Tell it to the bee's

An old custom is that you should tell the first bee you see all your family news and whats going on and tell the bee's anything new thts happened when they're not dormant. This is because bees are agents of the Wyrd Sisters, The Norns, who guard the Tree of Life and who weave the threads of life, the bee's tell the Wyrd Sister's to make sure they know everything thats happening and it all becomes part of the Wyrd.

My Granny used to do this and apparently it goes at least as far back as the Pagan Anglo-Saxons and Norse/Viking beliefs, I wonder how much further back it goes?

Parents
  • Sadly there isn’t evidence of the origins of conversing with the bees, but its possible that the ancient Egyptians and Greeks influenced Celtic traditions in which bees were messengers between the physical and spiritual worlds. 

    Honey was believed to have come from the tears of the Egyptian sun god Ra and was used in medicine, for offerings to the gods and embalming.

    The Greek goddess Artemis protected creativity and knowledge which is referenced in Aristotle’s writings likening the orderly structure of bee hives to harmony and governance.

    I can imagine that bee keepers today might talk to bees as a form of therapy, even if they aren’t conscious of it being that, so important things like deaths and births might be high on the list. 

  • I don't know if the Celtic peoples talked to the bees, but I know Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples did. 

  • Interesting that Anglo-Saxons and Norse people talked to the bees. Are there written records of the things they said or is the record more general than that? 

    I can see how the bees’ honey would be a valuable and highly prized food source. The sugar would have made many things delicious. Perhaps they used it for medicinal purposes too? 

  • It’s evidence enough that they were a necessary part of communion with the gods. 

    There is a sense of wholeness with all creation in your account of telling the bees.

Reply Children
No Data