Today I’d like to share another interesting case from one of my students. It is lovely to see when Reiki practitioners understand the deep meaning of “energy connects everyone and everything”. There are no rules regarding how you can connect with Reiki, you need to have the freedom of trying. As we know Reiki can’t do any harm as it is pure we can try different options for healing/connection.
This case study is from Liz, a beekeeper, herbalist and Reiki practitioner from North Berwick.
This year I fell in love with the honeybees.
I’ve been keeping bees in the garden since 2020. Always one or two hives depending on the weather patterns and colony strength. But at the start of 2023, my beekeeping took a new approach; I stopped doing things by rote and instead went into a listening and feeling mode when close to them. At the time I was doing case studies from my Reiki II training, so for practice I also connected with them on an energetic level; really feeling hum!
And when I listened and saw what happened next, I realised my Queen bee had big ideas for me….
When I connect with the colony – I can sit behind the hive away from the entrance and they don’t mind me there. I often sit there with my cup of coffee on weekend mornings anyway, and just watch what they’re up to. I’d like to see if I can use energy connection to know what the bees need from us right now, and what the super-organism is preparing for energetically!
Treatment 1 May 2023
Tonight, at 9 pm, I sat behind the hive for a period of time to feel into the bees, energetically. I was overwhelmed by the vibration from the hive, it hit every sense: the sound of 30,000 bees in the evening beating their wings to maintain temperature, and ventilation and the sound of them drawing wax; the smell of the inner brood box being circulated by the fanning of their wings, a warm sticky honey and pollen smell so strong you can taste the air; the feel of the box pulsating with vibration. I have never sat behind the box in the evening, only in the mornings! I hadn’t realised this… and I was amazed by the life of the hive in an evening and how very much alive the whole thing is! In terms of the Reiki, it was clear energy wasn’t being sent from me, it was just a connection of energy to and from this ball of universal lifeforce. I felt it surging through me. I laid my hands on the box and my hands were ringing from the vibration and the flow of energy. I had to take my hands off because it made me feel a bit nauseous. Sitting back a little and allowing the energy to flow and swirl around the space between me and the hive was wonderful though. I just had this strong sense of being charged up! This is my strong hive, I have two. The other one is much smaller, and they are raising a new Queen so to follow up on tonight’s experience I’d like to compare the two and tomorrow night I’ll take time up at the other hive. Not tonight, I’m still reeling from the feelings!
Treatment 2
Well two days after sharing Reiki with my bees they swarmed!! Today a new Queen must have hatched out and they swarmed in my garden. We had been in a week ago to prevent swarming by taking out any emerging queen cells… but we must have missed one and the colony was determined to divide! In beekeeping terms, it’s a sign the colony is very strong and has enough resources and capacity to ‘reproduce’ by swarming. Today I caught the swarm and put them in a small bee box with frames (nuc box) but they have no stores and an unfertilised Queen so now are quite vulnerable. A perfect opportunity for Reiki! This is a split which is small and weak, and I felt this was a good chance to give it some energy and love. I sat with my hands around the nuc box (at the back of it, entrance facing away from me!) and not touching the box just off it, for about a quarter of an hour. The tingling in my hands was incredible, just a buzzing which lasted the whole time. It felt like my hands were magnetically stuck there, I didn’t want to move them just breathed into the hara and sent energy through my hands. The magnetic connection made me think they really wanted to draw from this energy. I also rested my hands on the top of the nuc box, again feeling the whole thing vibrate, and it was like my hands were in contact with a liquid, not a solid object. The whole hive of bees in a box was like a fluid-flowing thing and my hands were just so lightly resting on the surface. They’ve got a tough few weeks ahead, hopefully establishing a new Queen so I’ll focus my Reiki offerings on this baby colony!
Treatment 3
I had to connect with that big strong hive again because I’ve got no idea what has happened, they’ve swarmed again!! I could not believe it this morning when I went into the garden and the same hive decided it was so big and so strong it would send out another colony.. my husband Sam has now forbidden me to send Reiki to bees!! 😉😉 It’s almost unheard of, and we posted photos and questions on our beekeeping forums to ask questions about why this might be happening, but everyone’s stumped. Usually, when a colony swarms it’s the original queen bee which leaves, but on both occasions, she stayed put and the newly emerged queens went off with a split from the hive. This is very rare indeed, and it happened twice, on consecutive days! It’s got our online network of beekeepers very confused. In any case, the swarm was caught and again boxed up; I gave this second new colony some Reiki love sitting next to their new home and asking them to accept it, stay and be strong enough to make it as I suspect the numbers must be lower than in yesterday’s swarm. It feels very confusing, and I don’t really know whether it’s a Reiki thing, a coincidence, or what I’ve done… but I do feel like the universe is giving me bees! And so I’ve left the original hive alone, and focused today on the splinter group hives, they need the support. I’ve had this feeling before of the bees being like angels, making me feel closer to purpose and nature. It’s something I’m listening to, even if it’s been somewhat full-on!
Visit Liz’s website: thehoneybeesanctuary.org
for some Reiki honey, herbs or Reiki healing in North Berwick