Crawling Spider

[Missythegayelf]

Usually when I'm nearly asleep, I'll open my eyes to see a spider on my pillow or very near me crawling, in very vivid detail. After a couple of seconds it will fade, but it's surprising how very realistically it moves and appears. I wonder if this may be a bit of astral vision, and astral bugs or if it's simply all imagination. I'm terrified of spiders but I've gotten so used to it, it doesn't phase me anymore. They never seem ill-intented. I find them a little comforting now. Any thoughts?

[dingo]

Hypnagogic hallucinations I think.. Unless you're prone to night terrors, but the fact that they don't scare you makes me doubt that.

[Selski]

I believe they're really common, although I've never experienced them.  Do a search for "spiders" - I bet you get loads of posts!

Sarah

[AndrewTheSinger]

Yes, I've also seen multicolored phosphorescent spiders when waking up. It's really all that. They are totally harmless. One of the best times I've ever had was when I saw little people dancing on my bed cover, I laughed so much that I cried. I later learned those were called lilliputian hallucination.

[Missythegayelf]

Oh dear, if I saw little people dancing on my bedcovers I think I'd cry. I much prefer my spiders, thank you.

[AndrewTheSinger]

LoL, here's a very cool article about it:
http://www.northerneye.co.uk/sweep.htm

excerpt:

"They're also afraid of being misunderstood and they're confused by knowing the hallucinations are not real, yet feeling that they are. One woman kept seeing very large spiders crawling across her living room floor. Although she knew the spiders were not really there, she could not be certain about it and felt unable to invite her friends to the house".

[Missythegayelf]

Haha, well at least I know they aren't real...in the sense they aren't on this plane. And I won't hesitate to bring friends over for fear they too will see the friendly little spider on my pillow.
You know, I'd really hoped it was some sort of free-thinking being. I'd be fascinated to know there are spiders on a higher plane of existence. Or at least perhaps more intricate entities that simply look like, or took the shape of one. Strange though it may seem, I wondered if maybe it was some type of guardian. But it seems much more likely to be hypnagogic. Thanks for the help, everybody.

[MisterJingo]

I haven't got any references on this to hand, but i'm sure certain hallucinations are caused by the rod/cone structure of the eye. One of these is seeing 'web' structures, which look like spiders web, which could envoke visions of spiders.
I remember as a child when I had a fever I was seeing these web structures and kept calling to my parents as I thought there were spiders all over me.