It's not advisable to take to the beach in a bikini in January, but the temperatures are familiar - as chilly as Atlanta, Georgia is this time of year with no snow and more sunshine.

This is also Shakespeare’s MacBeth country. We drive through Forres - a town mentioned by the three weird sisters early in the “Scottish Play”. As we pass MacBeth’s Butchers I noticed a sign that says "wild boar meat for sale".

Before I know it, we slip up the hill and are parked at the college.

Purpose
I’ve come here to learn more of Franco’s work and to attend his workshop, "Manifesting Honorable Intentions - Healing the Planet from the Inside Out". Franco and I will also prepare to facilitate (at Findhorn the term focalize is used) our Sacred Theatre workshop scheduled for September 2006. In addition Franco has arranged for us to perform and present a workshop for the Findhorn Community.

Astrid Gude, a member of the Findhorn staff from Germany with a drama background, assists us. Astrid and I rehearse. Later, she performs brilliantly in one of my mask theatre pieces.
Manifesting Honorable Intentions.

It's the morning of January 9th and I’m more than a little amazed as I sit on the cold ground on a windy hillside in Scotland surrounded by five honeybee hives and eight hardy humans who hail from Italy, Germany, England, Scotland, Brazil and Norway - with myself from the United States.

We’re all deeply still and seeking guidance. Findhorn is famous for its successful communication and cooperation with nature. We’re here to do our best to do the same. We’ve just learned from Findhorn Foundation beekeeper Sverre Koxvold that all the wild bees in Scotland are dead.

My concern for the tiny, ancient and ecologically essential insects is great.

Sverre tells us that honeybees have died in vast numbers in many geographic areas of our planet as a result of a worldwide mail order bee business. The varroa mite infests the current honeybee population with deadly consequences. Also known as “the vampire mite”, it is visible to the human eye, eight-legged and slowly sucks the internal fluids from the bodies of immature and adult honeybees.

Honeybees are needed to pollinate a considerable number of plants and vegetables consumed by humans, other mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. The plight of the honeybee is deeply intertwined with the destiny of our entire planet.

Sverre’s plan to aid the bees is ecologically sound and based on gravity. The mites fall off the bees and usually jump back onto them. With a specially constructed bee platform and the addition of a chamber containing sticky paper Sverre intends to remove enough mites from the bees to allow them to live vital and productive lives. He requests we level the hillside and position the platform. Sverre will then proceed to place the five hive boxes on the platform.

This is new territory for me… and perhaps for some of the others as well.

Sean, I learn, guards endangered birds on private estates on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen of England. He protects them from death by bullets shot from guns wielded by hunt-happy estate owners. He’s endured sleep deprivation, phone tapping and threats to his life. Claudia is the co-founder of the Foundation for Planetary Healing in Edinburgh. Ellen worked the night shift as a nurse in a hospital with the terminally ill. Although not required to do so, she repeatedly carefully washed, dressed and groomed the bodies of the departed immediately after death. She hoped her actions would lessen the shock and loss experienced by their families and loved ones. The bees and I are in absolutely awesome company.

Our group determines we need to find out whether or not the bees will accept our presence. An invasion by eight unknown persons with tools in hand could disturb them and get us stung. If we can manage to do our work with the bee's approval, Sverre's vision for the bees will become a reality.

We plan an approach we hope the bees will find acceptable.

The next day we gather. The group has determined that I'm to go into the bee area first. I walk quietly, softly ringing hand-held Indian temple bells. I follow this by playing soothing tones on a Native American flute - doing everything in my power to keep the bees calm and content. Each member of our group enters from a different direction.

Our plan seems to please the bees. An occasional guard bee flies out to check on our progress - but no one is strung. They seem to accept all eight of us and our disruptive work. Our process takes several visits. We finish the work and Sverre gifts each of us with a small jar of the precious, golden substance, magically produced by the hardworking honeybees.

Afterwards, I find myself returning repeatedly to the site to play flute for the bees.
Message from the Bees

It's January 29, 2006. I'm back in Atlanta. I receive an email message from Sverre. He says two of the hives at Findhorn are now infested by the varroa mite. He’s asked the bees to explain why this has happened. This is the answer he received.

“This is done so that humankind will be more engaged in our activities. So that humankind will see that it needs to help and work with us, nature, in order for us all to survive and for humankind to become more involved and see us more. We can manage this on our own, but it has been created for humankind to be given this opportunity of seeing nature again. Like it used to.”


Check our Links page for links to the Findhorn Foundation and Cluny Hill College websites.


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