In nature, we can see the busy bees literally changing the world around them with their pollination alchemy and their sisterhood of hive life. But there are other ways in which these buzzing insects affect the world, and this is through the various feelings and emanations of life that they symbolize.

There are many peoples from many times who have discovered their own ways of learning from and idealizing the Bee, but three sort of general areas which I have chosen to investigate I believe give an umbrellic overview of some main – and possibly familiar – forms this has taken.

Masonic

(photo: https://the22ndlandmark.wordpress.com)

The Freemasons are a secret fraternal society that have met in various chapters all over the United States and Western Europe since the middle ages.¹

Their view of bees and of the beehive is by far the most masculinely anthropomorphized of the views I have come across. It should come as no surprise that an old fraternal brotherhood – hearkening from a particularly brutal time of patriarchal rule in old Europe – would see in the bees such a cold, rational, and industrial image. They have long used the beehive as a symbol in their lodges.

In a Masonic ritual from the eighteenth century, the beehive is referenced thus: “The Beehive teaches us that as we are born into the world of rational and intelligent beings, so ought we also to be industrious ones…”²

The Masons saw in the intricate efficiency of the beehive an example of a society of industrious perfection, in which the aim of all involved is simply and coldly to produce for the sake of production.

Mystical

(photo: sweetbeez.org)

In order to divine more mystical meanings of bees and beehives, intuitive people since ancient times have observed the nature of the bees carefully to gain insight, rather than projecting civilized notions onto them. In watching how the bees interact with one another and with nature, as well as in viewing the magnificence of the structures they build in which to live, humans have been able to glean morsels of truth and wisdom and strength from the bees.

If we watch the bees, we are shown how they are not a group of individuals, but rather live as a great single organism. They are in tune with each other through avenues of communication humans are only beginning to glimpse, and by way of this communication, they are also quite sensitive to energies of animals, plants, and people. And, so, they appear as emblems of intuition, of listening to nature,  and of oneness with the life-force. ( Rudolf Steiner, Lectures on Bees)

Bees live within a web of hive existence dictated by patterns they innately know in their souls. Blatantly stated, each bee in the hive has a certain role to fulfill, and each bee knows what it is supposed to accomplish. This is not the type of “hive-mind” many throughout history have likened to such political doctrines as communism or socialism, but rather comes from a sense of the divine order that is found within the cycles of life, death, and transformation.

Bees are symbols of wisdom, for they show their adeptness at aiding in the cycles of nature. They are symbols of nurture, as can be seen in the way they care for their young and for their queen. They are symbols of mystery, as we revere them for their alchemical talents and cosmic sensitivities. (http://www.whats-your-sign.com/bee-meaning.html)

And there are many other ways in which the bees teach us and guide us through this earthly realm. Most importantly, they represent the immense power and fecundity of the life-force of this planet.

Totemic

(photo: reusableart.com)

As a totemic animal, the bee speaks of fertility and of accomplishing seemingly impossible feats. They remind us that to work diligently brings sweet rewards, but also that the rewards are sweet because they are meant to be enjoyed and savored. They remind us of the sun, and of the sun’s great life-energy. They give us strength to pursue our dreams, whatever they may be. (Animal Speak by Ted Andrews)

These brief sojourns into a few areas of bee symbolism have illuminated new paths of exploration of this small, yet ineffably powerful insect. The most important thing I have found though, is that only by carefully observing the natural world and its inhabitants, may we ultimately find the greatest insights into ourselves as part of this planet.

References

1.http://www.msana.com/historyfm.asp

2.http://dr-david-harrison.com/freemasonry/the-lost-symbols-of-freemasonry-the-beehive/