This is so beautiful, Stephanie!! I especially love this: A spider’s holy ground may look different than my own but our precious swards overlap and our mutual need for preservation is enormously equivalent.
Thank you Maya, this line is probably the nugget from which this essay formed. Thank you for honing in there, and of course for reading and commenting so kindly! Grateful always. <3
"Each new day, the simple act of proffering this small creature protection shores up something broken in me. Nourishing terrain where compassion and connection are cultivated in lieu of the human tendency for dominance and destruction."
Such a beautiful story anchored in the life of a little spider who knows who she is and has learned to live without running away and starting over.
I just love how you put this. Thank you for seeing this small being, and for all the seeing you incorporate into your own work, past and present. Incredibly grateful! <3
What a timely and resonant message Stephanie. I noticed you began with a daddy long legs spider and I had just dreamed/meditated / thought about the daddy long leg spiders of my youth. Just this morning. I thought about how they would run across my ankles as I lay in the grass without a care. My mind then turned to how people can be cruel to such spiders. And how it would look like for humans to treat other humans as spiders. I'm glad for people like us that leave our bathroom spiders alone. I think I got a new one, just as I was thinking about the last spider that lived near my bathroom faucet. I foolishly mentioned it to my husband, who kills spiders despite them being my spirit animal. I adamantly said that the spider was my friend and to leave it alone.
Wow, Sam. I think you were talking to me because I wasn't planning to publish today and woke up feeling like I MUST. And this piece in particular. Thank you for seeing spiders as your spirit animal. This doesn't surprise me because of your love of trees and the entire web of life. And spiders are weavers, just like you. So glad to have found you in this space. May your faucet spider live long! <3
Love you sweet Jennifer and the way you encompass all creatures into your sphere of compassion. I can't WAIT to hear this story. Did the basement spider have a name??? 🥰❤️🕷
Yes! Spider Lockhart... who was a famous NY Giants player :) That's how Daddy made us feel like Spider Lockhart was a friendly spider and we shouldn't harm or remove him :)
This is so beautiful Stephanie, thank you for honouring spiders and all other forms of life., all teaching us ways of being a healthy link in the chain of life , such a good teaching you brings us here about perseverance and preservation
Thank you Sally, and I love perseverance paired with preservation, they are meant for each other. Your comment, and own beautiful work, are gifts to me...grateful you are here. ❤️🕷
Was just thinking about your napping spidey buddy and was reading the other day that they believe spiders dream… it’s a fabulous thought, and makes me wonder what he might of been dreaming about while he was snoozing. I adore spiders - and all living creatures (except for maybe ticks - even though I respect their right to exist and I’d really like it if they didn’t target me every time I go bushwalking😉😊)
I'm chortling with delight reading this comment!! Don't you wonder what they dream? It is indeed a fabulous thought, and this will stay with me. Thank you for enhancing my wonderful experience with my napping spidey. Your love of all creatures is a balm for me in a world where this is not yet the norm. May the ticks spare you on your next bushwalk! <3
… and snails too! Octopus and cuttle fish and birds and of course dolphins (who sleep with one eye open - unihemispheric brains apparently🤷🏻♀️) is no end to the wonder in this world. A dreaming snail…gold✨
Mmmmm....how to keep intact? What it means to stay intact.. Wow. Perhaps, as you say, it is weaving and reweaving on a daily basis, offering up the best we have over and over, despite the dangers and constant breaking. I love this so much, the co-habitation, the respect for the spider's existence there in the house rather than shooing them out. They are such remarkable creatures. I began thinking of spiders differently after reading a children's book (not Charlotte's Web, but that one is good too) that had a character that was a spider. She reminded me to have respect. I, too, have a resident bathroom spider.
Celebrating your resident spider, Susan. And all the creatures inhabiting your lovely garden who are cherished by you, including the stink bug! I agree wholeheartedly with what you have said here, and so eloquently too as is your way: "...weaving and reweaving on a daily basis, offering up the best we have over and over, despite the dangers and constant breaking." I'm going to save this line, these words, to return to. So grateful to have you here, and to write and read alongside you as we strive to thrive. <3
What a beautiful piece to highlight the struggles of the modern world, Stephanie.
Spiders are such soulful creatures- I adore the symbolism wrapped around them, from their fastidiousness, to their patience and their lesson for us to wait for a timely moment to hatch our plans. A surprising strength hidden behind the delicacy of a boneless body or a silken thread. A mystical wisdom.
Thanks for your gorgeous prose, so artfully written, with that subtle strength of resilience woven throughout.
Grateful Simon, for the depths you see and the gift you have for putting wild words to these depths. You are so right that spiders are soulful with surprising strength and a mystical wisdom. What symbolism indeed. And thank you as well for seeing resilience both in this piece, and in the world. I'm still on the lookout for that beautiful hedgehog!
"May fear not change us" is the powerful ancient wisdom to keep us whole. Thank you Marisol, for reading and commenting and for your poetry and loving kindness. The spiderlings of the world thank you too!! <3
There are whole worlds between us, each with its own quiet worth. This brought me back to the beauty of the smallest. Beautiful work, Stephanie. Thank you.
What a beautiful comment Katarina. Like a gentle breeze. "Quiet worth" captures the beauty that surpasses all words. Thank you for seeing the world as you do, I'm grateful.
I love your curiosity and where it takes you. Curiosity brings attention on line. The quality of attention is so important. Stepping softly. Open heart.
"Curiosity brings attention on line." Woah, what a powerful reminder and lens to bring on seeking and honoring the beauty that abides. Stepping softly with an open heart alongside you Mary. Thank you for being here! <3
Some house spiders can only live inside but I have difficulty telling the difference between the species Georgena! Loved your inclusion of spider woman, that didn't even cross my mind, well done and thank you. May all who weave carry on. 💛
One night in New Mexico I heard a buzzing and turned on the light thinking mosquito. It was a black widow spider on my wall. I got a plastic container with a lid and gently removed said lady to outdoors. I told her the deal is no harm to her, and no harm to me from her extended family. So far so good, and I do see black widows in my yard and garage. Peace on the homefront, none the less :-)
This is so beautiful, Stephanie!! I especially love this: A spider’s holy ground may look different than my own but our precious swards overlap and our mutual need for preservation is enormously equivalent.
Thank you Maya, this line is probably the nugget from which this essay formed. Thank you for honing in there, and of course for reading and commenting so kindly! Grateful always. <3
Love this so much! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you my beloved first reader. And for the small (and large) acts of preservation you set into motion simply by being who you are. ❤️
Inviolate- I love that word 🩷
You and me both Angela. It carries a lot, doesn't it?? 🩷
"Each new day, the simple act of proffering this small creature protection shores up something broken in me. Nourishing terrain where compassion and connection are cultivated in lieu of the human tendency for dominance and destruction."
Such a beautiful story anchored in the life of a little spider who knows who she is and has learned to live without running away and starting over.
I just love how you put this. Thank you for seeing this small being, and for all the seeing you incorporate into your own work, past and present. Incredibly grateful! <3
What a timely and resonant message Stephanie. I noticed you began with a daddy long legs spider and I had just dreamed/meditated / thought about the daddy long leg spiders of my youth. Just this morning. I thought about how they would run across my ankles as I lay in the grass without a care. My mind then turned to how people can be cruel to such spiders. And how it would look like for humans to treat other humans as spiders. I'm glad for people like us that leave our bathroom spiders alone. I think I got a new one, just as I was thinking about the last spider that lived near my bathroom faucet. I foolishly mentioned it to my husband, who kills spiders despite them being my spirit animal. I adamantly said that the spider was my friend and to leave it alone.
Wow, Sam. I think you were talking to me because I wasn't planning to publish today and woke up feeling like I MUST. And this piece in particular. Thank you for seeing spiders as your spirit animal. This doesn't surprise me because of your love of trees and the entire web of life. And spiders are weavers, just like you. So glad to have found you in this space. May your faucet spider live long! <3
So many synchronicities! Seriously, thank you for publishing today. I needed it. Cheers to bathroom spiders! May they live long and prosperity lol 🖖🏻
🖖🏻!!!!!!!
Another beautiful piece Stephanie, thank you! I have a sweet story about my dad and a little spider who lived in our basement growing up 🥰❤️🕷
Love you sweet Jennifer and the way you encompass all creatures into your sphere of compassion. I can't WAIT to hear this story. Did the basement spider have a name??? 🥰❤️🕷
Yes! Spider Lockhart... who was a famous NY Giants player :) That's how Daddy made us feel like Spider Lockhart was a friendly spider and we shouldn't harm or remove him :)
This is too damn beautiful!!!!🥰❤️🕷
This is so beautiful Stephanie, thank you for honouring spiders and all other forms of life., all teaching us ways of being a healthy link in the chain of life , such a good teaching you brings us here about perseverance and preservation
Thank you Sally, and I love perseverance paired with preservation, they are meant for each other. Your comment, and own beautiful work, are gifts to me...grateful you are here. ❤️🕷
Loving the threads weaving between us and our writing 💚
Me too, Sally, me TOO!
Thos is beautiful, Stephanie. Thank you.
Means so much Ann, thank YOU! And I'm STILL thinking about the skunk family you wrote about.
I will be writing about a backyard bear, soon, Stephanie!
Oooooh!!!!!! My heart is leaping!
Was just thinking about your napping spidey buddy and was reading the other day that they believe spiders dream… it’s a fabulous thought, and makes me wonder what he might of been dreaming about while he was snoozing. I adore spiders - and all living creatures (except for maybe ticks - even though I respect their right to exist and I’d really like it if they didn’t target me every time I go bushwalking😉😊)
I'm chortling with delight reading this comment!! Don't you wonder what they dream? It is indeed a fabulous thought, and this will stay with me. Thank you for enhancing my wonderful experience with my napping spidey. Your love of all creatures is a balm for me in a world where this is not yet the norm. May the ticks spare you on your next bushwalk! <3
… and snails too! Octopus and cuttle fish and birds and of course dolphins (who sleep with one eye open - unihemispheric brains apparently🤷🏻♀️) is no end to the wonder in this world. A dreaming snail…gold✨
No end to the wonder indeed. May all of humanity open their eyes to this splendor of diversity!!!!
Mmmmm....how to keep intact? What it means to stay intact.. Wow. Perhaps, as you say, it is weaving and reweaving on a daily basis, offering up the best we have over and over, despite the dangers and constant breaking. I love this so much, the co-habitation, the respect for the spider's existence there in the house rather than shooing them out. They are such remarkable creatures. I began thinking of spiders differently after reading a children's book (not Charlotte's Web, but that one is good too) that had a character that was a spider. She reminded me to have respect. I, too, have a resident bathroom spider.
Celebrating your resident spider, Susan. And all the creatures inhabiting your lovely garden who are cherished by you, including the stink bug! I agree wholeheartedly with what you have said here, and so eloquently too as is your way: "...weaving and reweaving on a daily basis, offering up the best we have over and over, despite the dangers and constant breaking." I'm going to save this line, these words, to return to. So grateful to have you here, and to write and read alongside you as we strive to thrive. <3
What a beautiful piece to highlight the struggles of the modern world, Stephanie.
Spiders are such soulful creatures- I adore the symbolism wrapped around them, from their fastidiousness, to their patience and their lesson for us to wait for a timely moment to hatch our plans. A surprising strength hidden behind the delicacy of a boneless body or a silken thread. A mystical wisdom.
Thanks for your gorgeous prose, so artfully written, with that subtle strength of resilience woven throughout.
Grateful Simon, for the depths you see and the gift you have for putting wild words to these depths. You are so right that spiders are soulful with surprising strength and a mystical wisdom. What symbolism indeed. And thank you as well for seeing resilience both in this piece, and in the world. I'm still on the lookout for that beautiful hedgehog!
They “maintain and mind”
and mend their webs through real threats.
Won’t let these change them.
…
“Aware… authentic,”
spiders show us how it’s done.
May fear not change us.
…
To protect, preserve
our living/loving soil/soul.
E’en if not intact.
…
To “repair rupture,”
to help keep we-world’s wholeness.
And “rein in ruin.”
…
May we watch our steps,
our words… see what seeds we sow.
Mind, mend, maintain, mow?
…
Little spiderlings
hatch, soon start work on web weave.
“Inch by inch” by inch.
"May fear not change us" is the powerful ancient wisdom to keep us whole. Thank you Marisol, for reading and commenting and for your poetry and loving kindness. The spiderlings of the world thank you too!! <3
🕸️🕷️ 🕸️🕷️ 🕸️
🕷️ 🕸️🕷️ 🕸️🕷️ 🕸️🕷️
🕸️🕷️ 🕸️🕷️ 🕸️
I laughed OUT LOUD!!!! Perfection. The web is shimmering today Marisol!🕸️🕷️
Steph, this is lovely. How to stay intact. That’s a lifetime meditation and commitment right there.
Amen dear Sue, and friendships like ours help us on the long road. You have always had eyes for the small and sacred, and it is a salve to me. <3
There are whole worlds between us, each with its own quiet worth. This brought me back to the beauty of the smallest. Beautiful work, Stephanie. Thank you.
What a beautiful comment Katarina. Like a gentle breeze. "Quiet worth" captures the beauty that surpasses all words. Thank you for seeing the world as you do, I'm grateful.
I love your curiosity and where it takes you. Curiosity brings attention on line. The quality of attention is so important. Stepping softly. Open heart.
"Curiosity brings attention on line." Woah, what a powerful reminder and lens to bring on seeking and honoring the beauty that abides. Stepping softly with an open heart alongside you Mary. Thank you for being here! <3
Hi Stephanie
Resonate and timeless. I agree and I love the photography. Thank you so much. 💞
The gratitude is all mine, Prajna. Thank you always! 💞
Spider webs, spider woman, the weaver of all. I carry spiders outdoors.
Some house spiders can only live inside but I have difficulty telling the difference between the species Georgena! Loved your inclusion of spider woman, that didn't even cross my mind, well done and thank you. May all who weave carry on. 💛
One night in New Mexico I heard a buzzing and turned on the light thinking mosquito. It was a black widow spider on my wall. I got a plastic container with a lid and gently removed said lady to outdoors. I told her the deal is no harm to her, and no harm to me from her extended family. So far so good, and I do see black widows in my yard and garage. Peace on the homefront, none the less :-)
What a story!!!!!! Bless your beautiful soul.