The Honeybee, Sustainer of Life on Earth
Inspired by Gunther Hauk, dedicated to Ines Katharina
Rarely are we aware of the very subtle interrelationships of life, for they are hidden by what we see, or perhaps don’t see, & simply take for granted. As an example: we know that great herds of buffalo provided meat, hides & bones for the American Indians. And yet, these gifts were almost side effects compared to the critical, yet less-seen role that the bison had of building up the deep, rich soil in the prairies, an abiding fertility that was essential in creating the breadbasket of our nation. Our conventional agriculture is still relying on this richness, but depleting it by the year.
When we think of the honeybee, we think of her gifts of pollinating about 3/4 of our daily food, of the honey she prepares out of the nectar of plants, of pollen & propolis. These, too, are minor contributions to life on earth, compared to the far greater importance she holds as sustainer of life. She shares this task with all the stinging insects, the hornets & wasps, the other bee species & the ants.
Sustainer of life on earth? Isn’t this a bit exaggerated? What then do they give us?- Believe it or not, it’s the acids! An organic substance, in homeopathic dilution, which is the basis of all life: DNA, fatty acids, amino acids, peptic acid, uric acid, folic acid, just to name the more familiar ones. Without these acids, no life processes could take place!
In plants it is the oxalic acid that provides the basic life-giving substance. Oxalis clover, rhubarb, & wood sorrel have lots of it, & we can taste the sour acid element more easily than in most vegetables.
In the animal kingdom, specifically in the stinging insects, it is the formic acid that plays a major role. Formic acid (formica = the ant) is the poison we feel when an ant bites us or a wasp or bee stings us. Each of these species produces a variation of formic acid.
As the bees & wasps receive nectar & pollen from the flowers, they are able to take in some of this oxalic acid, but they do not only take, they also provide a gift for the plants. As these insects fly & crawl through nature, they distribute their formic acid.
This formic acid, in finest dilution, wafts through the air & in Spring the germinating seeds & budding perennials receive this formic acid that has been produced the year before & still saturates the atmosphere, as their Spring tonic. So, these stinging insects are the nurturers of life on earth, since plants provide food, directly or indirectly, to all other beings.
Oxalic & formic acid each acts as an invigorator, a booster to the life processes for the other kingdoms. It is with the help of minute quantities of formic acid that the earth’s entire plant life grows & thrives. And, on the other hand, it is the plants’ oxalic acid that stimulates & invigorates all of the animal & human kingdom.
As we eat our spinach, broccoli, chard, carrots, the fruit & berries, we also take up the oxalic acid contained in them. Now a mysterious transformation occurs: we are able to change this acid into our very own formic acid!
“It is an established fact that our entire endocrine processes—governing growth, health, reproduction—function by virtue of minuscule amounts of the secretion created by the pituitary gland. Little, if any, scientific knowledge exists that on the same level of importance, this process of transforming oxalic acid into formic acid lets us live as spiritual beings in a physical body ~Rudolf Steiner, “Bees”.
For our life on Earth we depend on the vast numbers of stinging insects, which enliven the plant kingdom with their formic acid. SO our attitude toward these insects will have to undergo a drastic revision, away from disdain, anger, & fear – toward gratitude & respect, a nurturing, instead of killing.
Thinking of the honey bee, the ants, wasps & hornets, we can now understand that our lives depend on them. The honey bee takes a special place among all these formic acid producing insects because they live through the winter as a colony of perhaps 10 -20 thousand individual workers. By the end of March they may have already doubled their numbers & by the Summer Solstice, they reach 40-60 thousand individual worker bees. The vast numbers of honeybees flying already in early Spring not only contribute to the much needed pollination, but to the amount of formic acid released into nature. Now perhaps we can appreciate that our very lives depend on the care of the honeybee, & that we must participate with them in the sustaining of life on earth.
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POD (Poem Of the Day)
~To my body I gave the power of my heart
Bee love & create I said
Beat within the grace of the world’s rhythms
A radiant Sun
In tune with the music of becoming
A ferry thru dark churning waves
An oasis flowing with fresh waters
On the high tide of blessings
To open my head
to pure thought unfolded
~hag
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Venus & Mercury are dancing toward each other as we speak. Coming into a tight conjunction in the northwest at evening twilight. Although they look close together, Mercury is on the far side of the Sun from us while Venus is now on the near side.
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
World Bee Day – Birthday in 1734 of Anton Janša, the pioneer of beekeeping. The purpose of this international day is to acknowledge the role of bees & other pollinators for our eco-sytem
325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church. Its main accomplishments were settlement of the Christological issue of the divine nature of God the Son & His relationship to God the Father, the construction of the first part of the Nicene Creed, & establishing uniform observance of the date of Easter, & the promulgation of early canon law.
1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west.
1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Calicuta India.
1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1609 – Shakespeare’s sonnets are illicitly published in London, by Thomas Thorpe.
1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire & most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years’ War.
1645 – Yangzhou massacre: the 10-day massacre of 900,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory
1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law
1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1891 –The first public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope.
1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.
1940 –The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1956 – In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean
1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
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| “…Like an evening vapor after the sunset…” A LIVE online Ascension Festival with the Central Regional Council May 21, 2020 7 pm – 8:15 pm CDT (8pm – 9:15pm EDT) |
 Ascension Thursday – May 21, 2020 7pm – 8:15pm CDT Join the Central Regional Council and special guests Geoffrey Norris, Mary Ruud and Nancy Melvin on an artistic exploration of the Mystery of Ascension. We will offer leading thoughts, intermingled with poetry and Eurythmy, to be followed by open conversation. In the clouds, between the depths of earth and heavenly heights, in the sphere of the etheric realm, we see the primal image of metamorphosis. Is this global pandemic entreating us to ‘Practice Spirit Beholding‘ to awaken to the etheric realm we all share in common with the earth? We can ‘Practice Spirit Recalling‘ to remember we received our etheric body on Old Sun. In practicing ‘Spirit-Sensing‘ we may feel perhaps the Coronavirus is an admonition for us to reconnect to the sun-forces now imbued with The Etheric Christ, waiting to be recognized and engaged in the current evolving conditions. This is an invitation for all of humanity to rise to a higher stage of initiation – a global Coronation. The fulfillment of the secret promise of the Ascension is the Second Coming. Will we choose to participate? FREE – ALL are Welcome – find below Zoom Call details. |
| This will be a “Zoom” conference call allowing us an opportunity to see one another while conversing (or audio only if you prefer). To connect to the audio/video-conference:Option 1. Click link below if you wish to connect through your computer (a headset is recommended) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86998748216?pwd=K3JYa1ZLWis3dzEweFYvQ1VFZVVRdz09 The PASSWORD is: (not required, password has been removed) Option 2. Call in using your telephone. United States: +1 (346) 248 7799 or +1 (312) 626 6799 Access Code: 869-9874-8216 The PASSWORD is: (not required, password has been removed) Option 3. You can use a combination of Options 1 and 2 (computer and phone). If you use the phone, please turn off the audio on your computer to prevent audio feedback. For more info. contact Alberto Loya aloyavaca@peoplepc.com May Hope Spring Eternal – The CRC – Marianne Fieber, Alberto Loya, Hazel Archer-Ginsberg, Lisa Dalton Eurythmyst: Mary Ruud Speech Artists: Geoffrey Norris and Nancy Melvin |
