Blessing of the Bees
The weather lately has me longing to be outside and enjoying Spring. Looking out from my window I can see the trees starting to green and the world is becoming softer and more fragrant. With all that is going on in the world I try to find little ways to bring in joy. On a recent walk with a friend, I watched a bee lazily drift from flower to flower reminding me of a favorite haiku.
a bee
staggers out
of the peony
- Basho
When I was young, I would sit in the clover and watch our neighborhood bees fly from one flower to the next buzzing contentedly through their day. Not too long ago, I had a dream about bees, and I awoke feeling a strong connection to that period of my life. I thought I'd share my dream with you. Below is an excerpt:
I'm walking down the side of my childhood home. The slope is very steep. I'm being followed by a very persistent goat who won't leave me alone. Across my path is a trellis of white flowers. It's a barrier across my path. I have to cross it to get to the back yard and as I get closer, I hear the sound of bees. They start flying around me. At first, I'm afraid that I'm to make them mad and be stung. Then I think that if I just calm down, close my eyes and breathe they won’t sting me. They land all over me, but I keep my eyes closed and just breathe in the flowered air. I feel at one the bees and know they won't sting me. They let me pass through their gate to get to the other side. I feel blessed.
After waking, I felt at peace and connected to the bees in my dream. What a sense of joy to know that I was cared for by these wonderful little creatures. In my research for the dream I’ve found that bees are richly symbolic in many cultures and traditions.
Egyptians are considered some of the oldest beekeepers in the world using honey for food, medicine, and embalming rituals. Bees were considered Ra the sun god's tears and when they fell to earth they turned to honeybees and provided the golden elixir of honey to Ra's followers. The bee was the official symbol of lower Egypt, and the Pharaoh Ramses III was said to have made an offering of 21,000 jars of honey to the river god Hapi.
At Ephesus, a Greek colony at the eastern edge of Asia Minor, now modern Turkey, Artemis was considered a major deity. In mainland Greece she was depicted as the huntress but at Ephesus she was worshipped mainly as a fertility and nature goddess. A great temple was built to honor her and became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. A mother goddess, she was incredibly protective of her followers and gave them life and abundance. She was known as the "Queen Bee" and her priestesses were called the melissai or "bees" of the goddesses.
In Celtic mythology, there was a link between bees and death. Bees had the ability to travel to the otherworld as messengers and could bring back messages from the divine. When a member of the family passed it was important that the bees told before the funeral. A tradition of draping the hive with black cloth or ribbon would help protect other family members from death.
There are many possibilities of what bees mean in dreams. Interpretations can depend on your viewpoint, culture, religion, and so forth. We must remember that our unconscious communicates with us through symbols so that we may step out of our ordinary world to explore these messages in a different light. I invite you to explore folklore and myths to help you build your own library of symbols and meanings.
Common meanings:
Good luck, prosperity, abundance
Community, working together
Organization, productivity
Sweetness of life, family
Fear of being attacked
Communication
Protection