Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Bee Hive. Bee on your best Beehavior

The was among the Egyptians the symbol of an obedient people, because says Horapollo, of all animals, the bee alone had a king. Hence, looking at the regulated labor of these insects when congregated in their hive, it is not surprising that a beehive should have been deemed an appropriate emblem of systematized industry. Freemasonry has therefore adopted the beehive as a symbol of industry, a virtue taught in the ritual, which says that a Master Mason "works that he may receive wages, the better to support himself and family, and contribute to the relief of a worthy, distressed brother widow and orphans;" all Masons shall work honestly on working days, that they may live creditably on holidays." There seems, however to be a more recondite meaning connected with this symbol. The ark has already been shown to have been an emblem common to Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries, as a symbol of regeneration - of the second birth from death to life. Now, in the Mysteries, a hive was a type of ark. "Hence," says faber, (Orig. of Pag. Idol., vol. ii., 133,) "both the diluvian priestesses and the regenerated souls were called bees; hence, bees were feigned to be produced from the carcase of a cow, which also symbolized the ark; and hence, as the great father was esteemed an infernal god, honey was much used in funeral rites and in the Mysteries."

Encyclopedia of Freemasonry



A hint can be derived by the journey's beginner who also studies nature, and more specifically, the daily routines of shrubs, sand, ants, bees, butterflies, badgers, sheep, goats and honey guides.

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