The Tenacity of Spiders

My husband and I moved up to the country here in North Western Florida close to four years ago. I am very happy and quite content in my current environment, I do not hear the scream of sirens that are the portents of bad news brought to loved ones left at home or the chatter of pedestrians as they hurry to and fro, nor do I hear the constant barrage of sounds made from the many cars coming and going that populate the highways. Most days my ears only hear the trilling of the birds, the chirp of crickets and the warnings of impending rain from the small green frogs that live under the canopy of the hickory, oak, pine and cedar trees that cover the land. On some rare days, wind is the only voice that speaks, whispering through the leaves, telling secrets from far away and long ago as each leaf trembles with the message that it bears.

We are not alone on our small plot of land that we've named Rocking Witch Farm. We enjoy the company of our two dogs, two cats, an aquarium filled with a variety of fresh water fish and a Quaker parrot whose vocabulary seems to expand daily. Recently however, I was made aware of how many others share this land with us from the rabbits that come at dusk to forage in our newly planted vegetable garden to the deer that come as dawn approaches to drink from a small fountain dedicated to Pan. In addition to the birds such as; hummingbirds, woodpeckers, bluejays, cardinals, and sparrows that come and go there are also a variety of insects. The hum of bees can be heard all summer as they dance their flight paths to the way of pollen cached in the many flowering herbs and plants. Roses, azaleas, gardenias and others provide a riotous concert of floral color all through the seasons giving them much to dance about. Along with the bees are industrious ants, marching over twig and under leaf to find the bounty of food to bring back to those left in the hills tending juveniles and attending their Queen.

There are also spiders.

While I am content to share our habitat with all of these creatures that populated this land long before we came and will continue to do so long after we are gone, I am somewhat uncomfortable sharing it with spiders. It isn't that I have an innate fear of them, I am concerned when their habitat crosses over to mine in a more intimate fashion. The photo at the top of this post is from my front porch. The web shown there was spun overnight. What a complicated and detailed creation it is. The spot was carefully chosen to take advantage of the wind that may blow a moth off path as it comes to seek the light cast from the lamp we light in the evenings. Other bugs get caught in there as well, curious ladybugs, caterpillars that will never make it to their final stage of transformation, and on occasion lovely patterned butterflies have drifted in to their unfortunate deaths by getting trapped in the tangled skein of silken threads.

My office, affectionately named the Witch House, is a separate building from our main living quarters, it is small cottage like building with a porch of it's own. This is where I house my computer, all my books, stereo and cd's, several altars and assorted collections of personal items. It has four windows, and each affords a view of differing directions. The back window looks out upon a small hill where my compass is contained. Ringed by large stones with appropriate objects located in the cardinal points, this is where my small working group and I make magic or should I say magic makes us.

In the east is a wooden tripod that holds a small cauldron that represents fire. In the south is a cairn of stones and rocks that form a small hill, this represents earth. In the west a small brass spigot offers up fresh spring water, adorned by stonework in the form of a faery in front of an oak stump, this represents water. In the north is where the stang is planted during workings, with a candle lit between the horns the smoke from this candle spirals up and outward, representing air.

Other windows offer up vistas of rolling hills, dense canopied woods, and the almost hidden path to the compass area. This provides a most relaxing atmosphere, calm and serene although at times wicked storms pass through raining hickory nuts atop the tin roof of the Witch House that sound like firecrackers exploding on the fourth of July - the power of this place is much changed then but still it is an amiable location.

Inside the Witch House are many nooks and crannies, delightful spots for a variety of spiders to make their homes. I try my best to remove them, placing them outdoors to find new homes and spin new webs in the verdant landscape available. Occasionally I have found spiders of a poisonous kind and while I understand that they are an important part in the overall scheme of life, I do not wish to share such close quarters with them. Sadly, I must admit to using chemical poisons in the form of sprays to rid myself of their company at times. More often than not though I do try and simply relocate them.

I'll relate what prompted this post as I've been busy this morning before I came online. I've been moving a trapped spider into an unused ten gallon aquarium I have. In essence, I captured a female brown recluse spider just inches away from my computer keyboard back during our May Tide festivities -- she was climbing over a tiny gargoyle stature (one of a pair) that sits in front of my desktop speakers.

Since I have such a slow healing process due to certain medical conditions I did *not* want to even put myself in the way of possibly being bit and having the deadly necrosis associated with those sorts of bites. Doug (one of my working partners) caught her for me in a small glass jug that once held herbs/worts. There was already the corpse of a male brown recluse in the jar that had been caught after being well-sprayed with a bug killing solution some months ago. I placed the jar in the dark recesses of my wort cupboard and forgot all about it.

When I went to check for something a few days ago I found her quite alive and she had spun great webs all about the jar, totally encasing the gargoyle figurine (which got placed in the jar as well) and was very active. I assumed she would have died from lack of air! Since she has such a determined spirit I could not find it in my heart to poison/kill her so I made a sort of home for her out of the aquarium (with a very tightly screened lid lol). My husband helped me negotiate the process of moving her and I was able to catch a few small moths to put in with her so she'll have something to eat as well as water placed in a small shallow shell that went in her new home with some moss and twigs.

My husband reminded me that these sorts of spiders only need to mate once and they store the sperm forever which enables them to have young whenever they wish! I hope to Gods I don't find hundreds of tiny spiders in there one day as it was not my wish to provide an incubatory atmosphere for her. Let us hope she is a virgin!

During this event I have found that while I may hold the deed or title to our small plot of land in this country landscape, my husband and I are no more the *owners* of this land than our two dogs are. We share this environment, with both the spirits of those seen and unseen, forces that are both titanic and diminutive, benefic as well as malefic. And it is our interaction and our intentions with these companions that determine whether or not our home here is filled with pleasure and joy or whether it is filled with pain and sorrow. Quite a revelation when considering that despite all I've learned spiritually over the years from my intensive studies and personal revelations I considered myself at the top of the ladder as it were - I believed I was the Mistress of all I could see. What a shock to find that I haven't even begun to see where the ladder ends above and that there are still many rungs to climb.