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Column: A gift from the hive

SARAH SHEPHERD PHOTO Beeswax comb and candles.
SARAH SHEPHERD PHOTO Beeswax comb and candles.

A gift from the hive
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt — marvelous error! —
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

Beeswax has long been a sacred substance rooted with deep purpose and meaning. Used in healing remedies, ointments and candles, beeswax is a gift from the hive that has been used with great reverence among many religions for ceremony and ritual.

In my work as an herbalist and beekeeper, beeswax weaves together these two professions for me in many useful, meaningful ways. Many people ask me, “what is beeswax good for?”

I usually try to share how special and vital a process it is for the honeybees that create it.

Other bees and wasps use elements from nature to build their comb, such as old wood, living plants and earth. The honeybee creates this substance from her own being.

The production of wax is a very important task for the honeybee. The bee transforms what she gathers from flowers within her blood and this wax substance is manifested. “Sweated” from the underside of her abdomen in what looks like a tiny, translucent flake, she can produce about eight of these wax platelets a day, eventually forming them into a six sided home for the colonies eggs, pollen and honey storage. It takes nearly a million of these platelets to make up a deep frame of honeycomb. What a tremendous feat!

This comb is the space where life grows. This light, yet stable substance is where a queen places her eggs. At the height of her egg laying in summer, she can lay more eggs a day than she weighs. In these cold, long, dark nights of winter, egg production and hive expansion is not the goal. Warmth and maintaining a constant temperature of about 95 degrees in the comb is.

I hold a piece of beeswax comb that I collected from this past season up to the light. I inspect the shape of each of the delicate cells, a perfect hexagon. Given its general aesthetic of beauty and fragrance, I am mesmerized by the simple, yet cosmic, nature of its perfect design. It’s exactly what the bees need. It represents a model of industry and community building around each and every delicate inch.

Whether I’m making a remedy or lighting a beeswax candle this winter season, I am thankful for this gift from the hive.