Saturday, June 9, 2012

Bees

Bees


I have wanted a hive of bees for sooo long now. This was going to be the year, but when we decided to sell the place and move I knew that this wouldn't be the year. With the move and having to figure out how everything will be set up around the new property, its not likely I'll get my bee hive next year either. It may have to wait another year. Bummer.

Either way, someday I will have a bee hive!

The idea of having my own honey & pollen, watching the bees work, is something I've wanted for quite a while. So, as with everything I decide I want to do, I've been doing some studying off & on about the world of beekeeping, and of course their magickal attributes blessing our lives is also a great benefit!

Bees:
Attributes: Chastity, Communication, Community, Creativity, Defensiveness, Diligence, Dreams, Fertility, Gathering, Ideas expressed, Immortality, Industriousness, Luck, Messages, Messengers between the worlds, Mortality, Obedience, Obsessiveness, Order, Organizer, Productivity, Purity, Re-birth, Royalty, Secret wisdom, Self-control,  Self-sufficient, Soul, Success, Visions, Wealth, Wisdom

Deities: Ah Muzencab, Aphrodite, Callisto, Cybele, Grandmother Twyla, Melissa, Mellonia, Native American totem, Neith, St. Ambrose, St. John of Chrysostom, Ra, Usins, Venus

Bumble Bees: Drive, Honesty, Pure thinking, Willingness

****** 
Bees and Old Wives Tales
By Carole Anne Somerville

Bees are believed to have originated in Paradise and they are traditionally known as the "little servants of God" or "divine messengers." The belief, in ancient times, was that they had knowledge of the future and of all secrets. It is often still felt to be very unlucky to kill one.

Country people and beekeepers take their relationship with the bees very seriously. To prosper, bees need love and harmony around them. Should the beekeeper's family be contentious and full of anger, the bees will suffer illness and die, or they will fly away. Beekeepers in the past would communicate regularly with the bees; some visiting the bee hives each evening to tell of the day's events. It was particularly important to inform the bees of a death in the family.

Should a beekeeper die, it was up to the eldest son or widow of the owner to convey this news to the bees and they had to do this properly and promptly. If they did not hit each of the hives with the door key while telling the bees that the master was dead, it was believed they would fly away or die.

Even how bees are obtained was subject to old customs and superstition. They should not, for instance, be bought. Any bees that were purchased would either die or fly away. So how did beekeepers acquire their bees? They might barter goods in exchange for the bees. Or they may have borrowed a stock of bees to start their own swarm with the promise of returning the bees to the rightful owner should they ever demand it.

There remains many superstitions regarding bees. If a bee lands on a person's hand, this suggests money is on its way. If a bee lands on someone's head, they will be successful in life. Good luck or the arrival of a stranger should be expected should a bee fly into the home. The bee of course should never be killed but can be encouraged to fly out of an open window.

A bride should inform the bees of her marriage otherwise they will leave the hive and not return. It is also customary to leave a piece of bridal or funeral cake for the bees to feed on. The familiar humming of the bees was felt to be a hymn of praise.

The Cornish would never move bees without warning them first otherwise they will sting the beekeeper. This is not all bad, however, because the bee's sting is said to be a good cure for rheumatism!

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A Few Bee Poems 

The Bee

by: Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)

Little chemic-artisan,
Doing work no other can,
Deep in dewy nectaries,
Petal-walled refectories--
Apple-blossom, columbine,
Rose and lily, all are thine,
Yet, though oft thy weight they bear,
Dost thou know how they are fair?
Thine are sun and Summer breeze--
Hast thou aught of joy in these?

Pollen-yellow dumbledore,
Leave thy clovers tumbled o'er!
What's a lily? What's a rose?
Down the golden lane he goes,
Drowsing forth a prosy song,
"Honey! Honey!" all day long,
Wasting life's diviner sweet,
Hiving food for drones to eat.
Oh, thou silly, silly bee!
Idle here and learn of me!

***
The Bee
by: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
             
Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry

Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.

His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.

His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!

***
The Bee
by: Andrew Downing

The music of the busy bee
Is drowsy, and it comforts me;
But, ah! 'tis quite another thing,
When that same bee concludes to sting!

***
The Beekeeper
Author: Unknown

There was a man who loved the bees,
He always was their friend,
He sat around upon their hives,
But they stung him in the end.

***
A Swarm
Author: Unknown

A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay!

A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon!

But a swarm in July
Is not worth a fly! 

******
The Future of Bees:

There has been quite a bit of speculation regarding the cause of the extreme decline in the bee populations around the world. Some say cell phones, some say pollution in general, and then there are those who express great concern regarding the use of pesticides and its effects on the bees. There have been studies regarding each of these possible problems, but the one that feel is the most plausible is the latter: pesticides.




The following link is to an article posted on Facebook. It is well worth the read! For anyone who uses pesticides on their yards & gardens, please consider otherwise. There are organic methods that work just as well and don't have the detrimental side-effects (on humans, animals, plants OR insects!)


Please read this article and pass it along to others.


***All graphics in this post are from the article linked above.

2 comments:

  1. Love the wife's tales of the bees and all the folklore that comes with the bees. I currently have five hives. Three years ago, I bought ( a big oops apparently) three hives. I am having ups and downs with the bees--but it is all a learning curve. I treat them with great respect, and I let them do what they do--I try not to interfere. They have been doing their thing for eons. I 'raise' them naturally--no antibiotics or chemicals. Were we live, we are not exposed to chemical farming, and we do not use or believe in the use of chemicals. I am now up to five hives.

    I hope one day you may acquire a bee hive or two.

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  2. LOL I think the "buying" thing is definitely something we, today, have to overlook! I'm just not into trying to find a hive to collect. I envy you having your hives. I'm still hoping to have a couple, but we live in the middle of crop fields, and they do spread their insecticides and fertilizers, both via air and those long motorized contraptions that spray directly onto the field. I have seen bees pollinating my garden (the plants that would actually grow!), but as for where they house themselves, I haven't seen anything close to a hive anywhere - "wild" or in someone's yard/field.

    I am still optimistic though, that I will eventually get to try my hand at beekeeping. :)

    Blessings!

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