Masonic & Occult Symbols Illustrate

In The Masonic Report the question is asked: “In what way does the bee figure into the phallic philosophy of Freemasonry?” The answer given is: “In the fertilization of the queen bee, the drone is deprived of his organs of generation, and thus mutilated, is left to perish on the ground. The description applies with striking exactness to the death of Osiris who lost his generative power and to Hiram Abiff who supposedly lost the Master’s word, which is actually a veiled symbol of his generative power. Thus we conclude that the emphasis laid upon the bee hive in the lecture is to be understood in the phallic sense.” ‘“In India,’ writes Manly P. Hall, ‘the God Prana—the personification of the universal life force—is sometimes shown surrounded by a circle of bees. Because of its importance in pollinating flowers, the bee is the accepted symbol of the generating power.’” Masonic author, H. L. Haywood, informs us that “the Bee was made the emblem of heaven, as may be seen in certain old Hindoo (sic) pictures of the god Krishna wherein Bees hover over the deity’s head....” He adds: “Both the Persians and the Egyptians sometimes embalmed their dead in honey because they believed it to possess antiseptic properties; out of this custom, we may believe, arose the latter habit of using the Bee as a symbol of immortality.” Rosicrucianism (which is closely related to Masonry) also used the symbol of the bee and the rose. In the picture on page 137, the “bees around the rose represent believers receiving divine nourishment.” (For more information on Rosicrucian symbolism, including the rose, see the chapter entitled “Organizational Logos.”)