Bee Stories for Gobnait’s Day - part 4
Buzzing around Carrowkeel
Us humans always seem to have a spirit, deity, doctrine, or head of an order that we work for, that we say we have a "duty" towards. If there is no image in our hearts and minds of who or what we serve, then it seems no work is done and there is no motivating purpose in our lives?
Near where we lived at Carrowcrory for 18 years, are the Carrowkeel Cairns. Archaeologists carbon date these being over 5500 years old. It is interesting that their carbon dating includes measurements using some ancient pollens found at these sites.
The signposts leading visitors to Carrowkeel label them as "Carrowkeel Tombs", but their tomb use, grave use, did not seem to happen until much as 3000 years after they were built. This indicates that their cairns' purpose was for something else.
One person, from the USA, in a group that I walked to these cairns with, described these cairns as "call boxes to the other world". I thought that was a very apt description because when we make phone calls, once upon a time in call boxes or what we called phone boxes, it's a two way communication. Mythology speaks of these cairns being a place of two way spirit coming and going, therefore a connection to birth and leaving.
The building of these cairns was a huge task. They would have been much larger than they are today as many of their rocks have been taken to use as a material for stone walls and buildings nearby, especially from about 700 years ago until about 100 years ago.
Archaeologists have concluded that each cairn was for a family so the spirits of each family’s ancestors are said to have come and went from each sacred cairn point.
The building of the cairns, to me, gives the image of the family members working like worker bees dedicated to creating the "hive" for their "Queen Bee" the spirit mother of their entire family's ancestry, and possibly regarded as the Queen Bee of the whole trib. To me, from the way this has been described to me, it's as if each family had it's own "hive".
Its as if there is a kind of Queen Bee goddess or spirit that blesses the family with life, gives birth to new life, and takes away lives spent when each has fulfilled its time here.
It now tends to imagine each family ‘Queen Bee’ that also blesses the land, with a family of humans that work like worker bees and drones in ways that are of respect and honour to the Queen Bee, the Goddess.
I will close this with a thought, which will soon develop as a chapter, about the "beehive" places of prayer, the cells of the monastic communities that are still quite well preserved on Skellig Michael and Inishmurray islands. Are these inspired by these cairns, like at Carrowkeel and Loughcrew?
Some tell of these ancient stone beehive cells being the inspiration of St. Gobnait, Deborah, from Co. Clare. Gobnait, a 5th century born matron saint of Bees and Beekeepers. It is said St. Gobnait, like Brighid, was inspired by stories of an ancient teacher or goddess that some say was Gobnaid, but that is a 100% spelling and pronunciation guess. I have also hear the name of just plain ‘Gob’. Gobnait's pattern day is February 11th, quite close to Brighid's Day and the Imbolc. Within the Julian Calendar that pre-dates the current mainly used Gregorian Calendar, Brighid’s Day was February 11th in that calendar.
Seeking For The Mother Bee Again
Today, I feel it is wonderful that there is a huge and rapidly growing interest in Bees. It is being realised that fast reduction of Bees represents the biggest disaster that is happening on our planet, and it can be be reversed with collective effort.
There is suddenly worldwide media and social network exposure of Bees and their destructive CCDs, Colony Collapse Disorder.
The serious decline in bee health around the world, especially in the USA where the wild bees are almost extinct and in Europe that is catching up to the USA, is revealing how our ways are endangering the balance of all living things.
There is a huge disconnection between us and the rest of life that is now snowballing into consequences.
Some mystics describe this as misguided practices of the dominant patriarchy that is motivated to kill insects and destroy the environments where bees find the flower blossoms.
The current bee crisis is a global crisis. Without the pollination of blossoms by bees, we will no longer have fruits, nuts, and many kinds of vegetables.
I agree with the mystics that we need to invoke within ourselves a vision of the Bee Goddess presence. The recent focus on the spirit and light of Bhride, of Brighid motivated by Ireland dedicating a Brighid holiday from this year, also aligns me to the possibilities of thinking about Bhride as also being an image of a Mother Bee Goddess.
I believe we need to be constantly reminded about how to feel, how to value and know what to do to prevent the extinction of bees on this earth. This is essential to prevent the extinction of ourselves and all life.
Albert Einstein said that if bees became extinct the human race has a maximum of four years to live before they are extinct.
Reversal and solutions cannot be done overnight or through passionate efforts from individuals. Resolve would not be achieved by lighting a candle and go on social networks to ask the world to light candles at the same time as us and pray for the bees. Having said that, these actions do increase our attention to the plight of bees in relation to our existence.
I do believe that we now have many prompts and many reminders that reconnect us to ways to live that nurture and sustain our Mother Earth, perhaps through our Mother Goddess, and essentially through Mother Queen Bee images, or something just as potent if we are not into the ‘goddess’ thing..
Maybe Maeve Showed The Way?
One of the most controversial debates I find myself getting into is the subject of "heroes". A majority of our individual heroes are men, and women heroes are largely those who have taken to the sword as well.
To me a "hero" is a detachment from the ‘Mother Queen Bee’ way.
The burial of people at the time when the ways of the Queen Bee Goddess was of race, of family, and not of reverence to individuals. Examples seem to be skulls being stored in one place, high bones in another and no skeleton carrying a person’s name after passing.
I feel the epic story of Cú Chulainn is a good example. We are fed up with believing in him becoming a ‘hero’ and of Maeve as a demanding ‘whore’ and her attacking warriors being a band of thieves.
Turning this around I feel this tale of Maeve was a call of the Queen Bee gathering her hive. To me, this is made easier when we consider the symbolism of the myths of morphing bees to bulls.
I believe the ways of this patriarchal hero was to prevent this hive gathering happening. The patriarchal hero's intent was to take over her authority and entomb her hive, Maeve, with the selfish belief of personal eternal life being the "way" rather than that of a communal balanced life.
Fortunately, Maeve won. An often untold part of the story is that after her warriors had been slaughtered, then finally the "hero" Cú Culainn slaughtered too, she simply sent for a herd of cows from Cooley. As these cows left Cooley, the bull followed, as all bulls would in that situation, right back to her court in Connaught.
The magic that our ancestors found in bees and their hive life seems to be entering into our psyche again.
This imagery is well serving our questions, and illuminating us back to seeing, feeling and sensing our Mother Bee again. We may ask for ‘trusting’ that she will again guide us and assist us to make the changes for the challenges we face on earth for the earth today.
This is perhaps the deepest labyrinth journey that I share with our friends that used to visit our Labyrinth Gardens at Carrowcrory, so that they could feel free and comfortable to walk not just as a visitor but as a lost bee returning home.
Thank you for reading all 4 parts to connect this all together.
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