Bee Medicine

The Medicine of Working with Insects, Animals and Plant Energy

The medicine of working with insect, animal and plant energy encompasses various practices aimed at promoting healing, balance, and well-being. Here are a few key aspects of using these practices as a healing modality to give you an idea, and then we will dive into Bee Medicine specifically.

• Spirit Energy: This involves connecting with the archetypal, spiritual essence of a particular insect, animal or plant.
  
  

• Animal Medicine: Often used in shamanic healing, animal and plant medicines mirror aspects of ourselves and the challenges we face, offering guidance, protection, and healing.
  
  

• Energy Healing of Animals and Plant: This practice involves activating the body's natural healing energies to bring about well-being, with benefits including physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and instinctual stability.
  
  

• Energy Healing: This involves activating the body’s natural healing energies and bringing about well-being, with ancient cultures using various methods for healing.

As a budding Herbalist, I will also speak on herbs that I use to go along with Bee medicine, as well as how it works in conjunction with balancing the energy systems of the body, also known as the Chakras. Please take what resonates and leave what does not.

Bee Medicine

When it comes to understanding the spiritual meaning behind an animal encounter, it’s often the most obvious characteristics of that animal that are important. So what spiritual messages might a bee be delivering?

Generally, bees symbolize hard work, community, diligence, creativity, wisdom, and love. They also serve as reminders to trust in miracles, believe in the greater good, use our resources wisely, and reconnect with nature.

Their role as pollinators also makes them vital for the survival of many other species. So whilst bees are small and can be overlooked, they are incredibly important. This too can hold an important message. The most important contribution rarely comes from those who shout the loudest.

To work with Bee medicine, you will need to embody the energy of the bee as an emotional state of awareness.

Are you part of a thriving community? If so, what is your role? If not, are you being asked to start building your community of likeminded people who support you and who you can in turn, support?

What is your creative outlet? Are you being asked to find it? Maybe it’s time to take up a hobby or dive deeper into the one you already have.

Bees also remind us to “Stop and smell the flowers”, as this is the most vital part of their health and lifecycle. While bees can survive without pollen, they would face significant challenges in their health and ability to reproduce. Pollen is crucial for the bees' diet, providing essential nutrients that support their colony life. Without sufficient pollen, bees may experience reduced reproductive success and could face starvation if they lack other food sources.

As humans, what is a vital source for us and our energy? Air, water, food, yes. More so, love, community, and connection. What is the source you are depleted in and how can you make it a priority in your life to be the healthiest version of you?

When you see a bee, it could be a sign to look into where you are now and how things are going. Moreover, we can call on Bee medicine when we need to remember our own strength and to follow our own divine path. Bees are extremely intuitive for their own survival. How can you work with their medicine to trust yourself and remember the sweetness of your life?

Journal prompts:

• How can I show up in my community as my full self?

• Do I trust my intuition and instincts?

• What does “The sweetness of life” mean to me?

Herbs to use with Bee Medicine

The best herbs to use with bee medicine is anything that attracts a bee as a pollinator.

The herb Melissa officinalis, or more commonly known as Lemon balm, is part of the mint family. This herb is a personal favorite. Melissa literally means “honeybee”. Lemon balm is known for its abundance in pollen and is top choice for bees who come across it.

The known medicinal benefits of Lemon Balm include:

vital stimulant (stimulates the vitality/Life force), relaxant (relaxes tissues, mucus membranes, and energetically calming and grounding) diffusive from the core of the body diffusing throughout tissues, cells and organs. Energetically expansive, possibly leading to a new perspective and mental shifts and removing mental and energetic blocks due to wider range of perspective.

Other herbs include: Purple coneflower, goldenrod, lavender, and anything in the Aster family has abundant pollen for bees to collect.

Chakras in Bee medicine

Bee medicine is most often associated with the 3rd Chakra, the Solar plexus. Not only do the bees and this chakra share the color yellow, but both are associated with the Solar system, or Sun system. Bees are a sun loving insect, and vitamin D is essential for our human health. Vitamin D supports bone growth and health, immune function, and helps keep our muscles and brain cells functioning. The solar plexus is considered the place of fire, (solar/sun). The Solar Plexus Chakra regulates your fears, sense of power, and gut feelings. When it is in balance, you likely feel confident and have a sense of purpose. But if your life is filled with stress, or you are overwhelmed, this chakra can get out of balance and cause low self esteem, trouble making a decision, and the need for external validation. Deeper imbalances also can cause fatigue, weight gain, and digestive disorders such as hypoglycemia and diabetes.

How Bee medicine works with The Solar Plexus Chakra

Bee medicine reminds us to stay true to our sense of self and our purpose that we are here to carry out in this lifetime through the beauty that naturally surrounds us.

From beautiful, vibrant flowers, to sweet honey. May we reflect on nature's beauty and the color yellow which symbolizes happiness, joy and enlightenment.

Through these things we can more easily connect to ourselves and nature and live in harmony with what is, without the control of needing to change it or make it different. Find your passion. Follow your gut and trust yourself and your instincts. This is enough to guide you to where you need to be. And who knows. Maybe you’ll land in a field of Lemon balm.