What's In A Name?
Arachne was a weaver who found herself in competition with Athena. Both Athena and Arachne wove tapestries, but Arachne’s tapestry depicted the Gods lifestyles, mocking them, particularly Zeus and his many affairs, which angered Athena. There are a few versions as to how this story ends. One depicts Athena turning Arachne into a spider out of rage. Another depicts Athena shaming Arachne to which she hung herself. Athena, feeling pity for her, brought her back to life in the form of a spider, to be a weaver for all eternity.
Hello Arachnids,
Today I want to share with you the origins of my business name. I wouldn’t say its an exciting tale, but interesting none-the-less.
I enjoy Greek mythology, the occult and above all, spiders! When I was creating my business name, everything just kind of rolled together. Knowing the story of Arachne was an easy way of incorporating my enjoyment of mythology and my love of spiders.
I knew I wanted some kind of business of my own -I’m a partner in another business, but that’s a story for another time- but originally, I planned on having an occult shop which is still an open idea for future endeavors. When I created the name, it was centered around the idea of heavy focus into witchcraft and the occult. The shop was visioned to be a home for my main interests and I just felt very compelled to use the name Arachne. I created a whole store outline, but there were factors that prevented this from being a reality at this stage of my life. I was already dabbling in different art mediums, but being busy with my day job, it wasn’t a main focus in my life and more of a hobby. However, with the inevitable `free time’, much like many other artists, I was able to focus on art.
From there, I found myself with a bunch of art I was happy with and a desire to sell them, but I didn’t want to just sell them under my own name. I created my Facebook page first as a tester and because this new endeavour needed a name, I decided to use Home of Arachne for my art. One of the first products in my tester sale was a sleep spell kit, so I felt it was just, to use the name as I was still able to include my craft in my business. I found myself enjoying mundane and magical art equally and the name just felt right. It was one of those, when you know you know, moments. Everything really came together after the design of my logo and website.
Admittedly, there have been a few minor hang ups with my name and my brand. I didn’t take into consideration that fact that some people just really hate spiders. I personally find them beautiful and fascinating, but I did have a customer completely avoid my table at a market once because “spider” which is both very understandable and kind of funny. I’m not for everybody and that is a-okay. On top of that, I constantly need to remind myself that some people don’t always know mythology. Arachne is not a widely popular figure in media either, unlike Athena or Zeus. Despite these little bumps, I still love my business name, and I couldn’t imagine anything different for me and my brand!
In the future I hope to bring more magical items to my shop and eventually gear my main focus to occult inspired art, but for now I’m happy dabbling in both while I master my Crafts.
Arachne Story and Image:
Encyclopedia of Spirits – Judika Illes pg. 198-199
http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Arachne/arachne.html
https://thestoriedimaginarium.com/2018/11/26/the-myth-of-arachne/