So a few months/years ago I was exploring one of my favourite resources for cyber/techno-feminist resources, The OBN, and I came across the strangest and yet so up-my-street article by Helene von Oldenburg titled ‘Spider Feminism’, in which von Oldenburg describes a “new field of scientific future research”… (debatable but i’ll bite). 

von Oldenburg begins by emphasising how much symbolism we find in human life relating to the spider web and how, subsequently, a web formation (or network of interconnected objects/thoughts/discourses/etc) has come to structure our whole existence and our thought processes. This web like structuring should therefore have an influence on the way in which we study or find out about the future, but actually thus far we have focused solely on linear developmental progress that bypasses many of the threads in our ontological network. Now without veering too much into the whole teleological argument/determinism thing, because life is structured like a web we should be able to access the future in the present, but while von Oldenburg dismisses the use of mantic methods (Tarot, Astrology, etc.) because only a few people have the ability to accurately read these and because their scientific reliability is questionable (…), she argues that our access to the future comes to us via our subconscious due to the low ‘endopsychic censorship’ (this is a Freudian thing). 

So (and here it’s a bit lost on me) von Oldenburg then explains that, in line with string theory whereby the smallest part of every atom is not a particle but a string: “[the] newest calculations of J.Richard Gott, Princetown University, prove that two strings when speeding at close range along each other produce loops. The submicroscopic area is swarming with tiny tiny loops. These loops are so fast that they reach into the past. They reach backwards 10 -42 sec… It is a proven fact that these strings do travel through different times. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity postulates similar rules for the submicroscopic and the macromicroscopic universe”. So this can be used to explain how the future can interact with the present. (??)

‘String Theory’ by Charles Anoldi - found on: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/charles-arnoldi-string-theory-i

BUT who/what is communicating with us you may ask? Well, apparently arachnoids are the dominating species now and in the future, primarily due to their ability to withstand threats that humans will not (e.g. nuclear disaster, environmental collapse) and their projected evolutionary trajectory. So von Oldenberg basically is suggesting that spiders, as the primary life form in the future, are contacting us humans in the present via time loops and psychic projection, which explains why our existence and thought processes are structured like webs…. As an example (?!) she cites the crucifix in the Bible wherein the cross symbolises a knot or two threads woven together, and that the crucifixtion of Jesus represents humans trapped in the spiders web AKA humans as subordinated by spiders. We love to hear it. The internet acts in a similar way, as we conceive it to be a web/net and its proliferation in society is a constant yet subtle reminder of the ontological web structure and it’s association with tech development and the future harks to the role of spider’s in the future. Not to mention that in the same way that spiders wrap their food in webs prior to eating it, humans wrap all their food in plastic - although I can think of a few other reasons for this but… Anyway, maybe this also suggests the prominence of spiders as creators or powerful women in the Native American cultures I spoke about in my last posts. 

And yet, in spite of all this symbolism, the future arachnoids hide their identity in order to protect present spiders (from humans who want to stay in power) and so they instill us with a fear of all spiders (arachnophobia). These are all examples of a process of identification, or “arachnotic induced behavior”. 

How is this a feminist issue? Well aside from the whole section of the text about hairy legs as a feminist problem due to their similarities with spiders’ hairy legs (which I am not going to go on about), von Oldenburg outlines how female spiders are larger than males, live longer, are primarily responsible for weaving webs and catching prey (including male spiders), and have full control over reproduction as they self-inseminate with a males sperm which can be stored in the female spider for however long. Resultantly, the ‘female’ will be the dominating sex in the future. Also, due to the chromosome make up of arachnoids whereby there are no Y chromosomes and only variations of X chromosomes, there is an ability for a range of different sexes beyond binary male and female that can and will be present in the future - QUEER ARACHNOIDS. 

As I’ve written about in previous posts, net-like technologies and techniques such as weaving and spinning are considered ‘feminine’ and are seen as second rate to male technologies (whatever they are). I’ve highlighted why this is fallacious given that weaving patterns were the first computer code/the fishing net is a result of fibre work, and von Oldenburg further suggests that these arachno-feminist inputs are evidence to how the future will be exclusively feminist. She emphasises the importance of the internet for cyberfeminism, as a space for women to come together to network, connect previously disparate ideas, and disseminate information via the web - which ultimately is due to the input of spiders disseminating web-like symbolism to us via our dreams. However, von Oldenburg argues that at present there is still a stagnation in feminist progress because we are yet to recognise our arachnoid aspects…

Now taking this all into account, the spider and Haraway’s cyborg have a lot in common - especially in regards to the queering of technology and the future, and as harbingers the collapse of the dichotomy between humans and animals. The prevalence of arachnophobia and technophobia both signal an anxiety over a loss of normality, the natural, and the linear, all in favour of the alien and the complicated. And like the cyborg, the spider is referenced in a number of sci-fi, dystopian pop culture resources - notably the Fuchikoma (or Tachikoma) from Ghost in The Shell, which are spider-like, multi-legged AI combat vehicles!

Thinking about mantic methods of knowing the future, some time ago I cam across the practice of Arachnomancy, which is divination according to the behaviour of spiders or webs. One website I found describes it as “an invitation to attune to our sympoietic futures, celebrating the radical interconnectedness of all things, living and nonliving” through a reading of spiders webs. As spider’s webs are often understood as oracles, or the means by which a spider (as say, the Spider Grandmother or wise woman) speaks, the web can be seen as a means of communication. According to Mary Proctor’s Legends of the Stars (1922) this form of divination has been documented in China, where on the seventh day of the seventh month spiders were captured in incense-boxes, and when the box was checked the next morning if the spiders had spun a thick web during the night the oracle was positive, but if the web was feeble, the omen was bad. Proctor also details how in West Africa, the Fang, the Bamileke, the Kaka Tikar, the Banen and the Mambila peoples practice Arachnomancy by taking account of the way spiders move special cards inscribed with symbols that represent ‘good’ and ‘bad’ events - a bit like a Ouija board I guess (although, FYI Ouija is a religious-capitalist tool invented to scare people into praying and sell shit - so also not really like a Ouija board). There are also loads of old wives tales I heard as a kid about spiders, like seeing a spider in the evening means a financial loss. Reconnecting to the techno, there is an app which reads an image of a spiders web and lays out certain Arachnomancy cards (much like Tarot cards) to communicate the web’s message. On the App you can also upload your web and view others from around the world - it’s actually pretty cool! 

Arachnomancy cards by Tomas Saraceno - found at: https://studiotomassaraceno.org/arachnomancy-cards/

I literally had to check under my desk 10+ times while writing this to make sure there wasn’t any spiders hiding there.. I’m still scared of them and now the idea that they will one day take over, or even that they are infiltrating my subconscious is pretty freaky, and I hope that maybe by weaving and actively participating in fibre crafts I am aiding them and the feminist agenda. Fingers crossed that means they won’t eat me… ?!! Although I haven’t actually managed to do much weaving lately - I took a small hiatus whilst in Sweden for the last 2 weeks. 

Cya.