The Queen Bee and Queen Gaia, Worker Bees We Are

The Queen Bee and Queen Gaia (Earth), Worker Bees We Are

My personal interest in The Bees and their sacred meaning grows as I dig deeper into my research, writing and mediating on the bees. So much learning and unfolding, within and without, such wonderful little teachers. As my knowledge deepens, so do the the connections, the golden threads of existence that illuminate my way. I find myself chasing these threads, the bees guiding me to their honey, spiritual gold. I enjoy studying the correlations, the symbology, the way they conduct their business and life and ancient sacred practices. I find myself dreaming of bees at night, they fly in my night dreams and my daydreams. Buzzzzz, goes the rhythm of their wings, the rhythm of the All.

I came across the piece below. There is a connection between The Queen Bee and our Queen Gaia (Earth). Please read and peruse the art, and take a few moments to commune with our friends and teachers the bees. Blessed Bee

"There is one common misunderstanding about the inner operations of a honeybee colony that must dispel at the outset, namely that a colony is governed by a benevolent dictator, Her Majesty the Queen. The belief that a colony's coherence derives from an omniscient queen (or king) telling the workers what to do is centuries old, tracing back to Aristotle and persisting until modern times. But it is false. What is true is that colony's queen lies at the heart of the whole operation, for a honeybee colony is an immerse family consisting of the mother Queen and her thousands of progeny. It is also true that the many thousands of attentive daughters the workers of the mother queen are, ultimately, all striving to promote for her reproduction. Nevertheless, a conlony's queen is not the Royal Decider. Rather, she is the Royal Ovipsiter. Each summer day, she monotonously lays 1,500 or so eggs needed to maintain her colony's work-force. She is oblivious of her colony's ever-changing labor needs--for example, more comb builders here, fewer pollen forager there--to which the conlony's staff of workers bees steadily adapts itself. The only known dominion exercised by the queen is the suppression of rearing additional queens. She accomplishes this with glandular secretion, called "queen substance," that workers contacting her pick up on their antennae and distribute to all corners of the hive. In this way, these workers spread the word that their mother queen is alive and well, hence there is no need to rear a new queen. So the mother queen is not the workers' boss. Indeed, there is no all-knowing central planner supervising the thousands and thousands of worker bees in the colony. The work of a hive is instead governed collectively by the workers themselves, each one an alert individual making tours of inspection looking for things to do and acting on her own to serve the community. Living close together, connected by the network of their shared environment and a repertoire of signals for informing one another of urgent labor needs--for example, dances the direct foragers to flowers brimming with sweet nectar--the workers achieve and enviable harmony of labor without supervision." - Thomas D. Seeley 

Our Hive, Our Mother

Flower of Life, Aphrodite's Flower, Hive

Hive Consciousness, Hive Mind

Our Hive Communication

What are you communicating to the hive, is it supporting the hive's, Earth's, well being?

We have received the message that our Queen Gaia/Earth is ill, this message has been clear from the Bees themselves. What Would the Bees Do? WWBD

Previous Post: Bee Unity

 http://aphroditecalling.blogspot.com/2015/06/bee-unity.html

Previous Post: The Buzzing of A Bee Priestess

 http://aphroditecalling.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-buzzing-of-bee-priestess.html

Previous Post: Born of Water

http://aphroditecalling.blogspot.com/2015/08/born-of-water-cleansing-powerful.html

Previous Post: The Magic of Trees

http://aphroditecalling.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-magic-of-trees.html

Read Full Story...

Facebook, Deactivate, Delete.

Facebook, Deactivate, Delete. 

The first time I heard about Facebook I was at a party out of state, around very beautiful women in the hills of California. I overheard a Canadian girl speaking of this thing called Facebook. I was intrigued and asked more about it, I went home from my trip and signed in and created Joy's Facebook page. I have had my Facebook account since the year 2007. My introduction to social media was in college with AOL, Yahoo and CompuServe chat rooms. I even met my husband online many years ago. I would say I am a avid internet and social media user, but through the years it has evolved and changed. My connection to others, the world and myself transformed because of social media and with social media's changes and evolution. The biggest changes and least appealing with myself have happened since I have been on Facebook. 

I have used Facebook in many ways, not just my personal profile, I have observed from several perspectives and through many years. My pages included a modeling page (I modeled under another identity), a personal business page (I created custom items) and a inspirational page (bringing women together). I have deleted all of those pages many years ago. I currently have deactivated my Makeup Artistry page and my personal page, I will call my personal page, my Joy page, my birth given name. I am deleting my Joy page, I am done with Facebook. A page that has a life of it's own, it has been a part of me for almost 9 years, 9 years of memories "bad" and "good," 9 years of connections, 9 years of my life, 9 years of Joy. 

Facebook use to be a place I connected with old friends, caught up with my friends lives, or if I saw a friend having a hard time I would reach out. I would look for inspiration, art and what I consider news. I shared what I thought would inspire, inform, help others and perhaps would make someone laugh. Something has changed, Facebook has changed, people have changed, I have changed. What use to be a place of connection is now a place of disconnection. Perhaps I was blind to a lot of it at first the positive aspects outweighing the negative, but the negative is outweighing the positive for me now. I have seen friendships end in one comment, nasty public divorces, murder, racism, sexism and the constant media bleed into Facebook sparking arguments and destroying friendships tearing our society further apart. The media controlling the puppet strings and mood swings of our newsfeed. Facebook use to be a friendship zone, a place of connection, but now disconnection. I know it is time to go. 

DSKNECTD Official Trailer 1 (2014) - Digital Communication Documentary HD

Watched this Amazing documentary the other day

One thing Facebook is good for if you are able to be truthful to yourself is self reflection. I would study my page and ask myself "What am I projecting into the world?" "How do others perceive me from what I have posted?" "Is that the way I want to be perceived?" "Is that making me happy or pleasing to me?" and "Is it helping others?" I have posted plenty of narcissistic selfies and self promotion, something at this point I am not as proud of. I know there are other reasons I posted self serving post and the biggest reason is connection. I desired and still desire a deep connection with others. I believe others want that as well, but have lost their way. I was disheartened when I realized most of the people on my friends list would prefer to "like" a photo of me then some thing I spent months on creating and shared to the world or something that came truly from the heart. People are more interested in my exterior than my interior. Facebook is just a shell, a mask, a book of masks.

I realize it is the user's responsibility as I am responsible for how I have used social media. What happens when the users are not cognizant of the system? If you are not cognizant of the system, the system uses you. Facebook does not care for it's users, it cares about advertising dollars, how information is distributed, what information is distributed and who it is distributed to. They censor what we post on our private pages, I have been reported for nude pieces of art from the 18th century. They have gone as far as perform psychological experiments on users unknown to the users themselves. They decide what information gets shared and to who, whose news feed you pop up in and what would be best to advertise to you. What you post is their property, Facebook controls Facebook and you if you allow.

1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it. https://www.facebook.com/terms.php 

5 Crazy Ways Social Media Is Changing Your Brain Right Now

A few weeks ago, life had me in a tornado. Lots of changes were happening externally and internally. I decided it was best for me to stop, slow down and meditate. During my meditation I received the message "Tune out the static." I pondered on this and the first thing that came to mind was Facebook. Facebook is static in my life. I spend way to much time perusing my newsfeed, instead of tuning into my life. I would "like" a friend's photo, instead of having lunch with them and spending face to face time with them. I constantly had one eye on my phone looking for that blue light that told me I had a message waiting for me, instead of reading one the books I have been dying to read. I hit page refresh relentlessly after posting something, hoping someone would connect, instead of connecting with people directly.  I would go through several different emotional reactions scrolling my newsfeed from divorces, news and childbirths in one 20 seconds of a scroll I would be mad, sad, happy, mad, happy, sad...on an on. How is this healthy?

I have taken many Facebook hiatuses and found myself happier apart from the connection, but missed my online friends. I have been off Facebook for several weeks now, I could not be happier. I have found peace in the storm. I have found myself and opened up a new communication with myself. I have spent time connecting with my friends and my little family. I have slowed down and connected to everything around me. I feel huge changes within and with my attention span. I am taking a artist course, reading my favorite books, writing again, practicing my dance and drum everyday and focusing on my new makeup business. No static to distract.

I know I do not belong on Facebook now, I am deleting my account. I hope to stay in contact with many, but I know not being visible everyday I will not be on people's minds. I will become a ghost, I am killing my online personality, part of me. Joy's Facebook personality established in 2007 will be no longer. I look forward to deepening my connection with myself and my friends I dearly care for. I am excited to start a new chapter with my new business. I am happy to deepen my connection to dance and drum. I look forward to see what I create in my writing and with the Bees. To my new life Facebook/Static free!!!

Some Great Articles: 

How Facebook (FB) is Altering Your Mind

The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals

Is Facebook Distorting Your View of the World?

Facebook Addiction - New Psychological Scale

Top 5 Negative Effects of Facebook on Us

How Facebook Ruins Friendships

You can't win that Facebook fight

Is Facebook Really a Playground for Narcissists?

Seeing Everyone Else's Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms Read More: http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.2014.33.8.701

Facebook linked to depression among heavy users, new study finds

Cognitive control in media multitaskers

Facebook Addiction' Activates Same Brain Areas As Drugs; How Social Media Sites Hook You In

Read Full Story...

For One Who Holds Power

FOR ONE WHO HOLDS POWER

May the gift of leadership awaken in you as a

vocation,

Keep you mindful of the providence that calls you to

serve.

As high over the mountains the eagle spreads its

wings,

May your perspective be larger than the view from

the foothills.

When the way is flat and dull in times of gray

endurance,

May your imagination continue to evoke horizons.

When thirst burns in times of drought,

May you be blessed to find the wells.

May you have the wisdom to read time clearly

And know when the seed of change will flourish.

In your heart may there be a sanctuary

For the stillness where clarity is born.

May your work be infused with passion and creativity

And have the wisdom to balance compassion and

challenge.

May your soul find the graciousness

To rise above the fester of small mediocrities.

May your power never become a shell

Wherein your heart would silently atrophy.

May you welcome your own vulnerability

As the ground where healing and truth join.

May integrity of soul be your first ideal.

The source that will guide and bless your work.

by John O’Donohue from his book, To Bless the Space Between Us

Read Full Story...

The Magical Adventures in Belly Dancing Year One

The Magical Adventures in Belly Dancing Year One

I nervously walked into my first American Tribal Belly Dance Class a year ago. I completed the first series, awkwardly. My body did not move where I wanted or told it to, my feet tripped over the other and I did not "feel" the beat. I am in my late thirties and had not taken a dance class or music class in my life. I am a big fan of music, but I did not understand it's structure, even the basics, the rhythm, which I am now learning. I love dancing, moving my body to music, getting lost in movement in the emotion. Dancing is emotion, energy in motion. Dancing is magic and art. 

Now, a year later, here I am two months away from my first choreographed performance for a large party. I had the pleasure of improvisational belly dancing in front of a large amount of people many times and some smaller audiences too. I have been taking classes from a amazing teacher who is patient with my lack of knowledge and experience. I dance with a beautiful group of women. I am also learning to play the drums to help with my dancing and I found a new passion, drumming. 

Previous Post The Rhythm of The All

I am like a the fool in tarot, I am a beginner, open to learning, humble to the experience. When dancing I unite with the All and burst with Infinite Love. I have changed my mind, body and spirit in the process. Dancing has opened me up to myself. My body speaks to me. My hips and body carry information, it carries my history and every female and human before me. Some of this information and emotions I have buried and hid from myself. I am learning to release what no longer serves me through dance. I dance for all women, for all people, for the planet and for the All. Dancing is my ritual, prayer, and medicine. I wish everyone could experience the ecstatic pleasure and bliss that I feel when it is just me and the rhythm. Dance with me, come feel the magic.

Previous Post Dance With Me

This Dance Is A Prayer

 by Zola Dubnikova

This Dance is a prayer. A prayer for the Earth and therefore a prayer for the Women.

This is a call for the Women to know and believe in the Holiness of their Bodies, the Sacredness of their Dance and the Power of their Voice.

A prayer for all the women who do not express themselves, who hold themselves back. Who do not know that one power as Creators, as Healers, as Givers os Life.

My prayer is a prayer for Women.

Women who are not allowed to dance and sing or express themselves in any way.

A prayer for men who do not believe women should dance in public.

My dance is the Voice of the Women who are trapped in the life where they have no voice.

My prayer is for young girls who get sold into marriages at eight years old to old men and die in the hands of the culture that permit such atrocities, and continue and continue...

My prayer is for young girls who are sold to sex slavery and contract illness they didn't know existed.

My prayer is for theses girls who never had a chance to be girls.

My prayer is for the men who's unpunished violence and terror against Women and against Earth is permitted in this World.

My prayer is a dance for the Earth.
My prayer is a dance for Women.
My prayer is a calling for the women to Return to the Temple."

A prayer for all of the girls and women currently experiencing these horrific tragedies. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/middleeast/isis-enshrines-a-theology-of-rape.html

From Grandmother's Secrets: The Ancient Rituals and Healing Power of Belly Dancing by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi 

Primitive peoples saw themselves as incarnations of the Great Mother's children; to them, there was no separation between the body and the world, inside and outside, this life and the next: all things were indissolubly united. The "self" was as yet undeveloped; a matriarchal holistic vision reigned. This harmonious relationship to the world can be traced through the early symbols, which in turn gave birth to myths and rituals.

Originally, all rituals were danced; body and mind were set in motion as unity. Through dancing, primitive peoples expressed their natural excitement and deep emotions.

Rituals and their particular dances strengthen the bonds between members of the community, expressed joy and pleasure, or praised life; but also it was through these dances that men and women tried to understand the mystery of life, nature--and above all, birth and death, the greatest mysteries of all. Rituals were therefore used as incantations to further growth on earth, to help the clouds break into rain, or to celebrate acts of fertility. 

In matriarchal horticultural and agricultural societies, women secured most of the basics for survival and held key social positions. It was also through women that the ecstatic dances were made into more social events.

A major characteristic of all matriarchal societies was dancing. Dance was more than a passing emotional outburst, beyond even expressive prayer: indeed dancing was the most magical practice of all. Dancing is the oldest and most elementary form of spiritual expression; it is magic in the form of ritual dance. All the other modes of expression that we have come to know by the name of Art have developed from dancing. 

The dances were used to strengthen sexual energy, to awaken joy, and to praise the mysteries of life. The women danced their dance, a dance that corresponded to their body and expressed all the moods and feelings, all their longings, sufferings, and joys of being a woman. Through their dance, the came into harmony with the universe, abandoning themselves to life and to the divine. What dance could express this more clearly and passionately than belly dance? It can indeed be considered the oldest dance ever by a woman, purely and simply the oldest dance in the whole of civilization.

Dancing expressed the longing to stretch beyond one's limitations and come closer to the divine. Prayer was all embracing in those days; people did not set any limitation on emotion on feelings as they prayed. The whole body shook with worship, and dance helped them open themselves completely.

It is a sensual instrument that wants to enjoy life in the here and now. By intensifying the moment, dancing facilitates the development and finding of the self beyond any anxieties about the future or burdens from the past. For life is connected with time. It is an active process which requires inner preparation in order to be able to face or bring about outside changes. Dancing, then intense moment of being, opens and reveals this instant to people, thereby giving them the possibility to understand their needs and desires, their "yes and no" with greater clarity.


Dancing has thus completed its transformation from the realm of the sacred to the aesthetic and artistic and back to a joyful, sensual and playful instrument for self discovery. The contents of dancing changed with each phase, always combining with people's immediate physical and spiritual needs. Indeed, the language of dance flows over the socially coded body, and it uses a different logic that can be understood through sensual awareness. Leaving oneself through dancing to enter a world beyond one's control and beyond the personal level- almost flowing between the inner and outer world-contributes to a new and different understanding of the tensions between the different poles of existence. By allowing the mind and the senses, the inside and the outside worlds, to unite, without ever allowing either to become dominant, dancing makes it possible for people to set out on unorthodox searches for themselves, and to experience sexual and social issues in their own bodies. Dance is an art and as such it enables whoever practices it to constantly improve their skills and self knowledge. And to know oneself is a human being's most essential duty.

Read Full Story...

Born of Water, Cleansing, Powerful, Healing, Changing, I Am

 Born of Water, Cleansing, Powerful, Healing, Changing, I Am

There is no life without water. We are water, we come from water and we need water for our survival. Water is one of the four elements. 

Water is magical and powerful, it transforms into different physical forms, liquid, solid and vapor. Water can be creative and destructive. Water symbolizes emotions, life, motion, renewal, blessing, intuition, reflection, subconscious, fertilization, release, purification and transformation. 

Humans have broken their connection to nature, we forget we are nature. Our bodies are over 70% water. One of the biggest disconnections with nature is our relationship with water.

 I have deep reverence for water. I am thankful for the clean water I drink, I cook with and that I use for cleaning. Water is needed for the foods we eat, for the production of what is all around and even needed in the production  of the computer I am now typing on. It is also needed for whatever form of technology you are reading this on. Most are blessed with clean water, a blessing future generations will not have.

How to Create Sacred Water: A Guide to Rituals and Practices by Kathryn W. Ravenwood Amazon.com

Read more on the Healing Power of Water

Water Conservation Tips

 EPA spill on Animas River in Colorado 'The magnitude of it, you can't even describe it'

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/

Ironically, Animas means the inner self of an individual; the soul...Definition of ANIMA: an individual's true inner self that in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects archetypal ideals of conduct; also : an inner feminine part of the male personality. Las Animas is a Spanish name, meaning "City of Lost Souls."

 

National Geographic's Sacred Water Photos

My prayer is for us to mend, grow and strengthen our relationship with water. My prayer is for Knowledge, Love and Unity. Infinite Love to All!!!

Read Full Story...