Bees: The Divine Feminine and a Higher Consciousness

This post was written by Community Partner, Jenny Bach, Founder of the Wise Women Beekeepers Collective, Bee Love Apiaries and Honeybee Education Program.

We depend on honeybees for our modern day agricultural industry but we did not always have a relationship of demand from these pollinators. Over 75% of the world’s food crops depend on pollinators like bees. One out of every three bites of our food, including fruits, vegetables, chocolate, coffee, nuts and spices is created with the help of pollinators.

In the past, bees represented the sacred, the divine feminine and a higher consciousness. Many ancient cultures revered the honeybees and in contrast to our present times, operated from a place of praise and ritual in relating to them physically or spiritually.

In my early days of tending to bees I was led into a path I would later reflect as an awakening, a path that I would have never dreamed of to be so inspiring and filled with magic.

I was first taught the way most modern day beekeepers are taught, very similar to common husbandry practices of livestock and other agricultural animals. Many of the common modern-day beekeeping practices did not feel right to me and went against the natural biology of the honeybees. In many beekeeping operations such as breeding bees for gentleness, artificially inseminating queen bees, treating mites with toxic pesticides and moving bees across the continent to pollinate crops that are in large mono-crops, unsuitable for bees to naturally exist are common practice. Imposing human needs that interfered with the overall health of the honeybee colony is globally accepted.

The honeybees began to communicate their needs as I listened deeper to my intuition and began to trust the subtle messages I would hear as I tended to these highly evolved creatures. Later I was to find that I was not alone in listening to the bees and this was linked to ancient practices of long ago.

For me, the bee consciousness is an example of a unified field of conciseness where no single bee exists for herself but only for the whole colony, a super-organism of 20,000-50,000 bees that creates a colony, a hive-mind. We can learn so much from pollinators as our teachers. Many of the acts of the daily duties and tasks of a single honeybee are dedicated for the next 2-3 generations of bees to come. If we humans practiced a livelihood of supporting the next generations as our main focus, what would the planet look like?

Honeybees and other pollinators gather food from flowers in the form of nectar and pollen. In this sacred act, they support the plant world in assisting in pollination which also perpetuates the next generation of seeds. The life forces and consciousness of honeybees makes the world more fertile, beautiful and abundant not only for themselves but for many other species of plants and animals. We humans, are one of those species, highly dependent on the intelligent honeybee. In their act of gathering food for the colony they naturally create an abundant landscape for other species. What would it look like if our (humans) livelihood or life-force naturally assisted in creating a diverse and thriving ecosystem? The depths of pollinator medicine is profound and it is to no wonder why ancient societies had such reverence for these tiny but powerful creatures.

Global honeybee declines have been a common statistic for many years. There are many reason why. A large part of the problem is found in common beekeeping practices that weaken the colony and their genetics. Another problem is linked to our large food systems that do not support healthy and diverse landscapes for pollinators to thrive in. The effects of pesticides linked to pollinator declines is also prevalent.

In our practices of past and present, we believe the bees are communicating and choosing their keepers. The resurgence of the people who are hearing this call is proof that a new way of tending to bees is in fact happening and growing exponentially. Not only are more people wanting to keep bees or become a bee guardian there is a resurgence of women who are drawn to intuitive beekeeping, ceremony and rituals related to the ancient practices of the Melissae (bee priestess originating in Greece).

In times of challenge there is usually always an opportunity and now in the times of bee declines we see a rebirth of beekeeping centered in supporting the bees natural biology. The veil between the bee and the beekeeper (human) can be very thin and the depth of sacredness we bring to this relationship allows for honeybees to communicate and teach us a way that supports them, supports the Earth and the overall higher consciousness of our planetary evolution.

Tending to bees for me personally is one of the most profound acts. I am in awe as I stand, witness and hear a higher frequency. That frequency is healing. The meditative mindfulness that it requires to work with 20,000 stinging bees and remain calm reminds me that this is a spiritual practice. There are few life events or practices where I can attain a place of such mindfulness, awe and reverence for life and the Earth.

On a deeper level, the honeybees have created a magical path for me rooted in sisterhood, community and abundance. There has been transmission of knowledge and frequency that has changed my life and continues to astound me. In Ancient times people believed honeybees were thought to live in-between heaven and earth and they were the messengers between the two realms.

As we evolve through time and space, may be reminded that our acts of devotion and sacredness are not underestimated but those acts can amplify change and a better way that has a ripple effect for our personal lives, the planet and humanity at large.The simplest acts of removing the veil of separateness between ourselves and the Earth and itʻs creatures can create positive change. When we apply this to the practice of beekeeping, we can become a unified consciousness, a hive-mind with the colony, where separateness is diminished and the messages from the bees, our teachers, are heard.

More About the Author:

Jenny Bach, beekeeper of over 18 years and teacher for nearly two decades and has devoted her life to the sacred practices of keeping bees. Jenny has studied shamanic and ancient beekeeping in Europe and Africa and has cultivated her beekeeping training around using intuition, magic and ceremony.

Born and raised in Hawaii, she offers a unique experience and perspective through-out her training programs and courses. Owner of Bee Love Apiaries and Founder of the Honeybee Education Program, she has built a robust and vibrant Non-Profit program that supports the well being of local honeybees and pollinators through advocacy and education.