In Your Dreams | May 2025
A DREAM COLUMN
Hello, dreamers. Welcome back to this month’s column where your burning questions all boil down to one thing: “Um, what the hell is going on in my head at night?!” Trigger warning for those with arachnophobia. This one gets a little leggy…
I’m walking through a dim, dusty library with bookshelves that tower so far over my head I can’t see where they end. I reach to grab a book off the shelf, when I see a large, iridescent spider slowly descend from somewhere far above. The spider lands on my shoulder, and I’m a little freaked out, but there’s something about it that seems friendly, so when it starts to spin a web around me it feels protective. The web starts simple and grows into a beautiful work of art with the intricate patterns that catch the light. The spider works quickly, filling the aisle and then the rest of the library. What does the dream mean?
As with many common phobias, a spider’s appearance in a dream can turn it into a nightmare. It’s only natural. Some spiders can actually hurt us, so we have a deep cultural understanding of these eight-legged creatures as dangerous. So we’re sure the team in charge of spider PR is relieved to hear of a positive experience, unconscious or otherwise. They must be patting each other on the back right now, proud of their best work since Charlotte’s Web. And thankfully this spider didn’t spin SOME PIG this time, or we’d be sitting you down for a hard talk about your self-esteem, friend.
Both can be interpreted as metaphors of knowledge, but with slightly different nuances.
A spider and a library are two interesting metaphors to have brushing up against each other here. Both can be interpreted as metaphors of knowledge, but with slightly different nuances. While books represent traditional learning, spiders are associated with more intuitive wisdom, which suggests a coming together of the literal and theoretical. If you’re seeking answers right now, try broadening your approach by seeking alternative sources. Tap into your gut instinct if you’re feeling too rigid and data-driven, or crack a book if you’re having trouble parsing your intuition. Information can come from many sources, and sometimes it’s the unexpected ones that lead to the breakthroughs. (Lest we sound too woo-woo, please do think critically and check your facts! There’s a lot of misinformation out there.)
In a more adversarial dream, a web might make you feel like you were about to be lunch, reflecting feelings of powerlessness and overwhelm in your waking life. But spiderwebs are also a robust symbol of creativity. The web from your dream is a thing of beauty, and you witnessed the act of creation from inception. If you’re a creative person—-and we’d argue that everyone is, it takes creativity to go about one’s life everyday—-there are lessons to be taken from the enviable ease of a spider’s work. Spiders build from within themselves, quickly and without preciousness. Webs are meant to be functional. The beauty is a byproduct of the work, not the end goal. And if it gets knocked down, time to rebuild, and that’s that. Are you looking to start a new project? Or express yourself in a new way? Keep a spider in mind and give in to the process. The doing is the most important part. Trust that there will naturally be beauty if you build with authenticity.
A web is also a literal connector, which feels quite poetic as it touches all the books throughout the seemingly infinite stacks. It’s making us think, wouldn’t it be great if there was something like that, something that connected all the knowledge in the world. Maybe we could call it the World… Wide… Web? It seems a little blunt that your dream is telling you to “Google it” but hey, sometimes that’s the tough love we need.
If you’ve ever woken up from a dream like, what the hell was that?, and would like to be featured in the next In Your Dreams, contact us at dreams@lunya.co with a detailed descr
