"And I shall go into a bee, with mickle horror and dread of thee"
March 22nd, 2009
The honeybee, Melissa, has been travelling broadly in the early Spring sun and returning heavily laden with yellow pollen. To a beekeeper, this is a sign that the Queen, arguably the most important bee of the community, mother of the whole hive and staunch holder of the "egregore", is laying her new brood.
The Melissa currently busying about the pussy willow and hazel catkins, daffodils and early bulbs, is the winter bee. This bee, as opposed to its Summer sister who lives for up to 36 days, has a life span of up to six months. Unique in its species, this enables the honeybee to survive winter with a whole hive of bees. This is possible because, unlike the bumble, the honeybee stores honey, its essential metabolic food stuff. It also means that many of the bees currently flying around were born around All Hallows and will all be dead by May Eve.
Amongst the community of bees, the drone is a purely seasonal member who is absent during the winter months. When summer begins around May Eve, the drones will be emerging from hives and preparing themselves for mating with the new Queen. This deadly love tryst will result in his emasculation and death, whilst securing the life of the new colony. His role in the hive is essential as, without his sperm, the Queen is only capable of producing male bees. This also means that the drone is from unfertilized eggs, without father, a virgin birth. If he does not fulfill his fatal coupling with a new Queen, he is evicted or killed by the female bees by All Hallows.
The Bee Meeting
November 11th, 2008
This is a link to an interesting poem by Sylvia Plath, wife of Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, and inspirational word-smith herself. Sylvia Plath Forum features here The Bee Meeting, a poem that evocatively describes the gathering of a village at an apiary.
Who are these people at the bridge to meet me? They are the villagers
The imagery that Plath evokes is one of initiation, the celebrants adorned in disguises, their movements ritualised and with purpose, the results producing a golden elixir but the air is full of stings.
Plath's involvement in the occult with Ted Hughes to awaken the poetic subconscious is expressed here in the imagery used. The Bee Meeting does draw some interesting parallels with ritual.
Which is the rector now, is it the man in black?
Shortage of English Honey
November 25th, 2008
Recent news reports have implied that English honey will be in such short supply following a succession of bad years for the honeybee. Indeed, one report suggested that native honey could be unobtainable by the end of the year!
Your local beekeeper, or Beeker, is generally a hobbyist and money from the sale of their honey or beeswax products will not be lining their pocket. Rather, funds are likely to be going straight back into the apiary. As the honeybee is no longer feral in the UK, it is imperative that this hobby is encouraged to continue in order to preserve the honeybee, a symbol of veneration and source of golden nectar for millennia.
In the past, honey was not the only prized product from the hive and beeswax candles were an expensive commodity. Given that the common alternative candle material before the use of paraffin wax was tallow, animal fat, the sweetly scented beeswax was a much favoured choice. Moreover, the application of beeswax in many other household products meant that it was always in demand. From furniture polish to healing balms, this by-product of the honeybee has been valuable since early man first got stung.
Perhaps other substances produced by the honeybee get overlooked too. Propolis is the honeybee's natural first line of defence against bacteria and viral infection and is antiseptic, antibacterial and antifungal. Using the subtance as a glue, the honeybee seals the colony with propolis, which can set like concrete. Indeed, if an invading mouse should winter within the hive and subsequently die, the bees will enbalm the corpse in propolis and thus prevent any harmful affects penetrating their kingdom. It is possible that it was this observation that inspired the Egyptians to use the honeybee's products in their own mummification process.
Known by the ancients for its healing applications, including the Greeks, propolis has been called nature's penicillin. It is thought Aristotle originated the word from the Greek pro and polis meaning "before/defender of the city", indicative of its role within the hive. During the early city states, the bee colony would have offered superb instruction and the symbolism lives on today from our ancestor's observations.
Plight of Melissa
July 1st, 2008
In a meadow of clover, the air is sweet on a warm July morning. The clover is alive with a thousand bees industriously gathering nectar and pollen to take back to the hive. Clover is in full blossom at this time of the season and the bees are harvesting like only a bee can.
The pedigree of the Honey does not concern the bee - A clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy
(Emily Dickinson)
Einstein predicted that the human species would be four years behind the bee if it disappeared. This decline of the bee is cause for concern for us all. What many people don't realise is that approximately 80% of all pollination is from insects. The bee's contribution to agriculture is hugely overlooked; consider how much rapeseed we see each year and the actual yield if pollination decreases.
For those of us that enjoy honey, perhaps the healthiest sweetening agent, we must expect the cost to increase as the honeybee becomes more valuable. Will we simply turn our back on the humble bee and investigate artifical pollination techniques (a little late).
Buying local honey is a great way to support the bee population. Guaranteed you have a bee keeper within your local area. In addition, local honey has long been believed to relieve hayfever as much of the pollen from plants in the locale are will be contained in traces within the honey.
