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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