Wasp as totem
by Rachel Creager Ireland
Note: For those who come to Veronica’s Garden to find insight into Wasp totem, there is a follow-up to this piece, which you can find here.
When I moved alone to Strong City, Kansas, it was perhaps not a coincidence that I often found myself praying for strength. I’d cut to long-distance status my relationship with the man I was in love with. My Dad was disabled and my Mom’s mind was decaying into dementia, and while I was supposedly here to help them, I struggled with the old roles and self-perceptions I’d been given in my childhood: the baby of the family, the kid with too much book smarts and no street smarts, the absent-minded-but-desperate-to-please-adults little girl. I’d had a pretty decent life in Chicago, but I walked away from it. What if Kevin decided it was too much trouble being involved with a woman eight hundred miles away? What if I died in a car accident on my commute to Emporia, and never saw him again? Everyone always said I wasn’t a very good driver. I had moved at the prompting of signs, but now I felt unconnected from everyone and everything. I hadn’t prayed regularly before then, but now I prayed every day for strength and protection.
Wasp entered my life. Ted Andrews says of insect magic: “Many modern shamans issue precautions about working with insect totems, implying that the archetypal force or spirit behind it is too primitive and difficult an energy with which to effectively work.” Nonetheless, I took the appearance of wasp as an answer to my prayers. Some days I’d watch dozens of them dancing in the backyard, the late afternoon light glinting off their wings. One day on the front porch I saw what looked like a tiny earthenware jug on the side of a hanging plant, and only had to wait a few minutes for the little wasp to come home, carrying a limp spider, which she placed delicately in the jar. I felt privileged to be in the company of wasps. They were my protectors. I chose to feel safe in their presence, to believe that the powerful sting would never be aimed against me, because they were my friends. When they started building a nest above the front door, I felt it was a bit too close, and I asked for permission to kill them. I received permission, but then they quietly left before I did it.
Still, they were an ally. One summer afternoon I went for a drive in the country, exploring the back roads of Chase County. As I drove over the rough gravel, out where you can see the horizon in every direction, but not a single building, I noticed a wasp buzzing around in the back window. Was it telling me to go back? I didn’t, and after a few minutes it disappeared. Hours later I finally found a way into Emporia, lost, thirsty, and hungry. I stopped for a quick bite and when I got back to the car, I had a flat tire. Then I knew the wasp had been warning me. If I’d needed help out there on the back roads, who knew how long it would have been before somebody came by?
Eventually, however, I began to see the limitation of the wasp totem. Observing them at every opportunity, I saw certain problems recur. If a wasp flies into a building, why can’t it find the way out? It clearly can’t remember and retrace its path in. What it usually does is fly up, which naturally doesn’t work in a room where the only way out is a door; it hits the wall above the door, moves away, circles, and repeats. Even if it’s a wide open door, the wasp doesn’t know how to find it. Finding isn’t the way, flying up is the way. If it doesn’t work, wasp doesn’t appear to be able to try something different. They do respond to their environment, but only with an extraordinarily limited repertoire of behaviors. It so happens that one of those very few choices is to sting. That means that if you spend enough time with wasps, there’s a pretty good chance the sting will come sooner or later.
When I saw this, I understood what Andrews was talking about. While wasp had been the totem I desperately needed for a while, I’d best let go of wasp before I got stung. Paradoxically, the power of wasp to protect can also get turned inside out, into danger. It was time to let go of my need for protection, to allow the unfolding of events with confidence that I could handle what would be given to me. To this day I consider wasp a friend, but one from which I keep a safe distance.
Eventually I married the man I was in love with, and together we bought a motel in Strong City. Here, a new wasp has entered my life, the great golden digger wasp. I’ll save that story for tomorrow.
Thank-You for the story
Thank you for reading it, and commenting.
Over the years I have experienced various totem’s. At first I tried to hang onto them, but as you learned one must let them go in order to prevent oneself from taking on the limitation of that totem. I also learned though, that there will be one Totem that will stay with you, without any attempt on your part to keep it in your life. This has helped me keep a strong foundation within the realm of Totemic energy. You wrote a good story about wasp.
Thanks, Jesse. You probably know lots more about working with animal Totems than I do.
Maybe….it’s not about how much you know, it is about how much you allow..
Yes, that’s what I’m going on. Otherwise I’d have to keep quiet, and leave the wordifying up to others.
LOL….I know what you mean. That has been my main blockage when trying to share what I know. So, that is why I started my face page so I can get past that barrier. hopefully I won’t sound to stupid…small chuckle…also always afraid that my desire to share what i find on net won’t overshadow what i actually wish to say. I remember when I joined groups i would put in about a hundred article’s with the intent of just wanting to have them as conversation starters, and folks would jeer at me for ego issue’s, or would be intimidated, or accuse me of trying to sound smart by parroting others. very frustrating, caused me to just quit. anyway…how is the energy around your property? need me to re-balance it like I did before? no charge…
My ancestors lived in Kansas, my great grandmother taught in Emporia, and I was given the task of taking care of my parents too. The wasp symbol is a million times funnier for me because after my parents died I began to study my ancestry ..I am a super WASP, blue blooded American..something that would have surprised both my parents…
What did they think they were?
Yes, it’s funny the things we learn when we research a bit. I don’t think either of my parents knew Creager is Scottish. I found out after they were gone.
Sometimes I’m tempted to distance the insect wasp from the ethnic WASP. That may or may not be appropriate.
Thanks for dropping in.
Exactly what I needed to read 🙂 Thanks! I finally looked up Wasp totem after having them constantly at the front door for a few weeks & about a dozen of them nesting on the porch of my new home! I’m talking some giant wasps too! The biggest must be 2 inches long. Scary! Right as I’m typing this, a small wasp is caught in my house. I left the front door wide open & went outside, thinking she’d figure it out.. But nope! Lol thanks for this article. Stregth is what I’ve been praying for too. Being irrationally afraid of Wasp obviously mirrors something within. Thanks for sharing your wisdom 🙂
Renee from Australia ~
Hi Renee. Here in North America, the biggest wasp is about that big, called the cicada killer. They’re said to be less aggressive than some other wasps, so their appearance is scarier than their behavior would warrant. Still, I don’t mess with them.
I hope you find help in this writing. If you have any insight to add, please feel free.
when I was young i lived in a lift, when i came in countriside the first animal I saw were bees and wasps. I breed wasps for some years, when I was adult a friend of mine give me bees…
How interesting. did you breed them for any purpose, or just to observe them? What kind of wasps? I’d love to hear more about that.
Rachel I also found your blog posts on Wasp because I had to search it out. Neither Ted Andrews’ Animal Speak nor Jamie Sams Medicine Card specifically treat Wasp medicine. You bring a different and magical slant to the medicine, which is all over the map, depending on who’s posting. What resonates with me is Female Warrior energy, sisterhood, and female society. Also strong energy around recycling old material and using it to create new structure– the master builder. Your companion piece to this post is useful to me, for it includes the limits of wasp medicine: a lack of resilience and innovation. When attacking doesn’t work, and flying up and away is not the solution… pulling down walls of protection, and retracing steps to find out how I got here. Good medicine! My story of a wasp also includes grandmother spider. She eats the wasp this time. I am composing and will shortly have on my blog if you care to read. Thank you.
That’s very interesting. I hadn’t been aware of the feminine/sisterhood aspect of wasp, but it reminds me of my first wasp dream, when I was little, and my sister was in that dream. Now that I think about it, I was working through some issues with my sister in the period I wrote about in this post.
I’ve seen wasps prey on spiders, and also grasshoppers. As you probably know, Ted Andrews taught that the predator/prey relationship is important in working with totems, and should be studied along with the primary animal. I do have some spider stories, which I’ve often thought I’ll write here sometime. Maybe it will be soon. I’d love to read yours.
Thanks! I enjoyed reading your posting.
“…I began to see the limitation of a wasp totem.”
There was my unexpected morning laugh. Thank you.
I’ll be through Strong City next July on my way to do a workshop at Pioneer Bluffs. I hope I remember to stop by and meet you.
Maybe I’ll take your workshop. July is a long way off, though . . .
Thank you for this post. I found it after searching for ‘wasp totem ted andrews’… I got stung on the bottom of my left foot 2 weeks ago and then got it on the bottom of my right foot last night. I said ok i’m listening what are you trying to tell me!? Actually I said AHHHHH WTF not again! 😛
I thought what you wrote about the wasp was very insightful, I am still very new to this..
This resonated with me too “the baby of the family, the kid with too much book smarts and no street smarts, the absent-minded-but-desperate-to-please-adults little” boy … that’s me
I need to speak more assertively, have more courage, and be productive…do my spiritual work!…something I hope wasp can help me with. But I will remember your warning…
thanks
Sometimes I think of feet as symbolizing our path in life, the need to move forward, or steps we have or haven’t taken. Some associate feet with parents, the left for the mother and the right for the father. I wonder if you feel a need to move forward, and that you are being attacked in the process, possibly by your parents or other authority figure?
It could also indicate a need to be more mindful of where you step, physically, of course, but also of where you are going in your life at this time. Or, to ground yourself. When your energy field is fully connected with the earth’s energy field, you are more aware of your feet and where they are, less likely to trip or misstep.
As always with body symbology, it’s only helpful if it’s helpful, and if it doesn’t resonate with you, disregard.
” I wonder if you feel a need to move forward, and that you are being attacked in the process, possibly by your parents or other authority figure? ”
I believe that is it, I live with a very controlling woman. I guess I should be thanking her though, she has returned me to God, a spiritual path, brought me to daily prayer and meditation, and pushed me to find and study shamanism. It is a very unhealthy relationship though…
Thank you again