there and I caught it and threw it away from me

    -Anna 2015-03-29 16:26:38

    Melissa – To jump down somebody’s throat means to react angrily to something that someone says or does.
    So I wonder if the first dream is about you running away from your (inner) mother’s anger and yet not being able to escape it, because
    running away is about not meeting problems in a way that will resolve them. This can indicate anxiety about what you are running from.
    Please read also http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/mother/#InnerMother
    Although your approach was more helpful in the second dream – for you did remove this spider – it still serves a purpose to explore this dream for yourself using “being the person” so you can feel what these spiders mean to you.
    See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson
    Anna 🙂

-ShawnJ 2015-03-06 20:50:30

Hey Tony, I just had this crazy dream. In the dream I was a big spider looked like a turantula I’d say. Also in my dream there was another big spider that was slimy and yellow kind of looked the thing thing off of the Alive VS Predator movie. Anyway there was someone else there I don’t know who the were or what they looked like but it was a guys voice telling me to get out of the way to avoid harm from the big slimy spider. At first for some odd reason I was beating up the spider as a spider myself but at the end the spider just overwhelmed me with it extremely long legs wrapped me up entirely then I woke up pretty weird. By the way I have a younger brother that imprisoned. A daughter me and her mother are not together. The mother of my daughter wants me back now and is very mad that I have not moved in. I also have a girlfriend at home. This is my first time looking for answers online. I don’t like spiders figures I would try this out. Please Reply

-Elana 2015-03-06 15:47:26

Tony,
I dreamt of a 12 legged whitish/light blue large spider chasing and jumping at me. It didn’t look like a normal spider, kind of like it was a bunch of squares all together. I dropped my cell and it jumped on it and continued to chase me. I squished it with a shoe. I could still see it moving under the shoe before I completely killed it. What might this mean?
Thanks

-Marietta 2015-03-01 21:48:01

Hi Tony,

I had a dream of being in this house and it was filled with big redback spiders. They were crawling everywhere, they were coming down from their webs and I had my mum trying to kill them.. I was crying in my dream because I was scared…

I am arachnophobic, and curious to know what this dream means… Thankyou…

-Nikki 2015-02-28 7:14:56

Hey Tony, I had a dream that just one spider a big Brown hairy spider was crawling up my boyfriend as he aS he was lAying down. It was like I had no feeling in my dream I aS just watching it. I wAnt scared or anything just watching.

    -Anna 2015-03-02 13:21:53

    Nikki – There is some fear involved concerning your boyfriend and you probably still feel a hesitation to deal with it.
    It will be helpful to read the entry about boyfriend as well
    http://dreamhawk.com/dream-dictionary/boyfriend-ex/
    QUOTE
    _______________________________________
    Dreaming about your boyfriend is usually about your emotional feelings, attachment to, or fears about the boyfriend. This includes the difficulties, struggles with feelings and sexuality felt in connection with boyfriend or other males. It might also be your insights into his behaviour. Please read Ages of Love

    Boyfriend dreams often have an element either of fear or dreaming of possibilities. In other words the dream explores what you fear might happen in the relationship, and what you hope will happen.
    _______________________________________
    Because the fear is symbolized by a spider, I wonder if not being afraid in your dream merely reflects that you repressed your fear?
    See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/defence-mechanisms/
    So try “being the spider” to get closer to what is bothering you.
    http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson

    Good Luck!

    Anna 🙂

-Nikki 2015-02-28 7:12:42

Hey Tony, I had a dream that a big Brown hairy spider was crawling up my boyfriend as he aS he was lAying down. It was like I had no feeling in my dream I aS just watching it. I wAnt scared or anything just watching.

-Juney 2015-02-27 5:00:39

Hi Tony,
I had a dream that has just woke me up and made me look up the meaning of spiders in my dream, anyways I can’t get back to sleep thinking about them. They were all different kinds of spiders big and small. They were all in my hair and I was trying to shake them out but they were so many please tell me what this meaning is. Thank you

-T. Byrd 2015-02-24 15:02:59

Hello

My best friend of 10+ yrs had the following dream:

“We were back in high school and then all of a sudden we were walking around fighting off spiders and the spiders kept burrowing into our arms”

What does this mean?

-Jess 2015-02-16 1:40:48

Hi Troy,
I had a dream that I was standing around a new male friends pool deciding on travel/party plans with a group of people. An aggressive red back spider crawled up the sleeve of my blouse and I could not get it & it could not find a way out. I thought I was going to get bitten but then realised I was just fearful. It was as if I needed to make peace with the fear.

Once the spider became free I think I squashed it.
Thanks
Jess

-Teesha 2015-02-05 9:23:25

Hello Troy,

I had this dream where I went into someone’s house. There was a spiderweb with several small spiders, but one big one in particular. The someone whose house I went into came inside the room and said they’d get rid of the web. They proceeded to try, however a spider kept trying to bite them. So they grabbed the spider by the back and handed it to me to kill. I couldn’t do it and it ended up on the ground. It ran at me and I grabbed it by the back… But it’s mouth contorted and reached around to bite me. I let it go and it jumped on my foot. Then, I was slamming my foot down in my dream which i was also doing in my bed while half asleep and it caused me to wake up startled and breathing heavy. What does it mean and why was it so intense?

-Lorie 2015-01-30 21:40:38

Tony, I had a dream that I woke up and there was a huge gigantic whit almost albino looking spider hanging on the ceiling. It was spining its web and I believe that It was laying eggs because I saw the eggs in the web. When it realized I was awake it came after me, I was screaming for my parents to help me. It came down and it bit me trying to take me and I struggled a while with it continuing to scream but I finally got away from it. When I opened my door my dad was sitting in the kitchen on a chair, my mother was no where to be found, and I yelled that there was a big spider, he came running and my small Chihuahua dog went after it and chased it under the bed and my dad could not find it it disappeared. Can you give me advice on interpreting this dream.

-Veronica 2015-01-29 12:33:05

I had a dream last night in which I saw a big spider web on the middle part of a familiar wooden bed post. I got close and saw there was smooth, clean, and dry sand covering the bottom part of the spider web, like some kind of circular floor to it. Two big spiders appeared on the sand, one was bigger than the other; they both had bright, yet different colors. They weren’t really threatening me, but I just couldn’t let them be there. They were big and they could bite anyone. I looked for a pesticide and started spraying at them. As soon as I started to spray it, they made holes in the sand and disappeared. Even though I flooded the holes with pesticide, I felt they had survived; only that now they wouldn’t harm anyone. I am currently passing through a difficult situation, but I am trying to resolve it in a positive way. Please reply, if you have any thoughts or ideas about anything that could help me understand what this dream means.

-Beth 2015-01-18 6:42:42

I have been dreaming a lot about spiders lately, I don’t particularly like them, but I am not overly afraid of them either, I will always try and put it in a jar and put it outside before I kill it.
The earlier dreams I cannot recall details, but I remember spiders, not big ones, not biting me or feeling threatened. Last night was different, I was in bed, there were other people around and this enormous spider(with very long legs and two enormous pinchers at the back) came crawling into the room, it crawled over two people and just kept going,so when it crawled over me I just lay still and let it crawl over me (I was terrified), the only problem was it decided to ‘nest’ in my sweatshirt right over my heart, it pulled the fabric in with it’s legs (sort of bunched into it) and started settling down, I wanted it to move off, so I moved my arm to get it to gently move on, at which point it ‘growled’ at me so I stopped, I just lay there terrified…then I woke up…obviously relieved it was just a dream, but now it is bothering me…any suggestions as to the meaning?

    -Tony Crisp 2015-01-18 10:58:21

    Beth – This is a warning dream of some sort. The strange thing is the spider didn’t attempt to hurt you, just growled because you wanted it to go.

    So I wonder if this is not a fear you have about your heart/illness. Fears can be as awful as reality in their effect. So I suggest you either use http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/acting-on-your-dream/#BeingPerson to see if you can define what it is doing, or http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/secrets-power-dreaming/

    Tony

      -Beth 2015-01-18 17:39:46

      Hi Tony, Many thanks for answering so promptly, I do have a number of serious health issues,but it has been a long term challenge,I started a new product yesterday,but I don’t think that would affect me. There are unfortunately, a number of other issues that factor into my current state of mind-which I am not comfortable to post on an open forum.I will have a look into the two links you have provided me and try and figure it out what it means. Many,many thanks again for your assistance.Warmest regards,Beth

-Tracey611 2015-01-09 16:09:06

Hi Tony, I had this dream that all these deadly poisonous spiders were after me and my aunty. They were hanging from trees even. I got rid of them then the same person who sent them after me and my aunt started to send more to us so we started to capture them under plates and some were getting killed as there legs were getting chopped off by the plates rims when we were trying to catch them but then there were more and more so then we started to cut them in half with tea cups. That was such a strange dream and ive never dreamed about spiders before, can you try to explain it please Tony.

    -Tony Crisp 2015-01-12 9:31:05

    Tracey – Sometimes relatives or friends can do or say things that are really poisonous and we get stuck in them. That is what the spiders represent. They are not one whopping great remark or gossip that we can point to and say, “Yes, what an awful thing to say or do!”

    But you are managing to deal with it.

    Tony

-Natasha L 2014-12-19 13:04:03

I had for some weeks now dreams about spiders (some of those days in a week are in a row ). The spiders are long legged either fully black, grey or greenish color. They are always coming down from the ceiling while I am on my bed. I keep shooing them or try to scare them away. They sometimes crawl over me or just stair at me. Somtimes they float over me or my family sleeping, and I can see their face watching me/us. It is getting really annoying, as I wake up screaming in the middle of the night, scared.

Once I realise it was a dream I say a prayer… and I go back to sleep. But they feel really real and I am very much not wanting to dream those dreams anymore. What do they mean, and what can I do to stop dreaming of these spiders.

Copyright © 1999-2010 Tony Crisp | All rights reserved