24 HONEY HIVE
KEY CONCEPTS: collective, gathering, labor, community, collaboration, cooperation, working for common goals, effort, purpose, purification, poison, transmutation.
MESSAGE: Beekeepers foster humanity’s sacred connection to nature. Our 13,000 years of association with these amazing insects brought boons like pollination, honey, and beeswax. Beekeepers mediate between ethereal and physical realities, strengthening kinship bonds and maintaining household harmony. Every bee in the colony works for the greater welfare; the beekeeper is no exception. She shields her charges from harsh weather, predators and other hazards, elevating the hive to prevent moisture damage and pestilence. Keeper and bees work in unison to promote increased honey production. Self-preservation drives human nature, but hive nature seeks common good: teamwork runs tantamount to productivity.
Apiarists utilize smoke to kindle cooperation while enacting changes; such precautions minimize stings. Smoke obscures questionable intentions while imparting a contagious calm throughout the hive. A honeybee is slow to surrender her stinger; it precedes loss of life. She stings not to attack, but to protect her colony from threats. Keepers handle thousands of bees daily; their gentleness, knowledge and skill permit delicate bee management.
When any job requires proximity to venomous insects, beware: you will get stung. Don’t be surprised by repercussions of the path you choose to tread. But hurtful events can prove even more harmful to their perpetrators. Whenever we inflict damage, our actions invite injury. When you poke a sharp stick into a beehive, the swarm chases you. Have you lashed out with defensive reactions? Or have you borne the brunt of someone else’s meltdown? Search for silver linings…smear some honey on those sore spots. Honey supports wound healing, boosts immunity, and lowers inflammation. Frequent bee-stings can even diminish arthritis, due to venom’s potent anti-inflammatory properties over time. When a beekeeper achieves optimal desensitization, she reaps a surprising benefit: her body transmutes the venom’s poison. But she would never have found this perk unless she first endured all those stings!
The queen is mother to nearly every bee in the hive; she’s in charge of increasing the colony’s population. Epitomizing sacred femininity, she holds vital balance between giving life and guiding it. Queen bees release pheromones to regulate social structure, maintaining unity through manipulating worker behavior. No one dare tell Her Highness to mind her bees wax…but even a queen doesn’t get to make all the decisions. Worker bees regulate innumerable, crucial hive functions, including foraging, defense and choosing when to raise a new ruler...who could not survive without her colony. Find awareness by connecting to the whole; you are incomplete when lost in your ego.
Bees flit to many flowers gathering nectar before they make honey; people seek many sources of knowledge before synthesizing it into higher wisdom. The collective manufactures sweet rewards through patience and diligence. Each bee measures only 15 mm. A beach ball-sized swarm constitutes roughly 30,000 bees, who can produce 30 pounds of honey in a slow year. They can fertilize an acre of fruit trees, potentially feeding 200 people. These amazing insects pollinate 75% of the earth’s plants, and their estimated annual value is $235 billion worldwide. Let Honey Hive show you the awesome power of small things: one tiny bee can move a mighty buffalo.
RELATED SITES: POLLINATOR SCULPTURE, CARLINVILLE PLAZA, CARLINVILLE, IL; MURAL OF WEBB CITY FARMER’S MARKET, WEBB CITY, MO; DRINKING HORN MEAD HALL, FLAGSTAFF, AZ; THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA BOASTS THE MOST BEE HIVES IN THE USA WITH OVER A MILLION HIVES, AND TEXAS IS IN THIRD PLACE. 2 MILLION HONEYBEE COLONIES ARE TRANSPORTED YEARLY IN TRUCKS ON THE HIGHWAY…PERHAPS THEY’RE ACCOMPANYING YOUR JOURNEY.