As I type away to you today there is a wasp synchronistically buzzing away at my window wanting to be let out. There was a time when I would be very uncomfortably sitting in my seat with this scenario going on around me, ready to run from the room no sooner had it offered up its first murmur. I would be ready to flee downstairs or be reaching for a scrolled up newspaper to rage war against this innocent insect, endeavouring to punish it for crimes it did not personally commit against me in the distant past, killing it if I could.
Wasp, at this time of year, more so than any other, as it attends our late summer picnics and barbeques, can usher up a great deal of fear within us. Indeed the very picture at the top of this newsletter maybe enough to prevent any number of would be readers engaging with the content of this post, as it is impossible for them to face that fear just at this present time of their lives.
I can resonate with that, because as a young boy, if not way into my teens and beyond I would often seemingly be stung by wasps and bees and I would swell, not anaphylactically fortunately, but sometimes quite severely. My whole arm, leg, ear or more worryingly neck would swell before reaching for the antihistamine. I had a vivid recollection of the date and time I was stung, at a church fete for instance or on the day of moving house at the age of 13, such was the power wasp or bee had over me.
I continued to run from these insects until I started to become more conscious of my running and so started to change my thought process, where I pondered to myself 'will I be running away from wasp all my life? Or will I find another way of relating and being with him or her?'
I decided I had a choice in this matter and if I 'stopped it', my behaviour that is or adjusted it, a different result could be presented to both of us when we came into contact with one another.
It took time, but gradually I started to allow wasp into my space more and accept him for who he was, as I hoped people would eventually do for me. We started to become friends, the fear started to dissipate and love began to spring forth.
I looked into the meaning behind wasp and the spiritual medicine he wanted to bring to me of how it was to alternate from being solitary to social from moment to moment, to lead from the heart as opposed to the mind, to follow my dreams and jump in and go for any task that lay before me. I also began to understand more what his role was within the ecosystem and that more or less every pest species had a wasp that preyed upon it to keep it under control. I found out that wasps laid their eggs into the host animal so the larvae would eat it from the inside out killing it in the process. I was fascinated by its social structure and ability to produce male or female infants as well as infertile and fertile ones at will, depending on what stage of evolution the community was at. I even became a protector and defender of him as others continued to attack him with their own fears as I tried to explain 'he is eating all your green fly!'
At times all wasp is, is a reflector of our own fears, the inner ones we are unaware of that lie hidden in the underworld of our lives. Wasp as an insect can be most associated with the underworld as can bee, snake, spider, scorpion or crocodile. They disguise this greater fear of public speaking perhaps or life itself that is projected onto them instead without awareness being brought to all our fears that remain in the unseen.
By facing our fear of wasp we can start to face the fear of speaking, standing in our own truth, contributing to life and making a success of our existence. This is some of the medicine cow wants to bring too, being able to stand in your own truth and perhaps explains my fear of that animal too until recently, but that is another story.
I can remember in my recent journey traveling to Greece as a sailing instructor, I attempted to make a pact with wasp as I journeyed lightly on the Piriteze, i.e. stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours. This seemed to work for most of the summer until driving my powerboat around the island off the mainland opposite Corfu when we collided mid air and he did indeed sting me in the throat, not that he could help it of course and realising this almost instantly was perhaps why I didn't swell so much as usual, all was cool.
Recently however came my greatest test of my new love for wasp. I had attended an
Embercombe Friends Weekend where I had volunteered my time to help the project along. I was in the process of book-ending the experience by taking a swim in the lake that exists there. Having already traversed one loop of the water retention space without distraction I came across an insect caught in the one molecule of water that separates the air itself and the depths beneath, the surface.
It was a wasp, whose wings were soaked with water droplets and I instantly thought 'what do I do here? Do I let nature take its course or am I minded specifically to rescue this creature even if he could perhaps unwittingly or even wittingly sting me in the process.' I swam about him for a minute or so and then I decided what I needed to do. I took the back of my right hand and brought it up beneath him as I continued to tread water, before swimming forward with one arm only and my new passenger aboard about 10 metres from the shoreline. As we got closer to the waters edge again I pondered the situation before deciding upon a submerged tree as the best vantage point for him to alight. As I reached up to the leaf upon the twig I had designated for him, so his wings drained and he flew free without stinging me.
Now, it maybe that he was immediately destined to fly into the path of a Blackbird as it was just his time to die, such is nature's way of doing things but I prefer to think that he immediately flew back to his colony to say to the rest of the clan 'you never guess what happened to me today everyone? A human being rescued me from the lake when I was drowning, they are not all that bad you know!' And so a better relationship had been established between the wasp and the human, replacing fear with love ;-)
If you are struggling to overcome your own fears in amongst all that is going on in our world today, maybe it is time to 'Stop It!' or invest in some coaching with me, why not
contact me now to see how to get started. If you care to comment on this blog why not do so by
clicking here.
Otherwise until next time.
Much love Sx.
