Grasshopper Symbolism & Spiritual Meanings Of Seeing Grasshoppers
Take a leap of faith, just as the grasshopper does when it jumps into the air.
Eric Isselee / Shutterstock & Unsplash Though many people are afraid of insects, including grasshoppers, these creatures have been around for 250 million years! The grasshopper is known to create songs and moves to its own rhythm, sounding like two pieces of sandpaper being rubbed together.
In the same insect family as crickets and locusts, grasshoppers are sometimes considered pests, and cause real damage to crops. But beyond their history in Biblical times and even more recently, the grasshopper spiritual meaning goes far beyond their notoriety.
Grasshopper Symbolism & Spiritual Meanings Of Grasshoppers
The grasshopper is a symbol of good luck and fortune, focus, abundance, intuition, taking a leap of faith, intuition, achievement, freedom, wealth, and patience.
Grasshoppers represent a connection to the higher self, the spiritual world, and listening to our inner voice. And when we listen to ourselves, we are able to make good decisions, jumping forward and never backward.
Grasshopper Encounters and Omens
Encountering a grasshopper out in the wild is considered a sign of good luck, as well as a message from the spirit world. It's also a sign to take a leap of faith to accomplish amazing feats, just as the grasshopper does when it jumps into the air.
A good omen, seeing a grasshopper encourages you to change your circumstances when stuck in a rut; instead of staying stuck in one place, aim high and take the opportunity that you surely won't want to miss, whether it's in your relationships or career.
What Different Color Grasshoppers Symbolize
Grasshoppers tend to be bright green, green and brown, or brown, but sometimes, grasshoppers may appear in your dreams, or you may see symbols of them, in different colors. And each color has its own specific meaning.
Green Grasshopper Meaning
Green grasshoppers are the most popular color you'll find these insects in. To encounter one in a dream or in nature represents good health, new beginnings, and restoration.
Black Grasshopper Meaning
Black is the color of power and poise, but a black grasshopper symbolizes searching for your true life's purpose. Seeing a black grasshopper means you must never give up in your desire to find that truth.
Brown Grasshopper Meaning
Just like the color brown is associated with nature and the earth, a brown grasshopper represents a connection or affection for Mother Earth. Brown grasshoppers are also symbols of letting go of a desire for material wealth and instead fostering healthy intimate relationships.
White Grasshopper Meaning
A white grasshopper is associated with self-admiration, but it also is a sign to take control of your life to find happiness, be proud of all that you have accomplished, and have a good relationship with your acquaintances.
Red Grasshopper Meaning
Having a red grasshopper dream means you're holding back letting out your emotions. Instead of suppressing them, express your deepest feelings without worrying about how others will react.
Yellow Grasshopper Meaning
Yellow, as a color, represents hope and positivity, but a yellow grasshopper is a symbol of wealth, moving forward, and of attaining personal growth in the near future.
Grasshopper Symbolism in Dreams
Dreaming of eating a grasshopper
To dream of eating a grasshopper isn't necessarily good news. It's a sign that there will be some kind of issue in your career, but despite the challenges you may face, your loved ones will ultimately help you cope.
Dreaming of a dying grasshopper
Dreaming of a dying grasshopper symbolizes a severely ill loved one. But it also serves as a reminder to take the utmost care of your own health, as well as the ones you hold dear.
Dreaming of a giant grasshopper
When you dream of a giant grasshopper, it means you will only jump forward in achieving your goals if you never give up. But a giant grasshopper also represents the need to take breaks every once in a while and relax a little bit.
Dreaming of a grasshopper biting you
When a grasshopper bites you in your dream, it's a sign that you will unexpectedly be in possession of money in the very near future. It also means that your savings may be spent.
Dreaming of killing a grasshopper
Killing a grasshopper in a dream is also related to money. This dream means that you will soon have a large amount of money, and if you decide to spend it, it should be for your closest friends and family.
Dreaming of a dead grasshopper
When you dream of a dead grasshopper, it means your parents or your partner's parents will offer you financial support very soon.
Dreaming of grasshoppers surrounding you
To dream of a large amount of grasshoppers all around you actually represents the issues plaguing you in the waking world. Be sure to take a step back in real life, and find the best course of action to tackle your problems.
Grasshopper Spirit or Totem Animal
A spirit animal is a spiritual guide meant to teach us lessons and steer us down the right path; a totem animal is also a spirit guide, but is invoked when we need help or guidance.
Even though you can't choose your spirit animal, you'll know if you have a grasshopper spirit animal if you resonate with this insect in some way or have had a profound experience with one.
People with a grasshopper as a spirit animal are in tune with their instincts, easily adapt to their surroundings, and are prepared to take a leap of faith.
Those with a grasshopper spirit animal are generous and active, and constantly look for ways to move forward in life. The grasshopper spirit animal is associated with good luck, prosperity, and achieving what you want most.
This animal totem appears in your life when you need to trust your intuition, listen to your inner voice, and do what it takes to become the best version of yourself. However, this animal totem comes with a warning to not cause harm to others in the quest for success.
Those with a grasshopper totem have strong intuition and are incredibly sensitive individuals. These people also tend to be musically inclined, and don't get alone well with others who are submissive.
Image: Eric Isselee / Shutterstock & Unsplash
Spiritual Meaning of Grasshoppers in Christianity and the Bible
Many references to grasshoppers in the Bible are associated with destruction and death.
Judges 6:5 says, "For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it."
1 Kings 8:37 says, “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is..."
Both passages, and grasshoppers as a whole, represent the fear of a higher power or a force much mightier than a person. Grasshoppers symbolize humans, in a sense; even in large numbers, humans are insignificant compared to God.
Grasshopper Symbolism in Mythology and Folklore
Native American Grasshopper Symbolism
While some Native American tribes saw the grasshopper as a symbol of bad fortune due to their destruction of crops, other tribes, those who were hunter-gatherers, didn't hold such a negative view of grasshoppers, as these creatures didn't affect their way of life.
Some tribes even believed grasshoppers could predict the weather and could change precipitations; other tribes in Mexico ate this insect as a delicacy.
In the Hopi tribe, there is a legend that any children who disobey their elders or take part in anything that is taboo, will have their nose bitten by grasshoppers.
Wabanaki tribes tell a legend of Gluskabe, who stole tobacco from a grasshopper. As the legend goes, Gluskabe travels to an island where a magician Grasshopper resides, and where he can find tobacco.
When Gluskabe arrives on the island with the magician nowhere in sight, he takes a pipe and all the tobacco leaves drying, calling on the corpses of all those before him that were killed by Grasshopper when trying to steal the tobacco.
As Gluskabe screams to the corpses, the bones of the deceased come back to life and he shares the tobacco with them, reminding them to then share it with others. Grasshopper follows Gluskabe, but he is shrunken and has his mouth stuffed with tobacco.
European Grasshopper Symbolism
In Scottish folklore, there is a legend about a household spirit called Maggy Moulach, who does house chores at night. Legend says she would shapeshift into a grasshopper and steal children by traveling through chimneys.
The grasshopper is also associated with Sir Thomas Gresham, who created the Royal Exchange and is where a gilded grasshopper weathervane was present in the 1500s. Roger de Gresham, founder of the family, was said to have been abandoned as a baby in the 13th century, where he was discovered by a woman who was led to the area by a grasshopper.
African Grasshopper Symbolism
The African folktale, "The Grasshopper and the Toad," tells of a friendship between the two creatures. However, despite being great friends, they never ate at one another's houses.
The grasshopper went to the toad's house and washed his legs before dinner, but when the grasshopper did so, it made a noise. The toad complained about the noise it made, and it was impossible for the grasshopper to eat without rubbing his legs together.
The grasshopper then invited the toad to his house the next day. The grasshopper washed his forelegs and toad washed his, but by hopping to the table had made his legs dirty again. The grasshopper complained this time, and the toad found it impossible to eat without hopping first.
With both the grasshopper and toad angry about their respective dinners, they were no longer friends. This folktale has an important moral: true friends accept one another's flaws.
Far Eastern Grasshopper Symbolism
In Japan, grasshoppers are believed to produce music that is influenced by the moon, which is why grasshoppers are symbols of wealth, good luck and abundance. Grasshoppers are also kept as pets, believed to bring good luck into the home and provide music.
In Chinese culture, grasshoppers represent good luck, fertility, good health, happiness, and are believed to be reincarnations of dead loved ones. Grasshoppers arriving in China were said to bring about harvest season.
In Korean culture, there is a festival held where grasshoppers are consumed. The festival is a reminder of the hard times of the past.
Ancient Greece Grasshopper Symbolism
Not only did the Ancient Greeks cover themselves in golden grasshoppers to bring about good luck and show off their nobility, but there was one myth in particular about Tithonus.
Tithonus, a human, fell in love with Eos, a goddess. Eos begged Zeus to make Tithonus immortal. Though jealous, Zeus granted her wish, but Eos forgot to ask that Tithonus be granted eternal youth. Tithonus aged until he was too weak and his mind was gone, so Eos turned him into a grasshopper.
Another tale is the Aesop's fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper." As the story goes, a lazy grasshopper slept, ate and sang all summer while the ant collected food. When winter came, the grasshopper begged the ant for food, but the ant told the grasshopper to dance the winter away. The lesson of this fable is that hard work is important, as is planning for the future.
Ancient Egypt Grasshopper Symbolism
While grasshoppers are not locusts, and their behavior and appearance are quite different, in Ancient Egypt, locusts were part of the 10 plagues Moses put upon Egypt to convince the Pharaoh to free the Israelites.
The locusts destroyed Egypt's fields on the eighth day of the plagues, ruining all the food as well.
Grasshopper Tattoo Meaning
The grasshopper is a symbol of good luck, wealth and intuition, so it's likely someone who wants to manifest all those things would get a grasshopper tattoo.
Other reasons one might get a grasshopper tattoo is to remind themselves of their courage and creativity, to take chances and opportunities that present themselves, and to always take a leap of faith.
Samantha Maffucci is an editor for YourTango who has written hundreds of articles about relationships, trending news and entertainment, and astrology. Follow her on Twitter for more.