In ancient mythology, the bee was considered the most sacred insect that was believed to be a messenger between our world and the spirit world and was honoured in ancient Indian, Near East and Aegean cultures for its profound magical properties and its association with ancient wisdom and purity. In ancient Greek and Minoan mythology, the winged goddess of bees was called “Melissa” (Greek word for “Bee”) and this name was also assigned to her priestesses. In ancient Egypt, bees were associated with royalty and power and born from the tears of the sun god Ra when they landed on the desert sand. The ruler of Lower Egypt was often referred as “He who belongs to the Bee” and one of the five royal names of pharaohs was the Sedge and Bee name referring to the Northern and Southern Lands of ancient Egypt.

The Sacred Bee

“Melissa”

Spiral of Sound or Communication

According to scientific laws of aviation, the wings of a bee, especially a bumblebee, are too small to fly. However, by the way, they move their wings back and forth, they generate tiny vortexes in the air that lift them upwards. Bees and other flying insects produce audible and inaudible sound by rapidly moving their wings and therefore it would not be inconceivable that they make additional use of the concept of acoustic levitation through low-frequency sound waves and vibration inside their body and thus producing a standing wave with nodes and anti-nodes and of which the nodes or areas of minimum pressure form the basis of acoustic levitation. Modern scientists discovered a way of using sound waves to levitate small objects weighing a few grams.

Honey bees in ultra slow motion

Using sound to levitate objects

Is this one of the profound magical sound properties of the bee and could this be the reason that the ancient megalithic Tarxien Temples of Malta, submerged in the soil, were possibly shaped like the body of the sacred bee and decorated with spirals representing the ancient symbol of sound and communication? Several ancient megalithic temples of Malta were equipped with sound chambers decorated with spirals and of which the structure resonates at the “Holy Resonance Frequency” of 111 hertz that played a major role in affecting the human brain thus resulting in a divine level of meditation through which they believed to get connected to the universe and their creator.

Tarxien Temples – Malta

Many ancient resonance chambers were specially built for this meditative purpose as well as healing through sound, which is basically based on the same principle of vibration underlying the foundation of existence.

©Willem Witteveen

 

Note: It was not possible to determine the resonance properties of the Tarxien temples as there is no roof present. However, experts in the field of archaeoacoustics discovered a low vibration originating from below the ground probably due to the movement of underground water and this vibration appears to be transmitted through the megalith’s concavities and holes (“Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology” – June 2016)

Australian Stingless Bees Build Stunning Spiral Hives and No One’s Quite Sure Why

By Mario L. Major – February 2018

Source: Tim Heard

Dr. Tim Heard, through his research and documentation efforts over the years, is determined to increase public awareness about the truly unique sugarbag honeybee.

The “discovery” of places or living things in nature about which very little is known or reported seems to pique our interest. This is perhaps because they are usually things that are existing or occurring right under our nose.

One delightful example comes from Australia-based entomologist Tim Heard, who has been spreading the word (creating a buzz seemed like an unfortunate phrase to choose in this instance) about sugarbag honey bees.

Source: Tim Heard

Heard is also a former scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, based in Canberra, and started documenting the fascinating creatures over thirty years ago.

With the aim to educate the public, Heard created a comprehensive website that provides visitors all the information they need to learn more about the stingless bees, which Heard adds are “highly social insects, with one queen and thousands of workers who live together in a protected place, which, in nature, is usually in a hollow tree.”

They “inhabit the northern parts of Australia, although on the east coast they reach a bit further south than Sydney, and occur in other tropical parts of the world, while the Australian species are much smaller than European honey bees.”

Beyond the biological classifications (Tetragonula carbonaria), and providing a brief bit of info about their habitat and size relative to other bees, Tim Heard gets to the most incredible aspect of the bees: the unique hives they build.

The Spiral Design of the Bee Hive

Source: Tim Heard

The hives do not resemble those found in other bee populations in a number of ways:

  • The hives have an intricate, clockwise spiralling design.

  • Each hive features only one entrance.

  • The hive entrances are coated with a pathogen-blocking sticky layer, an extra line of defence for the bees which, according to Heard, “do not have a sting although they can give you a little bite with their jaws.”

Heard maintains as many as 400 of the hives at a time and says that the shape is most likely created out of necessity to protect the integrity of the core of the hive: “What we’re looking at is the advancing front of a stingless bee colony,” he says, adding, “In the middle of the spiral, you have to construct cells that move with the change.”

Some scientists also offer up the theory that the shape creates better conditions for air circulation.

Source: Tim Heard

Of course, not satisfied to merely provide info about the unique bees, Heard discusses the best ways to raise and cultivate your own little sugarbag honeybee population, and in his book, The Native Bee Book: Keeping Stingless Bee Hives for Pets, Pollination, and Sugarbag Honey, he goes into even further detail about dividing, transporting and maintaining hives.

The most compelling stories about scientists involve cases, much like Heard’s, in which one’s life work and one’s life mission become one and the same. Few are lucky enough to achieve this kind of fusion of vision and purpose, and it appears that Heard is indeed one of them.

Via: National Geographic, Tim Heard – 2018