# What does the "Beehive" symbolize?



## Blake Bowden (Nov 27, 2010)

What does the â€œBeehive" symbolize?








Notice: Answer(s) will be posted soon...


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## Bill Lins (Nov 27, 2010)

I'm amazed that so many Brethren do not know where to find the answer!


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## Bro. Stewart P.M. (Nov 27, 2010)

I was going to add....

I think that it is unfair that I comment on this style of thread since I personally own copies of the Masonic Encyclopedia. I think that it is better that our other less informed Brethren learn as I have over the years...


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## Blake Bowden (Nov 27, 2010)

Bill_Lins77488 said:
			
		

> I'm amazed that so many Brethren do not know where to find the answer!



Shhhh


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## Bill Lins (Nov 27, 2010)

Bro. Stewart said:


> I think that it is unfair that I comment on this style of thread since I personally own copies of the Masonic Encyclopedia.


 
The resource is closer to hand- the encyclopedia isn't needed.  :wink:


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## Bro. Stewart P.M. (Nov 27, 2010)

Bill_Lins77488 said:


> The resource is closer to hand- the encyclopedia isn't needed.  :wink:



Either way, I stand by my comment. You are correct though, you don't need the encyclopedia set in order to answer the quesion. I simply feel as if I were "cheating" because of the resources at my finger tips. That is all that I am saying.


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## jwhoff (Nov 27, 2010)

Think I'll just _monitor_ this subject brothers ... hint ... hint.

Ghee, they really don't do read it do they?


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## Bill Lins (Nov 27, 2010)

Boy, blake's gonna be pi$$ed at you!  :lol:


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## Blake Bowden (Nov 27, 2010)

Lol


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## rhitland (Nov 28, 2010)

I like that RW Carnes dug into the masonic symbol chest and used the hive for his coin


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## Bill Lins (Nov 28, 2010)

rhitland said:


> I like that RW Carnes dug into the masonic symbol chest and used the hive for his coin


 
Is he telling us to "Get busy"?  :wink:


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## Blake Bowden (Nov 28, 2010)

The answer is:

C. Industry


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## JTM (Dec 1, 2010)

Blake Bowden said:


> The answer is:
> 
> C. Industry


 
I think the symbolism can be expanded to cover "unity" and "brotherhood" as well.

The amount of industry that should be done by a lodge is done through unity and through/for the brotherhood.  Without those, industry is missing.


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## Zack (Dec 1, 2010)

"......never sitting down contented while our fellow creatures around us are in want;  especially when it is in our power to relieve them without inconvenience to ourselves."


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## LRG (Dec 4, 2010)

Work, all three are appropriate. Dealing with the bee hive, you can not have one without the other. Industry without brotherhood and unity, is just a temple amok.


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## tom268 (Dec 9, 2010)

We don't have this symbol in our ritual.


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## Bill Lins (Dec 9, 2010)

How do y'all pollinate?  :wink:


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## tom268 (Dec 9, 2010)

Hm, maybe that's why we are so few here *lol*


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## Bill Lins (Dec 9, 2010)

Well played, sir- well played! :smile:


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## dhouseholder (Dec 11, 2010)

JTM said:


> I think the symbolism can be expanded to cover "unity" and "brotherhood" as well.
> 
> The amount of industry that should be done by a lodge is done through unity and through/for the brotherhood.  Without those, industry is missing.


 
What about the fact that the beehive pictured is a man made one? Could it also be an symbolic of a world created by a Master's Hands while the workers buzz about, not noticing the handy work?


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## HKTidwell (Apr 28, 2011)

For added reflection (sorry for stirring up a old thread)

Utah Emblem and Motto
The Beehive and word "industry" became the official motto and emblem for Utah on March 4, 1959. Industry is associated with the symbol of the beehive. The early pioneers had few material resources at their disposal and therefore had to rely on their own "industry" to survive. The beehive was chosen as the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret in 1848 and was maintained along with the word "industry" on the seal and flag when Utah became a state in 1896.


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## Jacob Johnson (May 9, 2011)

lol i suppose it takes guts to stir up the beehive (thread)

i'm sorry. i couldn't resist


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## Nate Riley (Aug 9, 2011)

rhitland said:


> I like that RW Carnes dug into the masonic symbol chest and used the hive for his coin



Me too.  The coin is sweet.


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## thor9541 (Nov 27, 2011)

*Check your grip*

The answer to this qustion is in your ritual along with a wealth of other emblems . Study to show thy self approved. If your gonna be in the craft know it.


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## Trout (Nov 28, 2011)

The State of Utah uses it in their state flag for the same purpose and meaning.


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## Trout (Nov 28, 2011)

I missed the other Utah post. I'm sorry. In light of the current economic climate it is kind of ironic as they are one of the few states that is growing and prospering along with Texas. The unstated motto has always been, how do we do more with less.


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## Bro Jaime Solis (Feb 6, 2012)

Basically its like each individual bee in the hive knows their job and what's expected from each individual bee I'm asking enlighten me Brothers


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## dreamer (Mar 27, 2012)

It is important for all Masons to know the basic symbols. I have seen where there are members who can't recognize the symbols on the Officers' Aprons and/or jewels to place on the Officers' chairs.:43:


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## Dion (Jun 23, 2012)

What does it symbolize to whom?  For the geometer, it might represent the hexagonal cell structure of the hive.  For the more esoteric investigator (astronomy), it might symbolize Praesepe (the "Manger"), commonly known as the Beehive Cluster (M44).  The ancients believed that the soul descended into materialism through the gates of Cancer and returned to the Source via the gate of Capricorn.  Of course, it doesn't end there.  Nor should it.

The only male bees in the hive are the drones.  The workers are infertile females.  The only purpose of a drone is to procreate, and once they fulfill their mission, they are discarded.  I don't believe Mackey mentioned this.

In 1874, a new Masonic magazine began publication.  The Craftsman's opening article bears these very strong words:[FONT=Georgia, Garamond, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]
[/FONT][/FONT]
The day is past when the ignorant Mason can shine. The time has come when more is demanded of a 'bright' Mason than the knowledge of the Ritual. The Mason who claims to be 'well posted' must read; he must inform himself of the origin, the history, the philosophy, the laws and literature of our art, or he is a drone on our hive, and only valued for the dollars and cents he pays into the treasury of his lodge. Knowledge makes prosperity, and prosperity freedom; and he who has not these three qualifications is not a fit Craftsman, and can not be used on the building of that Temple Masonry intends to erect.​


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## jwhoff (Jun 23, 2012)

Agreed!  Blank stares are discouraging and leave little to discuss and share.


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## Cigarzan (Jun 24, 2012)

For an old thread the beehive is generating lots of buzz.


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## jwhoff (Jun 27, 2012)

Brother Cigarzan ... there's much wisdom in your tag on spur squatting.  :39:

Then again, there appears to be much wisdom in most of your responses.  Suppose they go hand in hand there brother.

God bless.


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## KSigMason (Jul 26, 2012)

It could be all three, but primarily industry:



> Industry was the employment of a very large number of men, tens of  thousands in many instances, on one undertaking at one place and at the  same time, and they might or might not use machinery. It was the method  by which in the ages before heavy machinery vast building enterprises  were accomplished, some of which have so long mystified modern men, the  building of the pyramids, of the ancient Egyptian canals, of the hanging  gardens of Babylon, of the Ziggurats, of vast Hindu temples, of the  Chinese Great Wall and Grand canal of the Mayas' City of Chichen-Itza,  etc. the same method by which in World War II the Burma and Ledo roads  were constructed as well as great airfields in the remote hills of  China; and the method by which from Caesar's time until modern times the  Dutch have built their hundreds of miles of dykes. The Beehive is the  perfect emblem, or typical instance of the power of industry, because  what no one bee'or succession of separate bees could accomplish is easy  where hundreds of them work together at one task at one time.
> 
> SOURCE


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## dhouseholder (Jul 27, 2012)

I came across this rich and wonderful excerpt by Sir Francis Bacon, the Father of Modern Empiricism. I would be willing to bet money that Freemasonry took the symbolism of the bee and hive from this.

He divided all philosophers into "men of experience and men of dogmas"...

"The men of experiment are like the ant, they only collect and use; the reasoners resemble spiders, who make cobwebs out of their own substance. But the bee takes the middle course: it gathers its material from the flowers of the garden and field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own."


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## Vitriol Knight (Mar 24, 2013)

See M44 Praesepe 
Also consider the honey comb and it's geometry.


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## dfreybur (Mar 25, 2013)

Dion said:


> What does it symbolize to whom?  For the geometer, it might represent the hexagonal cell structure of the hive.  For the more esoteric investigator (astronomy), it might symbolize Praesepe (the "Manger"), commonly known as the Beehive Cluster (M44).  The ancients believed that the soul descended into materialism through the gates of Cancer and returned to the Source via the gate of Capricorn.  Of course, it doesn't end there.  Nor should it.
> 
> The only male bees in the hive are the drones.  The workers are infertile females.  The only purpose of a drone is to procreate, and once they fulfill their mission, they are discarded.  I don't believe Mackey mentioned this.



"What does it symbolize to whom?"  Exactly. Masonry is a system of moral instruction taught through symbols.  A feature of symbols is they are implicit not explicit.  Symbols can and do mean different things to different people and this is how it's supposed to be.  So for me the question is what does the beehive symbolize *to me*?  I can quote the paragraph out of the Monitor easily enough.  I can close my eyes and recall listening to it during one of the lectures.

When I see the beehive symbol I think of the worker bees doing the work of the hive with apparent independence.  a) They do the right thing for the hive sometimes even at the cost of their lives.  Even though the queen is in charge it's clear she does not give detail directions to each worker.  b) They work in harmony with no obvious supervision.  After a swarming there is a new queen in charge and many of the old workers remain to serve a queen who is now an aunt not a mother.  c) They work for the greater good.  Taken together that can be a good model for how Masons should behave when Masonry is under attack, when an event needs doing and when a new WM is installed.

"The only purpose of a drone is to procreate, and once they fulfill their mission, they are discarded."  When read in the context of the monitorial lecture this is a call to contribute to society.  Being a father is a high calling so we are urged to contribute in other ways.  In an era of disintegrating atomic families being a Dad has become a separate contribution for us.  This sentence also symbolically repeats the urgings in the Charge.  "As a citizen" and all the other clauses in the charges where we are given instructions to contribute widely.


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## stuntman98 (May 6, 2013)

The beehive represents what you learn when you become a mason, look around at your brethren, that is what it represents.

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## ARizo1011 (May 7, 2013)

The bee-hive is an important symbol in the third degree, 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 Christâ€™s resurrection, whereby his body vanished for three days, only to reappear after the resurrection. Furthermore, beesâ€™ honey and sting are also "associated" with Christ and Judgment Day.


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## Jamarr/G\ (Jun 1, 2013)

Well put ARizo! SMIB 

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## dbenton414 (Jun 3, 2013)

Very well said
Smib


D. Benton
Junior Steward
Fountain City Lodge #757


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