Behind the royal façade: what are they hiding from us?

The beehive is a very old Masonic symbol that is still used in many countries, but in England and Wales it was dropped after the Union of 1813. It can still be seen however in some older pre-Union lodges, for example it is displayed as a symbol on the 3rd Degree Tracing Board of the Royal Cumberland Lodge No.41 in Bath, but to all purposes it has been lost as a symbol under the United Grand Lodge of England.

The ritual of the Royal Cumberland Lodge dates back to the eighteenth century and includes the following reference to the beehive symbol:

“The Beehive teaches us that as we are born into the world rational and intelligent beings, so ought we also to be industrious ones, and not stand idly by or gaze with listless indifference on even the meanest of our fellow creatures in a state of distress if it is in our power to help them without detriment to ourselves or our connections; the constant practice, – of this virtue is enjoined on all created beings, from the highest seraph in heaven to the meanest reptile that crawls in the dust.”

The symbol is a very ancient one, representing the working lodge. Seven bees are usually seen flying around the hive, seven being the number to make a perfect lodge. The bee was used as a symbol in ancient Egypt, and the beehive symbol dates back to at least ancient Rome. The beehive as a symbol was adopted by many Friendly Societies, Trade Unions and insurance companies, the hive representing Beehiveindustry and the bees the workers. The Roman writer Porphyry, in his work De antro nympharum (The Cave of the Nymphs), tells us that in the Roman rites of Mithra, honey from a honeycomb was poured over the initiate during the Leo (Lion) ritual while he was admonished to avoid all that which is unclean in the world. The Church of the Latter Day Saints also adopted the symbol and it may be featured in the Book of Mormon, when it states that the Jaredites carried “with them Deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee” (Ether 2:3).

A beehive was discovered at Rosslyn Chapel during the recent renovations. It was inside a rooftop pinnacle that had been hollowed-out by the masons for this purpose. The bees entered through a hole in a decorative flower on the pinnacle. It is interesting in that its construction did not allow for the extraction of honey. The sole purpose appears to have been to protect the bees from the bad weather of the region.

According to the American Preston-Webb Ritual it is explained as a symbol of industry and co-operation, and as cautioning against intellectual laziness, warning that “he that will so demean himself as not to be endeavoring to add to the common stock of knowledge and understanding, may be deemed a drone in the hive of nature, a useless member of society, and unworthy of our protection as Masons.”

The earliest known Masonic reference to the beehive is found in an MS entitled A Letter from the Grand Mistress of the Female Free-Masons to Mr Harding the Printer, found in the Halliday Collection, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. This document is believed to have been created between 1727 and 1730, and while originally attributed to Jonathan Swift, the true author remains unknown.

“A bee has in all Ages and Nations been the Grand Hierogliphick of Masonry, because it excells all other living Creatures in the Contrivance and Commodiousness of its Habitation or combe; … nay Masonry or Building seems to be of the very Essence or Nature of the Bee, for her Building not the ordinary Way of all other living Creatures, is the Generative Cause which produces the Young ones….”

“For this Reason the Kings of France both Pagans and Christians, always Eminent Free-Masons, carried three Bees for their Arms…”

“What Modern Masons call a Lodge was for the above Reasons by Antiquity call’d a HIVE of Free-Masons, and for the same Reasons when a Dissention happens in a Lodge the going off and forming another Lodge is to this Day call’d SWARMING.”

Shakespeare, in his play Henry V, uses the beehive as an example of a well-ordered kingdom.

“So work the honey-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.”

-William Shakespeare, Henry V (Act 1, Scene 2)

The beehive symbol is thus a traditional image, with almost rustic and working class connotations, and this may explain why it was dropped from the collection of symbols of science, geometry and precision that now dominate modern Freemasonry of the UGLE.

Some might see in the Beehive a model of the Masonic fraternity. Each bee has a symbiotic relation with all the others, and as a whole they support each other and, thereby, the hive.

Bees, Beehives

Humanity has always had a close relationship with bees, whose honey has have been a food staple since before the dawn of civilization. As a symbol, the bees’ lifestyle mimics that of the human social order- a cooperative, productive social hierarchy.

In fact, beekeeping is one of the earliest markers of civilized society- bees provided many of the necessities of advancement, providing not only food, but wax for metalworking, cosmetics, and medicines, as well as the ever-important pollination of fruit trees and other food crops.


Hieroglyphic Bee symbolizing the Kingdom of Lower Egypt



The cultivation of honey was a sacred charge often imbued with ritual symbolism and associated with the mother goddess, whose nurturing protection of mankind was symbolized by the the abundance of honey provided to bee society under the reign of the queen bee.

As it was widely believed that bees were born spontaneously, they were widely viewed as symbols of chastity and purity. The Bee’s never-flagging labours made them an emblem of hard work, industriousness, teamwork, perseverance, charity, selflessness, and constancy. These virtues are recalled in many heraldic emblems and personal seals, as well as in the emblems of Freemasonry, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and in countless trademarks.


Observances of the annual hibernation of the hives also resulted in the belief that bees died and were reborn annually, and this, along with their colouring, made them a natural solar symbol- and later, an emblem of Christ in to Christian believers. Greek followers of the goddess Demeter believed her priestesses would be reincarnated as bees; the priestesses of the Ephesian Diana wre called melissae- bees.


Deshret or DSRT also represents the insect known as the honeybee. The Book of Mormon claims that the word Deseret means honeybee.

books.google.com/books?id=E69rs26QhdoC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=masonic+beehive+and+albert+pike&source=bl&ots=KuOpa34zuP&sig=vcqZayzLcsdRfzYVvAewftjL_CE&hl=en&ei=JHMvTMbcJeKXONekuMsB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Great Work of the Masonic Beehive





The bee-hive is an important symbol in the third degree,

The Beehive teaches us that as we are born into the world rational and intelligent beings, so ought we also to be industrious ones, and not stand idly by or gaze with listless indifference on even the meanest of our fellow creatures in a state of distress if it is in our power to help them without detriment to ourselves or our connections; the constant practice, -of this virtue is enjoined o,n all created beings, from the highest seraph in heaven to the meanest reptile that crawls in the dust.”

www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/aqc/beehive.html

..and it is extensively mentioned in the lecture where it is depicted as a symbol of industry, hence the work of the Lodge, so that Masons should continue to learn in all stages of life. Bees are able to accomplish large tasks because they cooperate in force, a single bee can do very little. This is in parallel to Masonry, where strength is gained by the active participation of all its members. The bee is also the emblem of several Greco-Roman and Indian gods, including Cupid and Kama, both gods of love.


The Egyptians believed that bees were born from the tears of the Sun-god, Ra. Bees are also depicted on many ancient tombs, as symbols of the afterlife and resurrection. This probably came from the fact that bees do not leave their hive during the three month hibernation period, only to reappear later. Some compared this to Christ’s resurrection, whereby his body vanished for three days, only to reappear after the resurrection. Furthermore, bees’ honey and sting are also associated with Christ and Judgment Day.

In Ireland bees were legally protected, for they produce honey which in turn produces mead, the drink of immortality that flows in the Otherworld. In Christian allegory a queen bee sometimes represents the Virgin Mary, the hive symbolizing the Church. The coat of arms of Pope Urban VIII and Napoleon I, for example, depicts several bees.


The Beehive As A Focal Point For Masonic Meditation
www.themasonictrowel.com/Articles/Symbolism/general_files/the_beehive_as_focal_point/the_beehive_as_focal_point.htm