Some information on the possible meaning of the recent Milk Hill ‘bee’ formation from CAROLINE TAYLOR…


In anticipation of a possible mention on the Swirled News website of the Milk Hill formation, dubbed 'The Bee' [though it has also been pointed out that it resembles the ancient ‘winged caduceus’ symbol – Ed], I thought you might be interested in a few possibly-relevant 'bee connections' that I've come across recently.

One of the epiphanies of Artemis was the bee and, according to Marija Gimbutas (p.156-7 Gimbutas, 'The Living Goddesses'), this insect had been a key symbol of regeneration since Neolithic times in Old Europe and beyond: "The bee, as much as the Egyptian scarab, symbolised eternal renewal," she says, in association with various Moon Goddesses. In Bronze Age and classical Arcadia and Crete, the priestesses of Artemis ('Melissae') were symbolically linked with bees. Gimbutas also suggests that the organisation of the Sanctuary of Artemis at Ephesus may have rested on the symbolic analogy of a beehive, with "swarms of bee-priestesses, melissae , and essenes , 'drones', who were eunuch priests".

A symbolic death/re-birth theme in connection with bees was mentioned by Sophocles and Porphyry, in 'de Antrum Nympharum' (third century AD), which noted the association between souls and bees. He also commented on the affinities between the Moon, the bull and bees, as regenerative symbols. (The word "apis" meant "bull" to the Egyptians, and also "bee" in Latin, which may be no coincidence.)

The Milk Hill formation appears to me to contain the above 'aggregate of symbols' - bee wing, full moon, crescent moons and possibly 'bucrania' (the sacred image of the head and horns of a bull or cow).

Could it be that our Moon-goddess-honouring ancestors were trying to deliver a hopeful message concerning the miraculous regenerative powers of Nature, through this beautiful crop formation?