THE IMMORALITY OF BEEKEEPING
excerpt from my full ebook "The HIVEmind Invasion of Civilization! Science, Symbolism & Mythology
https://www.patreon.com/posts/18804168
THE BEEHIVE AND FREEMASONRY By Br. Geo. W. Bullamore.
"In any collection of Masonic glass, pottery or other curios, a number are usually to be found on which the straw beehive, or skep, as it is technically termed, occurs as a decoration.
If the young Mason enquires of his brethren what the beehive has to do with Masonry he is usually informed that the bee, or beehive, represents Industry and was used with that significance by our Masonic forerunners.
As a beekeeper, this explanation made no great appeal to me. The industry of the bee suggests itself on a fine day to the casual observer with no knowledge of bees. More remarkable characteristics pass unnoticed, and the lesson is also unsatisfactory.
The system of beekeeping that formerly prevailed in this country when the production of honey was a necessity depended on an increase in the number of colonies. The surplus colonies were killed off in the autumn for their stores of honey. Those with the most honey, as well as those with the least, were sacrificed, so that Industry carried with it certain disadvantages. (IMMORALITY AND EXPLOITATION OF SLAVE LABOR)
This aspect of affairs was noticed by Shakespeare, who wrote:—“Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey,
We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees
Are murdered for our pains.”2 Henry IV., iv. 4.
A writer in the Universal Magazine for May, 1800, thus moralises:
“Thou art a fool, thou busy, busy bee
Thus for another to toil;
Thy master waits till thy work is done,
Till the latest flowers of the ivy are gone,
And then he will seize the spoil.
He, will murder thee, thou poor little bee.”
