The Buzzing of a Bee Priestess

The Buzzing of a Bee Priestess

I started writing a children's story last year about a little Bee named Lee. I am very concerned for humans, animals and Mother Earth if the number of bees keep disappearing. I can only hope for change, the story is about hope. I put down the project and now a year later decided to pick it up again and taking a completely different direction with it. I am super excited about the new adventures that I will create and experience myself in the creation. It is fun for me to sit and remind myself how a child sees the world. Also, learning from the experience not to take life too seriously. 

We can learn so much from the Bees on a personal level and community. There is so much magic in the Bees. Did you know that Bees communicate through Dance? It is called the "waggle dance." I started belly dancing over six months ago, I feel connected to the Bees in the language of dance.  The Bees are rich in Symbolism and mythology. I thought to myself is this the buzzing of a Bee Priestess? Did my calling come before and I did not recognize it until I had ripened myself? Did I have to ripen and bloom for the Bees to come share their magic with me?

Video clip I filmed, the Bees in My Magical Garden

In Egyptian myth, honeybees came from the tears of Ra. Ra was the Egyptian Sun God I wrote about Ra in the previous blog called One.

The Bee Goddess Calls, by Judith Shaw

This article was posted more than a year ago since then new information regarding the Bees has come out. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/40-percent-of-u-s-bee-colonies-died-in-past-year/

Spring arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and all of Goddess’s children are waking up from our winter slumbers.  Birds are singing, fruit trees are blossoming, bees are buzzing, and early spring bulb flowers are in full bloom.  Signs of spring fever are evident as we find ourselves full of energy and vitality for new projects and relationships.

As new life emerges from the Earth we can more easily reflect on our place in the greater scheme of life.  It’s a good time to question the values of our consumer society and ask if there is another way.

In contrast to these values of domination, separation, and consumption, ancient wisdom traditions teach that we are all connected – to each other, to all life, to the whole natural world and to the spiritual cosmos.

Woman gathering honey, watercolour copy by F. Benitez Mellado of a painting in the Cueva de la Arana, near Bicorp, Spain; the Museum of Prehistory, Valencia, Spain.

One canary in the coalmine that points out the lack of balance we have created with our industrial, military, consumer society is the disappearance and collapse of bee colonies all around the world.  This is something that we ignore at our own peril. Without bees we could lose 30% of our food crops.

The relationship between humans and bees dates back to prehistoric days.  Cave paintings found in Spain, from between 6000 and 80000 BC, depict our Neolithic ancestors gathering honey from wild bee colonies.

Egyptian bee keeper

The earliest record of humans keeping bees in human made hives dates back to Egypt of 2400 BC.

The ancients believed that the bees’ ability to make honey was a gift from the divine.  Bees who give us their sweet honey, used for food, drink and medicine have long been associated with Goddesses all around the world.

detail from The Call of the Bee Goddess by Judith Shaw

In ancient Egypt the main temple of the Goddess Neith was known as the “House of the Bee.” She was often depicted as a veiled Goddess which perhaps was an allusion to bees, often called hymenopterameaning “veil winged”. In truth the bees’ wings are beautiful lace-like fluttering veils.

The Greeks, who only knew how to collect wild honey, inherited bee keeping from the Minoans, who worked with and honored bees since the beginning of the Neolithic era. The Great Mother Goddess was often called “Melissa”, meaning “the Queen Bee" or Priestess. In the myth and imagery of both cultures, associations of the Mother Goddess with the little honeybee are abundant.

Gold ring depicting the Bee Goddess and Her devotees, the melissae, from the grave of Isopata near Knossos, Crete

India’s ancient sacred text, the Rig-Veda, contains numerous references to bees and honey. The Indian Bee Goddess, Bhramari Devi, whose name comes from the Hindi word bramari, meaning ‘bees’, is said to make Her home within the heart chakra. Here She emits the buzzing sound of Bees. All across ancient India the humming of bees represented the essential sound of the universe.

Bees are also sacred to the Celtic Goddess Brigid. The ancient Celts believed that Brigid’s bees brought their magical nectar to earth from her apple orchard in the Otherworld.   Her power, manifesting through bees, endures through time. A Christianized version of Brigid, Gobnait, protected Her people with the help of bees. She thwarted a band of robbers attempting to steal the people’s cattle, by loosening a swarm of bees on the rustlers, sending them fleeing in terror.

Brigid’s Garden by Judith Shaw

Through working with bees I have learned personally what amazing community organizers they are. The ancients saw bees as beings that create order. Each bee diligently works their part of the community with cooperation and organization, ensuring the welfare of all. Perhaps the early Neolithic people, in whose hearts the Goddess reigned, were inspired by the honeybee to create their own communities on cooperation and harmony. While at the same time bees made the early agricultural societies possible through their work as pollinators of many of our favorite foods. Like the honeybee, the modern day Way of the Goddess is one that honors a balanced approach to living in nature; an approach that honors cooperation, harmony and work well done.

Now that spring has arrived, I rejoice in the return of the honeybees to my garden and in the magic of new life as it emerges from the dark, fertile Earth. The Bee Goddess calls us all to remember that through loving cooperation, focus and hard work, we can produce life’s sweet nectar.

More Great Information and Links at TheMotherHouseoftheGoddess.com

Gold plaques embossed with winged bee goddesses, perhaps the Thriai, found at CamirosRhodes, dated to 7th century BCE (British Museum

Sacred Path of the Bee with Layne Redmond and Debra Roberts on YouTube.com