Our 4th swarm of Honey Bees!

Bees move in again!

Over the past 4 years we’ve been host to a hive of honeybees 4 times! Twice in the past two months with the most recent on June 29th! The first time was in 2007 when they made a new home in the east wall of my bedroom. Next was in 2009 in the west wall of the same room. Third time was just two months ago under the eave of the kitchen on the south facing side and now they’ve moved into a precarious location on the north edge of our property. At least this time the walls are not buzzing 🙂
Just past noon on Wednesday, as I was preparing lunch, I glanced out my kitchen window and saw a spinning swirl of tiny golden blurs. An all too familiar bee swarm. Just to be sure, I went outside and the loud hum of a few hundred bees confirmed that I was witnessing the 4th hive moving in to our obviously, very bee-friendly property. I mentioned this to several friends who almost unanimously said, “the bees are trying to tell you something”.

My friends know me well and of course the first thing I did was find my copy of “Animal Speak”. I’ve been rereading the Bees chapter of Ted Andrews’ book, Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small which opens with a statement about bees being longtime symbols for accomplishing the impossible. I can certainly appreciate that!

Andrews’ book includes exercises to interpret most any animal encounter and I’ve begun to realize a huge presence of bees (not always pleasant) in my lifetime. Here are some of the messages I’m finally getting from these often misunderstood little buzzing miracles of nature:

1. Community and working together is vital to sustain a society (a business, relationships).

2. Bees have been mythical symbols throughout history. In Egypt they represented royalty. To the Celts, the bee symbolized hidden wisdom, and in Hinduism, the bee can represent Vishnu, Krishna or Kama, the god of love, depending on the context and interpretation. An interesting post from Thomas Worrel’s notes on “The Symbolism of The Beehive and The Bee” at the Mill Valley Masonic Lodge website.

Because of the number and location of bee colonies that have moved in with us here in Miami, I’ve become acutely aware of the plight of one of our most industrious and vital creatures. In terms of crop pollination and food supplies bees are a vital component and because of the greed factor and mass, monoculture farming methods that depend on heavy pesticide use, the bee population is rapidly dying off. These pesticides are not only killing the bees, but are also poisoning our foods, water supplies and the very earth/dirt that formerly provided the essential vitamins and nutrients in our foods. For more information on this topic, I recommend “FRESH” the movie and suggest regular visits to your local, organic farmer’s market.

3. The geometric, six-sided construction of the honeycomb (home, nursery and food storage areas for bees) is a hexagon, a sacred geometry symbol that represents the sun and all energies associated with it. (hmmnn… I’ve been slowly working on a series of new designs incorporating sacred geometry and astrological symbols with my signature nature’s energy images).

4. It’s time to contact Mike Price of Bees-n-the-Keys again! Best bee rescue and relocation expert in South Florida!

5. Although by now, I’m thinking I should at least consider the option of beekeeping 😉