Let's get this out of the way: As much as I'm upset to be writing this piece, I'm sure you're even more upset to be reading it at 2:47 a.m. in the dark with your phone light brighter than the gates of hell.
Okay, maybe I'm projecting a bit based on personal experience. You could very well be reading this in the middle of the day because you're just generally curious about both 1) your dreams and 2) spiders. But I'm willing to bet money you woke up in a cold sweat after dreaming of an eight-legged creature crawling across your face while you slept.
Anyways, we all know how terrifying it is to see a spider with multiple eyes and pincers IRL when you're just trying to take a shower. Unfortunately, on top of the actual encounters, they're also known for popping up in many nightmares dreams.
But there is good news! Well, kind of. Just because you're dreaming about arachnids doesn't mean you have a Black Widow's nest in the corner of your room. Those spider dreams could also be telling you that there's something big and important to deal with in your life.
Ready to find out what exactly these creepy (crawly) dreams mean? We consulted a couple of experts to find out why you might be dreaming of spiders.
So your dreams don't always just mean one thing...
"There are no common meanings," Jane Teresa Anderson, a dream analyst and therapist, tells Cosmo. "Every symbol is unique and personal to every dreamer. Begin by asking yourself what you feel about spiders," she suggests. If spiders scare you, then dreaming about them likely means something is scaring you. On the other hand, if your mind conjures up happier thoughts—Charlotte's Web, anyone?—the dream could be entirely positive. With me so far?
Because spiders possess certain connotations in our culture, there are a few accepted themes to consider when you dream about them. "Bugs in dreams tend to symbolise something that has been 'bugging' you in real life," explains Lauri Loewenberg, a dream expert. "Spiders, in particular, often point to deceit, a web of lies, or a sense of feeling trapped, since the web is created to trap the spider's prey," she notes. Okay, a bit scary but helpful to know, nonetheless.
But it's still super important to remember the context of your dreams...
Heads up, killing a spider signifies a different emotion than if you're being bitten by one in your dream. "Every detail in a dream has meaning and relevance," says Loewenberg. "Spiders all over your body can indicate there is something about your body that is bothering you."
Anderson points out that the size of the spider is meaningful, too. "If the spider is oversized, it's the dream's way of emphasising the symbol, of emphasising that this spider-like energy is really big in your life at the moment, whether you already know this or whether you've been trying to deny it," she says.
Understandably, dreams about spiderwebs are often associated with feeling trapped. "A spider web would represent something you need to free yourself of before it gets to the point where it will fully consume you—just as a spider traps its prey and eventually consumes it," warns Loewenberg.
Bedtime essentials for an uninterrupted sleep
Especially if you dream about killing spiders...
According to Anderson, "anything you're killing in a dream reflects something you're 'killing' or putting an end to in waking life—or wishing to put an end to." Loewenberg echoes a similar analysis, saying, "It is connected to successfully putting an end to something in real life. So killing a spider can mean you have successfully exterminated a situation that had been bugging you, or you put an end to a web of lies."
But, again, if you have positive feelings about spiders, then dreaming of killing one is not a great sign. It's important to reflect on what spiders, or any character in your dreams, mean to you before you embark on an all-out analysis.
And if spiders keep haunting your dreams, you probably have some stuff to work out...
"Dreams reflect your conscious and unconscious experiences of the last one-to-two days," says Anderson. "Recurring dreams, because they are generally unresolved or worrying, reflect unresolved or worrying recurring waking life issues." She recommends taking some time to think about what usually happens in your waking hours before you have spider-infested dreams in order to try to identify a pattern. "If these dreams are creeping you out, it's because your subconscious is trying to get your attention," agrees Loewenberg. "It is shining a light on a pesky issue you need to squash."
In other words, your sleeping self and your dreaming self have more in common than you might think – and if you want the spider dreams to stop, you need to identify what could be influencing you to have such a dream.
Sarah is the associate lifestyle editor at Cosmopolitan where she covers food, home, health, career...basically all the things you love to love — follow her on Instagram.
