Many of us, especially those who've lived in the countryside in our childhood have a memory of running behind short-horned, tiny creatures that jumped from one place to another. That creature is nothing but a ‘grasshopper’.
It is fascinating to see an insect not crawling or flying, just jumping from one place to another. But grasshoppers are not just popular because of their jumping. They are considered to be spiritual animals across various traditions and cultures throughout the world. Grasshopper symbolism is extremely popular across the world.
Grasshopper Symbolism
Grasshoppers have been around since millions of years ago. They were present on this earth before the dinosaurs existed. They carry wisdom along with them and are said to represent many things such as abundance, achievement, courage, fearlessness, longevity, peacefulness, wealth, and virtue. Grasshopper symbolism means different things in different contexts but often is a sign of good luck.
What does it mean if you encounter a grasshopper?
Grasshopper symbolism can mean many things. Here are some meanings associated with grasshoppers:
Fertility
In Chinese culture, people keep grasshoppers as pets, especially if someone in the house is pregnant. The main reason behind this is that grasshoppers are seen as a symbol of fertility, good luck, and good health.
They believe that if the grasshoppers are kept within the surrounding of pregnant women, the child to be born will have good health. Also, keeping a grasshopper in the house will help make the journey of the baby’s arrival smooth and devoid of any obstacles.
Pet grasshoppers are fed regularly and care is taken to ensure that they don't fly away into the wild since this may bring bad luck.
Transformation
You’ll often encounter a grasshopper if you are about to undergo a transformation of any kind. May it be a personal, professional, or spiritual transformation. A change is going to occur in your life which will turn everything upside down.
This change is neither positive nor negative. It’s completely up to you how you perceive it. The stand you take once the change occurs will determine whether it’ll turn in your favor or not.
The change can be anything. A chance for new beginnings, to join a new organization, to do a thing that you wanted for ages, to get into new stages of a relationship, or maybe someone new coming into your life.
The outcome of these chances will depend on your approach to them. Move with positive intent, and have a healthy mindset and you’ll see wonders in your life.
When it comes knocking on our doors, we should embrace change. Here is what you can do about the discomforts that change brings with it and make the most of the opportunities instead.
One of the possible meanings of sighting a grasshopper is that you’re about to get an opportunity. It can be a sign of good luck. You need to accept that opportunity with an open mind. This opportunity will help you in completing your goals and bring you good luck.
Grasshopper represents good fortune and spotting them may mean getting good news and the arrival of good luck. So, grab any opportunity that you see and move forward.
Going with intuitions and instincts
There are some points in our lives when our inner voice tells us to do something which doesn’t make sense. And there is often this pull within you that wants you to go in another direction. It is in times like these that you should consider seeing a grasshopper a sign.
It is a sign that you need to pursue what your gut is saying. We are bombarded with so many stimuli each day, that we forget how to listen to the subtle messages from your gut. While heeding these signs and listening to the gut can be scary, it can be quite rewarding in the long term. So, take a leap of faith and listen to your inner voice, heed the sign the universe is sending your way.
Another popular grasshopper symbolism is taking a leap of faith. And there is a good reason fo that. A grasshopper can jump as much as 20 times its own height. If a human tries to do the same, he will jump to the height of an entire football field. This quality of the grasshopper translates into having faith and believing in yourself.
Seeing a grasshopper may be a recall that it is time to back yourself up. Gather the courage and finally do the thing that you are planning to do for a long time now.
Learn more here:
It's time to play big
We often forget to follow our dreams because of societal pressures. We become grounded in reality and we forget to chase those dreams and aspirations we'd set for ourselves. We start playing small in our lives.
And this happens rather slowly, we often carry out our lives in the daze of our to-do lists and errands. Seeing a grasshopper can be an awakening of sorts from this daze. It serves as a reminder that we need to pause and take another look at our lives.
When we repress our feelings and dreams, we tend to become unhappy with life. We wonder where the happiness and good luck are, we struggle to get out of bed each morning and lack the motivation and drive to live our lives.
So if you see a grasshopper then it's time to take a break and reevaluate your life. The grasshopper symbolizes the need to break the pattern of life and ree think about the life decisions you made years ago.
Meanings of seeing different colored grasshoppers
Grasshoppers often come in different shades of greens and browns. But the color of grasshoppers may vary from white to black if they come in your dream. Interestingly, we can derive different meanings if we sight grasshoppers having different colors. Here are some grasshopper spiritual meanings that we can derive from the sightings of different colored grasshoppers in reality or in dreams.
Green grasshopper spiritual meaning
A green grasshopper is a symbol of a healthy life, entering into a new phase of life, and restoration.
Black grasshopper spiritual meaning
A black grasshopper is leading you to the path of your life's true purpose. It is beckoning you to continue fighting for your dreams and to not give up o them.
Brown grasshopper spiritual meaning
A brown grasshopper can symbolize many things. Connection with mother earth, and giving up on material wealth. A brown grasshopper can also mean that it's time to start building intimate and meaningful relationships, and find your roots and what you truly desire.
White grasshopper spiritual meaning
A white grasshopper is a sign to practice self-love and self-care. It can ensure the beginning of the journey towards your inner self and happiness.
Red grasshopper spiritual meaning
A red grasshopper is forging a new you. It's a sign to let go of all the old emotions that are holding you back and welcome the new desires that are germinating in your heart recently to grow.
Read our article on Monarch Butterfly – Spiritual Meaning & Symbolism -
A totem animal acts as a spiritual guide and leads us toward the right path in our spiritual journey. If your totem animal is a grasshopper, you are likely to bring good luck and be highly instinctive. It is likely easy for you to find a spiritual connection with the universe.
A grasshopper totem animal or spirit animal likely means that you are able to adapt easily to any surroundings. You are likely spontaneous and chase your dreams without a second thought. You are generous, helping in nature, and always ready to move forward in life.
But how do you know if the grasshopper is your spirit animal? You'll feel a connection with your spirit animal and resonate with it in some or the other manner. It may bring good luck to you when you spot it, or it may instinctively draw you towards it. The bond to your spirit animal can sometimes become very strong. Many have a grasshopper tattoo to always keep their spirit animal in their sight.
However, you don't have to get a grasshopper tattoo to know that they connect with you on a deeper level. People with grasshopper spirit animals can just feel the connection. A grasshopper appears in often in their lives, seemingly unexpectedly, especially as a symbol of new beginnings.
Unlike monarch butterflies, grasshoppers are not always believed to be a good omen. The meaning that it comes along is different according to different cultures. For some grasshoppers represent good luck, health, prosperity, and fertility.
While for some, seeing a grasshopper is a warning about something terrible that is going to happen in life. Let us see what grasshoppers symbolize in different cultures.
Spiritual meaning of grasshopper according to Far Eastern culture
The eastern culture worships the grasshopper and associates it with many positive tidings and emotions. According to Chinese culture, a grasshopper is a symbol of good luck, health, happiness, nobility, and longevity. The grasshopper symbolism is still alive and well here.
The arrival of grasshoppers is an omen to start the harvesting season. Also, it is believed in Chinese culture that the grasshoppers are a rebirth of the dead loved ones which may serve as a guiding light.
According to Japanese culture, grasshoppers are associated with good luck, wealth, prosperity, and abundance. It is very common in Japan to keep grasshoppers as a pet. They believe that grasshopper symbolism points towards signs of good luck for the house and the people living in it.
They also believe that the chirping sound produced by the grasshoppers is regarded as music that is influenced by the moon, which brings positivity. Due to these spiritual reasons, grasshoppers are not eaten in Japan.
However, grasshoppers are consumed in some other parts of the world like Mexico, China, and Korea as a delicacy.
Spiritual meaning of grasshopper according to Ancient Greek mythology
According to ancient Greek mythology, grasshoppers are a symbol of dignity and prosperity. Back then, the people of Athens used to wear grasshopper-shaped golden jewelry to show their social status.
We can also see the glimpse of grasshoppers in numerous stories in Greek mythology, one of which is famous and significant, 'The love story of Eos and Tithonus’ . Tithonus is a human who fell in love with the goddess Eos.
As humans cannot live forever like a god, Eos begged the god of the sky, Zeus, to make him immortal. But while making the wish, she forgot to ask for eternal youth as a result of which Tithonus began to age and fall weak. To avoid his misery, Eos turned him into a grasshopper. This grasshopper symbolism is well-known and is still a big part of Greek mythology.
Spiritual meaning of grasshopper according to Christianity
In Christianity, grasshoppers are associated with destruction or death. They are a far cry from good luck like the eastern cultures. They are mentioned in a biblical verse as well.
Quote Judges 6:5 - "For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as grasshoppers; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it."
The above verse mentioned in the bible tells the story of the invasion of Israel by Midianites that is associated with grasshoppers. The Midianites used to invade Israel as soon as the crops were ready to harvest. They used to take away all the crops and leave the Israeli people hungry to die.
In the bible, grasshoppers are used as a symbolism for these Midianites invaders who used to cause chaos and destruction.
Spiritual meanings of grasshopper according to Native American Culture
According to the Native American Culture, the perception of the grasshoppers varies based on the occupation that the tribes were into. The tribes whose main occupation was agriculture associated the grasshoppers with negativity and a symbol of bad fortune, just like the Christians. The reason behind this was the damage that grasshoppers caused to their crops.
Grasshoppers caused plague at different times in different decades in the areas of native America and wiped-out entire farms, causing millions of dollars worth of damage and leaving Native American people without food. This is where the misfortunes of grasshoppers took hold. They were often a sign of bad luck and the oncoming problems in farming.
Grasshoppers also featured in many children's lives over the years that were passed down from generation to generation.
A tribe named the ‘Hopi tribe’ often recited a story to keep their children disciplined. If they don’t obey their elders or if they participated in an activity that was believed to be taboo, a grasshopper will come and bite their nose.
Another famous story that is passed on over the ages is the ‘Legend of Gluskabe’. In the story, a magician grasshopper holds possession of all the tobacco (which was divine in that area back then) and is unwilling to share it because of his selfishness.
Gluskabe, our hero went and stole all his tobacco and gifted it to the native people. When the magician grasshopper came to fight, he crushed him between his palms and made him shrink. The takeaway from this story as well is that the grasshopper is a villain, not a hero.
However, people who had different occupations from agriculture hold a neutral point of view against the grasshoppers in Native American Culture.
Spiritual meaning of grasshopper according to Egyptian culture
The ancient history of Egypt mentions the ten plagues sent by God to punish the pharaohs for not letting the Israelis free. One of those ten is ‘the plague of locusts’. Locusts are short-horned grasshoppers that are often found in that region.
According to the story, grasshoppers covered the entire land of Egypt and ate all the crops and fruits that came their way. All the crops and trees were wiped out and nothing was left behind. As a result, grasshoppers are not a symbol of luck in Egypt.
What does it all mean?
We at Lifeism often take the Alderian view of life. That life in itself has no meaning. We assign meaning to life based on our interpretations of it. This is of course, just a gist of the Alderian philosophy and these words have deep meaning if we truly take the time to understand them. Our life perspectives and beliefs shape our reality.
Even in the case of grasshoppers (that essentially symbolizes the beginning of harvesting season), different cultures interpret it differently. While the harvesting season is a good omen for most cultures, Iran, where Christianity originated, associated it with the commencing of the plundering. It meant that their lives work and livelihood were about to be taken away from them.
In the past, when these grasshopper symbolizms took meaning, agriculture was the primary profession and livelihood of the people. Harvesting season meant everything to them. The yield, the weather, everything was unpredictable then. The seeing of grasshoppers often meant that everything went well that year. The leap of faith that the farmers took in mother nature had paid off.
Today, in the modern day and age, most people are not farmers and it is not our primary profession. To most of us, seeing a grasshopper does not mean much unless it is our spirit animal and we connect deeply to it for different reasons.
So if we look at this from the Alderian view, seeing a grasshopper as such means nothing. However, you can assign that event a meaning you want. What you wish to believe is totally up to you. You have the power to decide what it means to you. If you want the grasshopper to mean good luck, you can choose that.
The important thing to remember is that our beliefs shape our lives. So instead of coming to a quick decision about anything (even grasshoppers), that, "I don't believe that to see a grasshopper means good luck is on the way" or "I totally believe in the theory of seeing grasshoppers meaning something", first choose which belief will serve you more. Which one will positively impact your life? Taking a moment to think through our beliefs in this way can go a long way in shaping our lives to be exactly what we want them to be.
It is also good to remember that if you don't like an old belief you have, you have the ability to change it. No one but you can decide what you want to believe in. Do you want to believe that grasshopper is your spirit animal? Then do that! Nothing is stopping you from reshaping your thoughts and beliefs if they are not serving you.
We truly hope you've enjoyed our article on grasshopper symbolism, it's meanings in different cultures and contexts. We've tried to make the article as comprehensive as possible and have drawn upon many references to do so. As always, please let us know if we are missing any important meaning and if you have anything to add to the article. We'd love to hear from you.