The Wisdom of Bee Medicine By Freya Savitri Sampson
“Bee Shamanism is one of the Earth’s oldest and least understood pathways of magic.” The humble bee may be the world’s most taken for granted creature, yet certainly is one of the most magical. Origins Bee Shamanism is one of the Earth’s oldest and least understood pathways of magic. Its roots are found in Sumeria, Anatolia, Minoan Crete, Egypt, Lithuania, Celtic Traditions and Greece where it is said that bees taught divination to Hermes Apollo through the form of the Melissae Priestesses, according to Homer. The first mentions of Bees were on the 8,000 year old Sumerian Tablets carrying recipes that use honey for medicinal purposes – treating skin infections, ulcers and disease. They were then channelled as memories of the temples of the House of the Bee in Egypt, where Neith, one of the primordial Goddesses was
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worshiped. It is said that the statue of Neith in the House of the Bee was veiled, and inscribed at its base were the words, “I am all that has been, that is, or shall ever be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled.” Another phrase attributed to Neith is, “The fruit which I have brought forth is the Sun.”
object called an ‘Omphalos’, a carved stone, shaped like a beehive, covered in beelike images connected by a beautiful pattern. Phythia, the chief priestess at Delphi, was called ‘The Delphic Bee’. Pythia’s priestesses, called Queen Bees used humming, and drumming, to enter into trance states.
The bee mysteries were then channelled in Pasidae in the Minoan Cretan Labryinth, by the dancing, humming, and drumming Mellissae Priestesses. ‘The Drumming Bee Sisterhood,’ - The humming of the bees, the drumming of the sisters, in their sacred chambers of specific frequencies. They were speaking to the divine, just as the bees do. It is said the most important oracular site of ancient Greece, Delphi, has been constructed by bees. The oracle of the temple itself an
Across all traditions, bee medicine, amongst its many attributes, is synonymous with community, cooperation and selflessness.
