Busy Bees Bumbling By

ABC Wednesday is a word meme with participants from around the world. This fabulous meme was created and hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt who hails from Great Britain. Over time, others have joined in to help host this wonderful and informative meme. We are now in our EIGHTH round! Some of the participants have been with this from the very first round; others have joined in along the way. Each week we are taken across the globe to see the varied and exciting contributions people have taken the time to discover and capture. We start with the letter, "A" and each week we post something in regards to the next letter of the alphabet. This week's letter. is, "B".

When I put my bird bath in my rose garden a few years back, I had been so thrilled to have birds coming and going in my garden to have their drink of water. And then, the bees showed up. Not just one or two, but a bevy of them! Enough to discourage my avian friends from visiting. I was bummed. I'm allergic to bees, so I keep my healthy distance! But, having them in such large numbers in the bird bath was fascinating and made for a good image. I had a quartz rock in the middle of the bath for the smaller birdies. I subsequently found out that these bees were migrating bees. They'd show up around August and stay until the weather got cold. This went on for about 2-3 years. Now they don't come, these bees. I hope it's because they've shifted their travel route and not because they have totally disappeared off the face of the earth!

Now, on to today's lesson! I am a home practitioner of homeopathic medicine. Those of you who live in Europe are more familiar to what homeopathy is. Here in the USA, it is not very well known (although gaining in popularity). Highly effective, never invasive and totally safe. it you don't use the right treatment for the ailment, nothing happens. When you do use the right treatment for the ailment, it is like a miracle. Arnica Montana is the one that we use the most. Another one that I have used from time to time is Apis Mellifica. From the herbs2000.com website, here is some interesting facts about Apis Mellifica:

Honeybee

Apis mellifica

For several thousand years, precisely speaking, since 4000 B.C., the common honey bee has been supporting humanity in various ways. In fact, a number of cave painting dating back to around 10,000 years have been discovered showing an individual collecting honey. Apart from the honey and the wax produced by the honey bees, they also provide us with royal jellypropolis - the resin gathered by the honey bee from the buds of flowers. that is extensively used as a special nutritional supplement and
In fact, the Apis, the biological name for honey bee, also possesses numerous medicinal properties. According to ancient documents, the remedial use of the honey bee is long and has its origin in primeval Egypt where people considered the honey bee as a sign of power, health and wealth. In fact, medical practitioners in ancient Egypt held honey in high esteem and considered it to have healing powers that were superior to others. Therefore, it is little surprising that the ancient Egyptians practised extensive methods of beekeeping since 4000 B.C. It is interesting to note that not only the honey or other substances produced by the honey bee, but the bee itself is used in homeopathy to treat numerous conditions. Dr. Frederick Humphries was the first to establish the medicinal worth of apis or the common honey bee in the 19th century.
The homeopathic medication apis is prepared using the body of the female honey bee, as only it has a stinger. The stingers of the female honey bee and sometimes even the whole body of the bee, are used to prepare this homeopathic medication. Like in the instance of any other homeopathic medicine, the process followed to prepare the medication apis with the body of honey bee is crucial. Once the stings or the whole bees are collected, they are chopped, crushed, mashed and then steeped in alcohol to get the mother tincture known as apis in homeopathy.
This homeopathic medication is prescribed for people who are suffering from ailments that are accompanied by symptoms that are similar to the consequences of a bee sting. For instance, such patients will have symptoms like swelling and redness of the skin. In fact, such patients also often behave like the bees - being restive or showing irritability. As mentioned earlier, this homeopathic medicine is prepared by crushing and extremely diluting the whole body or the stings of the honey bees in a base prepared by mixing water and alcohol. In fact, apis is homoeopathic potentized venom of the honey bee.

Parts Used

Only the female honey bees are used to prepare this homeopathic medication as they only possess stings. Usually, the stinger of the female honey bee is used to prepare apis, but sometimes even the whole body of live female honey bees are used.

Uses

Like the common honey bee is of great use to us and has been supporting humanity over centuries, the homeopathic medicine prepared from it, apis, also has numerous remedial uses. Apis is extensively used to treat skin disorders, including hives (urticaria), stings and bites which results in the swelling of the skin along with an itchy and burning sensation. In such cases, the skin also becomes very sensitive to touch. In addition, homeopaths recommend apis to patients suffering from infections in the urinary tract, for instance, cystitis wherein the patient experiences a burning and stinging pain while passing urine. Apis is also useful to provide relief from urine retention.

There is much more fascinating tidbits of info at the herbs2000 website; be sure to take advantage of the link I provided to find out more!