The Bee Goddess

Mother Bee
Solar Queen
True parthenogenesis,
You create from yourself
The Son/Lover
Without need of a father.
Then he, true Son of the Mother
Flies high to the Sun
In search of another Solar Queen
To unite in fiery joy
Giving of himself in divine sacrifice
100 Mother's Sons
Rising to the Sun
To die in that moment of bliss
Of union with the Mother
Spreading his mother's genes
To other Solar Queens
That they may produce
An army of daughters
Spreading throughout the land
Bringing life where 'ere they go.
Was the first ever bee
A Queen who, like the Goddess
Produced from herself her Son and Lover?
Did she nurture him herself
Then take him back into her?
Did he go to his mother/bride in willing sacrifice
As does our Lord?
From their union were all bees created
And thus the diversity of life as we know it
Made possible to come into bee-ing?
Is the Goddess a bee?

by Karin Rainbird 21st July 2011


Bees were worshipped and honoured all over the ancient world. Honey was seen as food of the Gods, divine nectar, and the honeycomb, with its intricate cellular structure is a perfect symbol of the interrelatedness of life, with order and beauty. The Queen bee, or Mother bee, like the Goddess in Pagan Creation stories, is able to produce male offspring without herself being fertilised by a male. These sons (the Drones) carry her genes to other colonies, fertilising other queens. Fertilised eggs then can become workers and new princesses

Sumerian Bee Goddess
Honey, beeswax and other bee products have also had a place in religious ritual from ancient times, until the present day. In ancient Sumer, honey was poured over thresholds ansd stones bearing commemorative offerings. Honey and wine were poured over bolts used in sacred buildings, and ground on which temples were to be built were consecrated with libations of wine, oil and honey. Cylinders describing the building of a new temple for the God Nigirsu dating back to 2450 BCE describe this ritual process (see The Sacred Bee by Hilda M Ransome, p35)
Honey was also used by priests in rites of exorcism, and descriptions of such rituals have been found from Sumer and Babylon. A bilingual text mentions a Honey God, but it is unclear which God it is connected with. Honey was also used as offerings to the Gods, and to embalm the dead in funeral rites, sometimes first smearing the body with bees wax.
Bees wax and honey have also been used in magic, and the practice of making wax images of victims is an ancient practice popular in Babylon and Assyria.
Unfortunately little is known about the Bee Goddess or Bee God in ancient Sumer, other than a few images and scattered references in texts.

Settling into the New Hive

I transferred the bees to their new hive yesterday while the weather was warm. Garbed up in my beesuit, veil and gloves I opened up the nucleus hive and began to carefully transfer the combs one by one. The bees did get rather agitated, and it was then that I realised I'd forgotten to prepare and light the smoker! So I remedied this problem as quickly as I could and carried on with the aid of the smoker. I added a couple of empty top bars between some of the combs, and a couple at the end of the row of combs, and placed a mix of chamomile teas and sugar in a feeder inside the hive under the empty combs to help the bees on their way. Although they did get a bit angry at the disturbance, and one of the bees followed me back to the house buzzing round my head somewhat angrily, they soon settled down again, and before long were all about their usual business. Maybe the chamomile tea calmed them down a bit too.

Settled into the new hive

They found their way in and out no problem

Through the observation window

My First Colony

I arrived back in Cardiff with my topbar nucleus hive complete with nucleus colony of bees at 9pm last night, after a 5 1/2 hour journey back from the Lizard. The bees are British Dark bees, and I collected them from Heatherbell Honeybees in Cornwall, who supply bees, hives, honey and all sorts of beekeeping equipment. They are to go into my full size topbar hive which I bought from Amazon, from Leeway Woodwork. I was a little confused about topbar hives, as there is no fixed design, and having read The Barefoot Beekeeper by Phil Chandler, I found that my topbar hive didn't quite match his description, and I wasn't sure where to put my bees. Phil Chandler's topbar hive has entrance holes in the middle of one side, plus holes on each end of the same side. He suggests that the bees should be placed in the centre of the hive with follower (or dummy) boards on either side. Extra top bars can then be placed between the dummy boards, to one side of the built combs, as the colony expands. The dummy boards are moveable, so the space the bees occupy can be expanded up to the full size of the hive. Dummy boards also, however, allow for the hive to be divided up, so that more than one colony can live in the same hive (hence the extra entrance holes), and makes swarm control and dividing the colony that much easier. The hive I have has holes in one side and in one end, so I wasn't sure how that fitted with Philip Chandler's description.
I asked Robert Bell of Heatherbell Honeybees for advice on the matter when I collected the bees. He advised that the bees should not be put in the centre of the hive, but at one end, and entrance holes should always be in the end for topbar hives in the UK. This is because the UK climate is generally rather cool, so, the hive entrance should always be "Warm Way" so as not to chill the brood. In hot climates, such as Africa, where topbar hives are the main type of hive, the climate is very hot, and the problem is that the brood can overheat, so, in hot countries the entrance hole is always "Cold Way". Warm Way and Cold Way refer to the positioning of the entrance holes with respect to the direction in which the combs are built. If the entrance holes face the edge of the comb, in the middle of the colony, more air gets in which cools or ventilates the brood. This is called Cold Way. If the entrance holes face the flat part of the outer comb, the brood is protected from the incoming cool air. This is called Warm Way. This explanation makes sense to me, so this is the way I shall put the bees into their new home. A follower board can then be put behind the colony and moved along as the colony expands.
At the moment my bees are still in their nucleus hive, where they will remain for a day to orientate themselves to their new environment. I plan to transfer them to the full sixe topbar hive tomorrow, weather permitting. I put them out in the apiary immediately I got home last night, and unplugged the entrance hole to let them out. Several bees poured out and flew around for an orientation flight, but as it was late evening and getting dark, the activity soon stopped. Today there has been lots of activity, despite the rain (British Bees cope much better with British weather than do Italian bees or other foreign bees that are often kept in this country). Its also encouraging to see that many bees are returning to the hive laden with pollen this afternoon.

I will need to give them some supplemental feeding though, to help the colony build up, as the poor weather is likely to mean that there is not a very good nectar flow, and I don't want the bees to starve. White sugar is not ideal for bees, but feeding them honey from other bees carries the risk of passing on infections. Brown sugar though healthier for humans, is not good for bees, as they can't deal with the other substances in it, so pure white sugar, mixed into a syrup with a one to one ratio with water is generally advised. This white sugar syrup can possibly be improved on for the bees though. Rudlof Steiner's biodynamic approach uses various herbal teas (Chamomile in particular, but other herbs as well) mixed in with the sugar rather than plain water. The herbs are best grown and gathered according to biodynamic principles, and not only provide micronutrients which are lacking in pure sugar syrup, but add the living energetic content of the plant. Things in the living world are both substance and process, and the energy of the particular herbs is important for the bees health. This is something I intend to learn more about, and will no doubt write about in future blogs, but for now I shall use a bit of chamomile tea in the mix.

Leafcutter Bees

As I'm preparing the apiary for the iminent arrival of my first colony of honey bees, I've noticed quite a lot of buzzing going on. Apart from the bumble bees and hoverflies that I've seen in the garden throughout the summer, I noticed some bees carrying small pieces of leaf.

These are leafcutter bees, which cut pieces of leaf and carry them off to build their nests. I have found the following information about them from the Bumblebee.org website : Leafcutter bees cut holes and semi-circles out of rose leaves, and other leaves, to line the cells in their nest. Leafcutter bees nest in a variety of places, in the ground, under stones, in cavities in wood and stone, pithy plant stems, and in dead wood.
Leafcutters do not have pollen baskets on their legs as bumblebees and honeybees do, but carry the pollen in hairs on the underside of the body.
The female bee places a supply of honey and pollen in the cell; lays an egg on this, then seals the cell and builds the next one in the cylindrical hollow. The cells look like stubby cigars - see right.

Once she has sealed the last cell she goes off and dies. When the new adult bees are ready to emerge they eat their way through the leaf parts. The last egg laid is the first to hatch. The last eggs laid are usually males, and they hang around on nearby flowers waiting for the females to emerge.

In the UK they fly from June to August. The female uses rose, birch, ash and many other leaves as long as they have a serrated edge. The tunnel diameter is 7 -8 mm, and 9 - 12 pieces of leaf are needed for each cell. The cells are thimble shaped inside, and each is sealed with 4 - 12 circular pieces of leaf.

There are usually 6 - 10 cells per nest. Each cell takes the bee around 6 - 8 hours of work to construct, provision with honey and pollen and to lay an egg. She does not have pollen baskets but carries pollen back to the nest in the bright orange brushes on the underside of her abdomen.

At night she rests in the nest entrance facing outwards and will bite anything that tries to enter. The eggs hatch in 12 - 16 days, feed then spin their cocoon 17 -18 days later. Fecal pellets help stick the outer layer of the cocoon to the inner leaf layer of the cell.

Setting up the Apiary

My Cornish Horizontal Topbar Hive finally arrived last week, and I'm due to collect a top bar nucleus from Heatherbell Honey in cornwall next weekend, so its all moving now. Been busy clearing the plot of land and getting it ready, with some help from friends, and treating the hives with a mix of beeswax and linseed oil.

After checking on the Natural Beekeeping Forum, it seems the general view is to use between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20 parts beeswax to linseed oil, and to apply the mixture whilst it is hot to the outside of the hives only. Apparantly one coat is sufficient, and it takes a few weeks to dry completely, remaining slightly sticky to the touch for quite some time. Another coat can be applied yearly to keep the hives in good condition.

Beekeeper's Day -July 8th

"He who has tasted honey
Knows how sweet it can be"

Says an old Bulgarian saying. In Bulgaria honey is valued, not just as a sweet food, but as the elixir of life and immortality. It is used in rituals, healing practices, celebratory meals, rites of passage, and has an important role from birth to death. Various rituals still take place throughout the year in remote villages to bless the hives. In Spring, the girls sing songs about bees and honey to bless the new farming season.
In past times, newborn babies were welcomed into the world with a honey blessing which was chanted by the mother and grandmothers as they bathed the baby "may you buzz like a bee and be sweet like honey", meaning that they wished the baby to be healhy, skilled, industrious and sweet and kind. Ritual bread glazed with honey was shared for births and for weddings. After a wedding, the bride would place honey and butter on top of the gate and threshold before stepping into her new home, and was welcomed by her mother-in-law with a bowl of honey and a bowl of salt. An old Bulgarian saying still in use is "may your life be as smooth as butter and as sweet as honey".
With the importance of Beekeeping in Bulgaria, it is no surprise that there is a Bulgarian Saint of Beekeeping. Saint Procopius or Saint Prokopi is connected to beekeeping and his day is July 8th (tomorrow as I write). Beekeeper's wives would bake two ritual loaves and take them to the beehives before sunrise, burn incense and coat them in honey. A bowl of honey is then carried to church and left overnight in the church. The honey is then believed to have unique healing properties. On this day, women make "grass bread" in the shape of a beehive. The hive holds the bee family together, and so the bread is given to relatives to hoild the human family together, to be healthy and to live long.

Bulgarian Carniolan Bee on a Poppy