Hello readers,
Today I joined the arboreal apiculture Salon for the first time.
I had no idea what to expect, or how many people would be on. I was the 6th person to enter and join Michael and Jonathan and by the start of the event we were a group of 13 people from around the world.
The topic was Sentient beings, and Michael opened up the conversation with words he had heard or read somewhere about plants being able to "see" and remember you by the colour of what you were wearing when you came near them.
It reminded me of how I read once that flowers know when pollinators are flying close by and as a reaction throw of a stronger scent to lure them in. But this was a gathering about bees so I forgot to mention it in the group.
We went on about how bees have a similar way of being sentient about their surroundings and how we can experience that. Now this sort of talk might sound as a load of bull crap to a lot of people but to me, even though I don't really practice the meditational approach to my bees very much, I do hope to do so more in the future. It's clear to me the bees feel your intent and try to tell you something about how they feel you when you approach the hive or open it. I feel stinging is their last resort, although what they feel might cause them to sting sooner than later, as in how much pressure they have for protecting the honey later in the season. But in general I think they talk to us without us being aware.
We broke up into smaller groups for about half an hour to talk in a more intimate setting, I was in a group lead by Jonathan and had two other members with us. There I learnt Jonathan had a project in Spain with a bee bed. As I remember it's a sort of top-bar setup with the possibility for humans to rest on top of the bars without actually being 'in' the hive. (The can't get to you) There is also a sort of prehistoric stethoscope in there that allows you to listen to the sound of the hive. This experience is supposed to be relaxing. Jonathan gave us this small introduction because all three of us were new to the salon. Then both other members contributed, one was a farmer in the USA, the other worked at a monastery in Portugal where groups of people were made aware of the sentient nature of bees.
I myself didn't get too much into what I do and how I do it, but I did talk about how when I'm with my bees I feel how their mood is. They feel what my intent with them is and sometimes I know it's not a good time to work with the bees by how they react to me.
I expressed my interest in this form of communication and how I would very much like to capture the way to do it so we can help others get to that place, so they can connect their brains with their hearts again. In the end of the session I said I think we're the only species on this planet that have disconnected ourselves from nature by thinking too much with the brain rather than with the heart. As it turns out Jonathan uses a symbol to mark 'his' tree-hives that just means that.
Sure science can prove to us, without a doubt, that his or that is true, but in our heart, we already know it.
I once heard there are no lies, we only let ourselves be deceived by untruth's because we are not interested in the truth.
After that we came back together and talked about what topics we discussed.
One person said she felt the bees say: look, we let you put us in this box, you gave it to us and as soon as you close it up, you need to respect our place, since it is ours. And I would hope that more people could work with the bees like that. But I'm afraid that won't be for tomorrow.
Another expressed their admiration for how bees welcome each other into the world after being born and how we could benefit from accepting babies in the world like that as a community rather than as individuals.
Another spoke about how that sentient communication is non-verbal, or if it's not how the spoken language is not adept enough to cover everything you can say with 'feeling'.
The Salon was a very warm experience for me and I was glad I was part of it. Some people might be to 'emotional' for my liking within that group, but we are all different and I very much appreciated the views off all present. I was asked to be 'spokesman' of our smaller group by Jonathan, and then afterwards Michael asked me to lead them into a moment of silence using my meditation methode... I let them both down in backing out of that.
Bob Out
