The Shamanic Way of the Bee: Ancient Wisdom and Healing Practices of the Bee Masters [Paperback]

It's extremely rare to witness a true initiatory rite of passage, but this book is a sustained account of just that, and in an area that has never been revealed to those outside the tradition. The erudition and anthropology supporting the account is solid, but it's more than that. It's a personal account of the author's experiences as a boy and a young man, who endures the surprises and awe of true initiation. This makes it a personable read. Simon Buxton is not only an elder of the shamanic bee cultus; he's a born storyteller with the ear of a poet. Once he grounds you in the material events of ordinary reality, he begins the cross-over through the veil into extra-ordinary events. It's important that his poetic skill is strong because those events need a strong metaphoric tongue to tell them. Indeed, the reader needs a developed sense of metaphor to perceive the truths at the heart of these mysteries. Yes, it's as much a challenge for the reader as it must have been a test of the writer to bring them out. A first reading grasps the narrative. A second reading perceives the myth. A third reading gets to the spirit. Such depth in a book, I've not seen in a long time. If you can hold all three levels in one reading, bravo!

The key question to ask yourself when a book comes your way is do I have an appointment with this book, what it contains and what it may hold for me? Such is the question that may arise when this book enters your life, for Simon Buxton's The Shamanic Way of the Bee is a beautifully written multi-dimensional work in the esteemed genre of esoteric spiritual autobiography that details the many layers of reality and experience that are often found on the path of initiation. The book is part of a long lineage of stories of spiritual experience from both ancient and contemporary cultures. If we allow ourselves to re-view (literally, to 'see again') Buxton's book, we re-member that the awe-infused tales of shamans are in themselves healing stories, stories that heal, and by that function they open doorways for us to find our own way toward whatever healing we too might need. They also allow us to begin to imagine how we too might be changed should we dare to believe in our true heart-desires and, using our will, step through the open doorway into our own sacred story. The Shamanic Way of the Bee is an exquisite telling of one man's sacred story.

As a female practitioner in training with teachers from the distaff or female side of the Path of Pollen, I have been taught practices that Buxton writes of in his book, such as working with the lemniscate or figure of 8; meditation upon the Hexagramma Mysticum, the divine hexagon; oneiric or dreaming work; and many others. Body practices, meditations and disciplines such as these have been taught from ancient times to the present in many spiritual traditions throughout the world. The Path of Pollen is one such tradition and is a path of inner and outer psycho-spiritual, alchemical work requiring an open heart, a willingness to engage in deep self-examination and the passionate desire to meet one's appointments while alive. The teachings from this path that Buxton shares with his readers are filled with all the beauty, wildness and intelligence that are the particular gifts of the honeybee and the hive. And like the hive with its stores of honey, pollen, propolis and bees, the book is also a repository of ever-unfolding knowledge and wisdom.

As Buxton tells us, his teacher Bridge, "believed strongly in a principle he called 'spiritual osmosis,' in which proximity to the sacred will itself provide answers. There are no fixed rules, or, rather, the rules and the truths you find will be personal to you. Truth must always be individual, and you will find it from your own experiences and your interpretation of these" (11).

Read on. Decide for yourself. Who knows? You may be meeting an appointment.

It `s not often that I feel compelled to write a review of either a book or a CD, unless I find them truly worthy of praise - but such was my enjoyment when reading this book, and the obvious validity of this man's story concerning his apprenticeship within a shamanic tradition that is actually still practised within Britain today, and so I felt compelled to share my thoughts, on what is a something of a 'Treasure'. Especially as it is so unusual to discover a book that is not only a very worthy read, whilst proving enlightening, but has the subject matter and writing style to inform, inspire and move the reader.
For those familiar with other books detailing apprenticeships within a shamanic tradition - such as Castenada, it is all too easy to either see them as having little to do with real life, or as something we could never have access to. Which is why I was surprised and inspired by Simon Buxton's The Shamanic Way of the Bee - because of the way he relates his story not only is it totally believable, but is written with a real sense of the beauty, poetry and a passion that I'm sure most of us aspire to have in our lives.

The author not only skillfully and gradually leads us into the hidden world and depths of what on the surface is referred to as bee keeping, but he does so in such a way, that one moment he is describing the colours and fragrances of his teachers garden, the next he is relating the means by which it is possible to stop time. And he manages to do so without being overly wordy or academic, but having a real sense of the beauty and simplicity that he discovers within this shamanic tradition.

The key events are described with great lucidity, and it is very easy to find oneself almost being present. But what is also remarkable is that all this takes place under our very noses in Britain.
Most of the books I have previously come across, regarding shamanism or spiritually based stories tend to be by people from far flung places, that make them feel removed from the everyday, whether it is the America's or Siberia, - whilst this positively rings with an authenticity and genuineness, not simply because it is an existing, thriving, shamanic tradition that has it's roots in Britain and Europe, but is told in such a way as to be nothing less than believable.
I for one would never have considered the art of bee keeping as being a means by which one could train in an ancient (and thriving) form of Shamanism - But this book is such an example, not only is it a wholly engrossing and enjoyable read because of it's lyricism and poetic richness; the language perfectly fitting the what is both a challenging, yet exciting world view - that thanks to the author, has been made available to us.

I can without reservation whole heartedly recommend this book to the converted, the mildly interested AND the sceptics!