Today, as I was reviewing the recording from my last session with my own spiritual counselor/tarot reader, a very large yellow insect kept bobbing around outside the window by my desk. The session I was listening to had much to do with the root chakra and ancestral karmic healing that I’ve been working on, and insights and affirmations came in about both my physical and my spiritual lineages from ancient Celtic tribes of strong female seers and goddess-warrior women. When I was done this bright yellow messenger came closer to the window and rested on the window sill just long enough for me to see who/what it was – a queen paper wasp.

I’ve written about The Bee and The Bumblebee, both in the suborder of Apocrita like wasps, but I had to do some research on the wasp to understand its symbolism and the meaning of its message. Like other similar insects, such as bees and ants, wasps live a communal life. They are subject to the leadership of a queen, who is usually the only one who survives the winter, and hence all the wasps in her community will be her offspring. Most of her offspring are sterile female workers, or with the wasp’s sharp venomous stingers, female warriors.

The wasp community is primarily a sisterhood that involves teamwork, communication, order, production, and protection. The wasp also represents fertility, blossoming, and new beginnings since the community is born and built only in the springtime.

The Wasp symbolizes:

• Female Power and Warrior Energy
• Female Tribes, Sisterhoods, and Communities
• Communal Living
• Communication and Cooperation
• Production and Abundance
• New Beginnings and Growth