5785: A Blessing for the Bees

By Devorah Brous (@dev.brous) // fromsoil2soul.com

PDF available to print here.

Source of Life, we bless the apples and the honey, let's also bless the bees for their sacred work alchemizing flowers into food; the bitter and the sweet. For the honey, and the lesson of the sting, ha’dvash v’ha oketz, may we be among those who offer honey when pained from life’s sting. Remind us that bees guard what they treasure - and so do we. As we protect what we love, may we learn temperance. 

Bless the lands to overflow with blackberry and dandelion honeycomb that nourishes the beloved and beleaguered alike. Bless the bees that labor their love into herbal nectars and cleansing pollens to feed worlds, coat throats, and ease guts. Bless us to safeguard the wild meadow & food forest, school garden & urban hive. Remind us to revere the sacred pollinators that are too often feared, overworked, and undermined - for we are interdependent.

May our prayers and protests yield honey and the money needed to rebuild home, hive, and heart after this great collapse. May wildflower honey touch lip and deed, as it drips over apples and sticks like a thick, golden salve on the wounds of skin and soul. 

Just as bees hum while foraging nectars and spreading pollen between apple flowers, may we labor with love. Bless our hands to bring sweet abundance to fruition for us all to spread. Bless us to grow and learn from the collaborative “hive mind,” through cross-pollinating our best ideas. Guide us far from exploiting labor through industrious buzzing until body and hive fail. May we remember to savor the sweet taste of a restorative Sabbath.

May we be gentle and patient with ourselves and each other as we spoon honey generously in this New Year – soothing the anguish we carry, and we cause.

Blessed are You, Source of All There Is, thank you for all that feeds the bees so the bees can feed all of life. Usher in a year of healing, forgiveness, and protection for all beings in 5785, Amen.