Samhain 2021: My Wheely Bin Spider as a Samhain symbol...

I like Spider as a symbol of Samhain (31 October), not so much because of all the spooky Halloween stuff going on during these days. But she seems to express this time of the year so well: taking down the big web, stopping the big hunt, starting to hibernate very soon…
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1st of November is the New Year in the view of our (European) ancestors from long ago. And still for pagans.  Samhain marked the end of the harvest, the moving indoors to conserve the food, and clean and mend the tools. Time to release what we do not want to take into the winter months. Time to get ready for the long, dark winter nights, turning our eyes to the inside. We need to slow down before we speed up – so we start the New Year slowly.
This “New Year” is also the time to honour our ancestors– as the first thing we do on 1st of November (All Saints Day, Day of the Dead); until we have honoured the ancestors, including their teaching, their light, and their shadows - there is no new beginning.

So here is Grandmother Spider for you – soon she will pull in her huge, masterful web, find somewhere to hide, or hibernate, ducking away from the cold. She will still be weaving a bit – some ad-hoc webs somewhere in a corner, when she needs to hunt - but these are small, exploratory, just making sure the silk does not dry out… So this is not yet time for the big weaving, for the weaving of our new life. This will start at the time of Yule, Midwinter, when the Light comes back. During the 12 Days and Nights of Midwinter (the original meaning of the 12 Days of Christmas), we can fully release, connect, forgive, and start weaving our new Vision. But until then, we just explore formations with our silky threads. And give thanks.