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.