Once upon a time bees made ambrosia: food and drink of the gods. ⠀
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Once upon a time honey was spread on the lips of poets so that they may become honey-tongued and speak words of pleasure. ⠀
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Once upon a time bees gave us their secrets of sensuous intoxication, and we spoke of another world where the rivers ran gold with honey-wine. ⠀
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Once upon a time the bees were kin to the nymphs of Arcadia, beings of beauty residing somewhere between mortal and divine.⠀
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Once we equated the honey bees with love, with fertility, and with divine whispering.⠀
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Today we used new words to talk about a bees. Words like industrious, workers, and busy. ⠀
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Language is the result of worldview, and one’s worldview is shaped by language. ⠀
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When did we take the divine out of pleasure? When did we exile the Lover from the Mother? When did Eros become a distraction, while the Worker ruled? When did we stop seeing drops of nectar as Holy and start seeing them as Product? When did the Nymph, so deeply attuned to the fertile and feminine cycles of nature, become she who is “diseased” with “bide-madness” or Nymphomania. ⠀
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The Queen is the Mother is the Lover is the Goddess. Change how you talk about a thing and you change the way you see it. Give yourself permission to bring pleasure back into the conversation. The bees most certainly have much to say on the matter. If we listen.⠀