The Mahdi Times The Mahdi Times, Issue #28, March 2015 | Page 25

edible today. Perhaps this is why it’s
also a symbol of immorality.
The God(s) are said to value this byproduct of bees. The Promised Land
was said to “flow with milk and
honey” and honey was the best that
God(s) could offer. It was also
considered the food of these deities
and represented immortality,
rebirth and fertility. In Ancient
Greece, honey was a sign of wisdom
and Christians thought it to
symbolize Christ’s compassion and
gentleness.
Honey is symbolic of many other
things. Its sweetness is thought to
have bestowed gifts of learning and
poetry. It was used as a symbol of the
sun, partly because of the flowers
from which it was made as well as
the golden colour itself. Some saw it
as a sign of wealth and abundance,
probably because in ancient times it
was a rare commodity that was
mostly used by the wealthy. Others
viewed honey as an aphrodisiac that
encouraged fertility and virility.
In alchemical circles, honey was a
name used for the philosophical
element Mercurius. It was called the
all-healing elixir, sweet and gold.
Philalethes wrote in The
Metamorphosis of Metals”:

“Mercury is our doorkeeper, our balm,
our honey”.

As you can see, the use of honey has
been known throughout our written
history and most likely before even
that. The following writings are
about its ancient past as well as its
more current uses. Also thrown in
for fun are some more “spiritual”
practices.

Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs
showing honey being poured into jars