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Page 1

HE KEEPER OF THE BEES, by natu-

ralist Gene Stratton-Porter, is not a new

print and available through Indiana

University Press. I felt impelled to search

for this book, while all the memory I had of it was a

sense of something ethereal, which I now perceive as

an inhalation of pure

Taurean essence.

T h i s i s i m p a r t e d

through descriptive pas-

sages of flower and bee,

earth and sea, and salt-sea

air from the Pacific Ocean

a l o n g t h e C a l i f o r n i a n

coast. I received the book

only days before begin-

ning a journey to California and so was bemused to

see it described on the back cover as an “ode to [...]

California, and its natural beauty.”

Taurus is the sign of physical form, of beauty as per-

ceived by the physical senses. The importance of

physical beauty is not one that should be overlooked

by the spiritual aspirant. Beauty is harmony in mani-

festation, and color is generated by harmonic tones.

Striving to build an environment in and around the

home which pleases the eye and soothes the spirit is

not something to be neglected in the pursuit of a spir-

itual life.

The story is set in the era following WWI where

right and wrong are not questions, transgressions can

be cruelly dealt with, the enemy is clear, racial and

ethnic groups are yet distinct, and patriotism is taught

in schools to blend the varied multitude into one coun-

try.

It tells the story of a soldier of Scottish descent, a

son of a minister of the Church who, when called to

war, had forgotten the God of his forbears, “...From

whence cometh my help,” and answered the call

instead of the race spirit in his blood, as he sought

revenge against ‘the enemy’.

There were atrocities that had been committed

against men of his race

and blood in the begin-

ning of the war that

drove all men of Scottish

ancestry and sympathies

a trifle wild.

Religions of old were

“race religions,” each race

spirit being an archangel

who would lead his people into battle. The bodies of

these beings are made of desire stuff, and they still

influence us through our desires, as they are manifest

in the blood. It was the purpose of Christ to end race

religions, to free man from the influence of the race

spirits and inaugurate a period of Universal Love. Yet

the struggle continues, as in the case of this young

man, who still responded to the ancestral “call to

arms” coursing through the blood in his veins.

The story opens following this war, with ‘our hero’

suffering from a shrapnel wound that will not heal,

fleeing from a medical facility into the California

countryside. There was also another wound that would

not heal, one in his heart “which the world could not

see.”

So he begins his ‘Great Adventure’, which the

author uses to explore many points of moral or ethical

consideration, through the reflections of the young

man as he finds God again, on a journey where his

RAYS 04

Keeper of the Bees

BOOK REVIEWS

The bee garden is blue because blue is the ‘perfect colour’ and bees are the most perfect of any insect in the way

they live, and the most valuable on account of the work they do, so blue would be the colour they love best, and it is!

Beauty is essential to the natural unfoldment of

the human soul. The Mysteries held that man, in

part at least, was the product of his environment.

Therefore they found it imperative that every per-

son be surrounded by objects that would evoke the

highest and noblest sentiments. They proved that it

was possible to produce beauty in life by surround-

ing life with beauty.

—Manly P Hall, Secret Teachings of all Ages

Page 2

welfare rests on the grace of God. He finds himself

reverting to the language of his grandfathers in

expressing his gratitude “It’s unco gude ‘o you God.”

In moral reflections even the “wee people” are to be

considered: “the father in him said ‘Leave what

remains for the wee folk as you found it.’ And the

mother in him said ‘Take with you every crumb that

remains against the morrow.’”

Here “the father” represents the conscience, the

spiritual side, doing what is right by others, with little

thought of self, and “the mother” represents concern

for one’s material welfare, the pragmatic view or

aspect of self-interest. So here, as in occult literature

generally, the positive forces, of "right," are represent-

ed by the male, while the negative, earthly forces by

the female. We know, however, that the gender of men

and women is given by their outer, or physical body.

While their vehicles are four in number, only the dense

physical and vital bodies are gendered: In the male the

physical body is positive, the vital body is negative,

with the reverse for the female.

The question of gender roles, a question of the

times, is brought forth to intrigue us again later when

we meet the “little Scout,” a ten year old child whose

gender is not yet clear. According to the little Scout, if

you can’t tell, then it makes no difference.

In the pre-pubescent child, where the desire body is

yet unborn, sex as passion is not yet apparent, and

truly, it would seem, “makes no difference.” It is not

until we are to fulfill the roles of male and female in

life, as providers of form for incoming egos, that sure-

ly we “can tell.”

The story takes us to the home of the Bee Master in

the Sierra Madres along the seacoast. There, our for-

lorn soldier moves from contemplation of his death to

encompassing life, from weakness to strength, from

self-pity to selflessness. He arrives as a homeless

unemployed and becomes a respected Keeper of the

Bees.

He does not make this transformation alone but with

the help of the loving embrace of neighbors as he set-

tles into his new home, tending the bees in the Bee

Master’s absence.

Foremost among his new acquaintances is one

called the ‘little Scout’ the Bee Master’s partner. The

‘business’ of the little Scout, when not fulfilling the

role of partner to the Bee Master, is playing the role of

Scout Master, organizing play for a motley group of

children. Leading the Scouts, and ultimately besting

them, the Scout Master is called “The Limit.”

The little Scout is a most vivacious and mercurial

persona, whose physical machinations and mental

reflections add much in the way of delight to this

book. For example, when accused of “burning the can-

dles at the both ends,” the small person replies: “But

ah! my foes and my friends! It makes a lovely light!”

How we meet death, one of many threads running

through this brilliant weave, is a topic introduced to us

through the reminiscences of the little Scout.

On the point of how beautiful death can be, of ‘lit-

tle old Aunt Beth,’ the little Scout said:

She went in the night, you know, in her sleep,

with her hands folded on her breast and the

strangest little mysterious smile on her face. It was

like she knew a beautiful secret that she’d love to

tell and she was smilin’ over it while she decided

whether she would tell or not.

The Bee Master, a revered gentleman whose precar-

ious health has provided the stage for this saga,

inspires much loyalty. On contemplating his death, the

RAYS 04

Paracelsus, when describing the substances

which constitute the bodies of the elementals, divid-

ed flesh into two kinds, the first being that which we

have all inherited through Adam. This is the visible,

corporeal flesh. The second was that flesh which

had not descended from Adam and, being more

attenuated, was not subject to the limitations of the

former. The bodies of the elementals were composed

of this transubstantial flesh....“Yet,” he adds, “the

Elementals are not spirits, because they have flesh,

blood, and bones; they live and propagate off-

spring; they eat and talk, act and sleep, etc.”

—Manly P Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages

Will is the male quality of the soul; imagination

is the female. When will is the strongest attribute,

the soul wears male attire in a certain life, and in

another, where the quality of imagination is

greater, the female garb is taken. Thus under the

Law of Alternation which prevails during the pre-

sent age of the rainbow, the soul wears a different

garment in alternate lives, but whether the gender

is feminine or masculine, the organ of the opposite

sex is present in an undeveloped state. Thus man is

now, and will be so long as the physical body

endures, both male and female.

—Max Heindel Mysteries of the Great Operas

Page 3

little Scout said: “I bet all the harps and all the trum-

pets in heaven would go Zoom! Zoom! and all the angels

would come flocking if the Bee Master came through

the gates!

The Bee Master’s home, and surrounding gardens are

intimated to be a reflection of the Bee Master himself.

There are only a few places where love and arti-

sanship build a house with a welcoming face. There

are only a few places where love and good horse

sense build a garden half of wildings and half of

quaint old-fashioned things that evolved without

the help of crossing and

fertilization and other

makeshifts that produce

growth so rambling and

sizable that it is difficult to believe the blooms are

living things. There are only a few places where the

side of a mountain walks down and slides down

and jumps down and meanders winding, flowering

ways until it reaches the white sands of a brilliant-

ly blue sea, and it is easy to believe that such a

location would naturally be the home of tiny round

white houses with round roofs where millions of

bees make honey to sweeten the food of a world.

Health and healing through natural means is anoth-

er prominent theme. How our ailing soldier heals his

wounds through the discipline of a health regime is

carefully detailed. The value of eating for health, sim-

ple and nutritious foods, and in the right combinations,

is a concern of every spiritual aspirant.

In Occult Principles of Health and Healing, p. 116

we read: “Proper food given at the right time and

under the right conditions will not only cure but pre-

vent disease.” The science of food combining, a little

known aspect of diet, is touched upon here. Of the

neighbor that prepares his own meals he requests a

diet in the combination that will go towards the “mak-

ing of a man” and help to purify his septic blood.

Following his morning routine in the bee garden, he

drinks the juice of two ripe tomatoes and follows this

with a dip in the healing waters of the salt sea, drying

in the rays of the morning sun. Then after his mid-day

meal he rests. Upon waking he drinks one glass of

fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Of fruits it is said in Occult Principles of Health and

Healing, p. 117, that they contain “water of the purest

and best kind, capable of permeating the system in a

marvelous manner....The increased permeability

enables the Spirit to manifest more freely and with

renewed energy.” And in the same book the author

gives an occult explanation for the benefits of

uncooked food:

There is in the skull at the base of the brain a flame.

It burns continually in the medulla oblongata at the

head of the spinal cord, and, like the fire on the

alter of the tabernacle, is of divine origin. This fire

emits a singing sound like the buzz of a bee, which

is the keynote of the physical body, and is sounded

by the archetype. It builds in and cements together

that mass of cells known

as “our body”.

The fire burns high or

low, clear or dim,

according to how we feed it. [...] We replenish this

sacred fire partly from forces from the Sun entering

the vital body through the etheric counterpart of

the spleen and from there to the solar plexus where

it is colored and then carried upward through the

blood. We also feed the fire from the living fire we

absorb from the uncooked food which we eat and

then assimilate.

Note from the above the value of sunlight, in addi-

tion to raw foods, for renewing of the body’s energy.

An additional point to make here is that the etheric

counterpart of the spleen will continue to function

even following the removal of the physical spleen, as

sometimes occurs following injury to this organ.

The art of keeping bees is learned with the help of

the Bee Master’s ‘partner,’ as well as from an exten-

sive library on the subject, which includes writings by

Aristotle and Pliny. The little Scout asks: “Why is the

bee garden blue? And I’ll have to tell you the answer

because you’ll never guess in a thousand years.

Because of God.”

Max Heindel confirms this statement in Rosicrucian

Philosophy in Questions and Answers, Volume 2:

“Blue is the color of the Father who rules over the

whole universe continually from the beginning of man-

ifestation to the end thereof, omnipresent in everything

that lives, breathes, and has it’s being.”

There is more here, much more, to inspire us to live

diligently as the bees and their keepers, leading noble

and courageous lives, embracing the beauty of earth

and sky.

—Jamis Lopez

RAYS 04

The bee is more honored than other animals, not be-

cause she labors, but because she labors for others.

—St. John Chrysostom