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Mother of Bees
Queen Bee
Oil and egg tempera
12" x 12"
2020

Bees have been a part of humanity since time immemorial. We take sugar for granted now since we have too much sugar in our lives, but back when we were apes on the savannah, sugar was a rare and important source of calories. Fast forward several millennia and beekeeping was founded in Northern Africa about 7000 years ago. Apiary, a specific place where bees are kept, can be dated to about 2200 BCE.
Bees are incredible creatures and countless plants specifies have evolved to rely on them for pollination. Our world would be very different without bees and we may soon find out what that is like. Bees are suffering today from pesticide use, habitat loss and several illnesses and mutations caused by the pesticides. Calendula flowers are a favorite of bees. My Bee Queen wears a crown made from this lovely flower. Matriarchal in nature, bees have a highly functional society of their own. Here the hive is surrounded by the queens that came before her and the queens that will come after. The crystal medicine growing from the Queen is red beryl, or red emerald, the only crystal that grows in a hexagonal formation naturally. The hexagon itself is a powerful symbol of magic, 6 being the Sephiroth of Tiphareth, the sun, in the Qabalah. This Sephiroth is the place of Enlightenment and of the sacrificed gods. This is the first initiation into the realm of the higher self as well as the place where we must experience a death of the ego before being admitted to the higher planes.
Growth. Sometimes it’s hard as crystal, glacially forming itself over an excruciatingly long time. Other times it happens without you even noticing it. Queen Bee honors that growth in us all. She is the Great Mother, the nurturer, the vision giver. Own your sacredness and feel fully your own elixir of life that oozes from within you.