Peter Parker didn’t believe in magic.  He tried very hard not to believe in magic.  Even with the Sorcerer Supreme on speed dial, he still insisted it was just science yet to be understood.

What he fought most was any suggestion that his own powers were magic.  He would not believe that his connection to spiders was totemic in nature.

Adriana Soria was dead.  This was a recent development; and not likely to be a permanent one.  

Like Spider-man she shared a totemic connection to certain creatures. Anyone with insect or arachnid traits was compelled to worship her.  She fed on this worship.  Like Spider-man she was connected to the web of life, serving a role in the natural order.  

Her death, even if temporary, left a vacancy.  Nature abhors a vacuum.  However to fill this vacancy, nature required someone who was connected to the same forces as she herself.  Someone like.