Bee Shamanism: The Death of the Myth of Lineage
What follows is an account of bee shamanism and what it was, what it is, and what it is not. It is an account of the current controversy with Simon Buxton and the Sacred Trust, and the revelations recently reveals regarding the myth of an ancient lineage. This post has been updated as of January 5, from it’s original posting on December 12 to include new information that has come to light.
What is Bee Shamanism?
Bee shamanism, is a form of animistic, earth-based practice centered around the honey bee. It is something that belongs to anyone who feels called to the bees, and is both global and very specific.
On a global level, bee shamanism is about working with the bee hive as a central guide, metaphor, and teacher in one’s personal spiritual practice.
However, the bee shamanism that many people have come to my site to learn about, does not in fact, exist in the form we had believed. This is a fairly recent revelation that came to light at the end of 2023, and carries ongoing fall out. To be clear, this scandal began years ago, and I have been pursuing understanding the truth of it for some time, but the bulk of revelations came forward in the fall of 2023.
If you are interested in learning about the controversy, my history with this work, and more, please read below.
On a specific level, there was a kind of bee shamanism that was taught at the Sacred Trust in the UK. This is the bee shamanism I dedicated a decade of my life to, and have experienced profound and deeply enriching transformation from. In late 2023 a scandal arose around one of the founders of The Sacred Trust, Simon Buxton.
The Sacred Trust is a non-profit organization in the UK where classes and workshops were offered in two veins. One is Classical Shamanism (still taught today), offered by Simon Buxton. The other was bee shamanism, when was presented as women’s tradition, and in recent years went under the name “The Lyceum”. The Lyceum was, and has only been, taught by women. It was a gynocentric/wombic pathway, working with the womb as a spiritual center within the body, much as one might work with the heart chakra, or third eye.
This article hopes to address what I know of bee shamanism and the scandal and how it relates to my practice. I will attempt to give you the information as it has been shared with me. As always, use what I share to draw your own conclusions. I do not want to try to convince you of anything. One of the most dangerous things we can do in a scandal, is to make assumptions, and so I will try my best not to.
ADDRESSING THE CONTROVERSY
THE STORY THAT WAS TOLD:
In 2010 I was introduced to a gorgeous body of work by Naomi Lewis and Kate Shela which centered around embodied women’s spirituality, womb shamanism, the honey bee, the serpent, and modalities for healing, seership, and dream tending. I studied with Naomi Lewis and other female faculty at The Sacred Trust from 2010-2019, completing the 3 year Return of the Pythoness training, which was meant to support those of us who wanted to bring this work into the world. From my perspective and experience, what my teachers brought forward in workshops and ceremony was done so with integrity and a lasting commitment to the earth, womb wisdom, and the feminine principal. However, much of the “tradition” aspect of the work was shared in veiled terms, and at time even avoided. There was very little substantial evidence provided regarding the true origins of the work, or where my teacher’s learned the practices. We were told that it was an unbroken lineage.
The history of European Bee Shamanism, as we were told, involved a folk tradition that had been passed down since ancient times by beekeepers and the melissae (women pracitioners of these ways). The women who came before our teachers were said to have claimed that this tradition reached all the way back to the Ancient Greek bee priestesses (melissae).
However, our contact with this history came through Simon Buxton. Simon wrote a book, The Shamanic Way of the Bee in 2006. In his book, and in personal discussion, Simon shares that he met a man named Bridge when Simon was in his late 20s. Bridge self-identified as The Bee Master. He took Simon on as an apprentice and introduced him to the rest of his small group of practitioners, a group of 6 women known as melissae, and led by a Lithuanian woman known as The Bee Mistress.
It is important to note here, that even in the early days of this work, some evidence of plagiarism was found in Simon’s book. That plagiarism was of the work of PL Travers. When I directly questioned Simon about this plagiarism in 2022, he said he was close, personal friends with PL Travers, that he included her words in his book as an “homage”, and that the publishers forgot to give her credit. While I don’t want to assume anything, it has become quite clear that Simon did not in fact know Travers, nor did his publishers accidentally omit citation.
Simon shares publicly and in his book, that he was asked to become the Emissary of this tradition and write the book. He introduced this work to Kate Shela and Naomi Lewis. However, he claims that in 1999, before Naomi and Kate had a chance to meet either the Bee Master or the Bee Mistress, both of these elders died.
One of the women from the original group, Vivienne became the next Bee Mistress and moved back to Lithuania. She agreed to meet with Naomi, which we were first told happened in person, and later told happened only on the phone. According to Simon, Vivienne took Naomi and Kate on as her charges, inviting them to carry the work forward.
Simon in turn compiled much of the information that had been taught to him, and passed it on to Naomi and Kate. While it has never been stated that the teachings and practices came from Simon in written form, many of us have drawn the conclusion that the majority of the practices that were ‘handed down”, did not come from Vivienne, but instead came from Simon. Simon has shared that once he introduced the tradition to Kate and Naomi, it was up to the two women to choose what to teach and how to teach it, since, Simon claims, it was a women’s tradition, and not for him to teach.
While I never took any courses from Simon, I did speak to him twice on the matter of both plagiarism and the reality of this tradition. I spoke to him once 2017, after someone dear to me said the entire tradition was fabricated. At that time, both Simon and Naomi shared that it was indeed a real tradition, and Simon gave me convincing details of experiences with the melissae and Bridge. In 2022, another upheaval took place with shared students of Gabriela Gutierrez and myself. The issue of Simon’s plagiarism became paramount and I spoke with him at length once more regarding the veracity of this tradition, as well as the plagiarism. At that time it was only known that he plagiarized PL Travers in his book. I was also informed that I was one of only 2 people that had ever asked him directly about the plagiarism. I do not believe this to be true.
What I did not take into account was the possibility that Simon Buxton was lying directly to me. As an example, he spoke to me about Naomi traveling to spend time with the cell of bee women, and that they taught her how to make bread and other every day tasks in a “Pollen tradition” way. Only recently did I discover that this never happened, and that Naomi did not know Simon had been fabricating stories about her personal spiritual experience.
THE TRUTH AS I Now Know IT:
In fall of 2023 an alumni of the Lyceum, Chelsy Arber, began digging into Simon’s book and discovered more plagiarism. After making this known publicly on social media, a number of women got involved with researching the book as well as Simon’s past. Over 60 separate instances of plagiarism were discovered in the book, as well as some highly concerning evidence that much of the “Path of Pollen” practices may have been lifted from other practitioners and occultists. This is still being researched, namely by alumni Chelsy Arber and Marie Lloyd.
Due to these recent findings, Naomi Lewis and the staff at The Sacred Trust had a meeting with Simon in early November 0f 2023 in which he admitted that much of what was written of as history in the Shamanic Way of the Bee, was in fact, events that happened in “non-ordinary” reality, aka dreams, visions, journeys, etc. This means that much of what is written of or shared with students as a real lineage, was in fact not based on real events.
Naomi and the staff of the Sacred Trust claim they were unaware of the degree of plagiarism in his book (although they were aware of the plagiarism of PL Travers), nor other evidence that his story was false.
Due to these revelations, all staff left the Sacred Trust and immediately stopped teaching European bee shamanism. The are currently in the process sifting through the ashes, so to speak, and hopefully, they will find a way to transform and carry on their beautiful work without the trappings of false claims, just as many of us are attempting to do too.
What is most troubling, is that while Naomi did meet a woman called Vivienne on the phone, it is unclear who exactly this person was, and if any kind of bee tradition actually existed. Naomi has shared that she is still attempting to discern this information, which leaves all of her students, and those of us who teach this work at a loss.
We can not accurately say if everything was fabricated/stolen, or if there was in fact a small group of Melissae who passed on some form of bee shamanism to Simon. Many people believe it is all a sham, but whatever the truth is, I believe we will never know for certain. Is there a strong folk tradition around bees and beekeeping in Lithuania? Yes. Is there a strong vein of Celtic shamanism in Britain? Yes. Were there priestesses known as bees (melissae) in Ancient Greece, and were bees connected to the oracular temple of Delphi? Yes and yes. The bee and the serpent remain profoundly sacred and tied to many mystery traditions. We simply can not know if the people Simon claims to have met were real, and if they were real, whether they are actually part of an in tact bee shamanism tradition. Due to Simon’s continued lies, there is much to be doubted.
Also, due to the culture of lies that Simon has created, it is difficult for alumni to discern what is true and how much the staff actually knew about the truth of the tradition. There has been much speculation, anger, accusation, doubt, and pain. It’s terribly sad to see and experience, and I can not offer any more “fact” other than what I am sharing and the understanding that we will never really know the full story.
This has been a deeply painful experience for myself and many others. If you find yourself feelings hurt, angry, or cast adrift, may I remind us all, that we came here for the bees and for some ineffable mystery. The bees and the mystery remain, even in the face of such heartbreaking controversy.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
In a recent email from December 2023, Naomi shared her experience of the phone calls with Vivienne, and her doubt as to whether any of the bee women existed at all. According to Naomi, Vivienne was a Lithuanian American woman who Naomi spoke to on the phone many times, and from whom Naomi received what in shamanism would be called transmissions. Ultimately, Naomi does not know who Vivienne really was and how if at all she was or was not connected to the tradition Simon spoke of. It is clear through Naomi’s correspondence (sent to past students), that much of was was passed on from the supposed group of practitioners of what Simon called The Path of Pollen, all came from Simon. As in, most messages, save for the phone calls, came through Simon. Naomi herself, shares she did not know of the extent of Simon’s lie until November of 2023.
I would love to say that contact with the ex-staff from the Sacred Trust is fluid and frequent, but sadly, I have had to wait like the rest of us for bits of information to come through. I have tried to wait until I have as many pieces of the puzzle as possible, but this is an ongoing process, and everyone is still thick in the shock of it. I feel tremendous compassion for everyone involved: ex-staff, alumni, and all those who felt the book deeply resonate with them.
What I can say is this:
The women who have taught these practices and ceremonies over the last decade are incredibly dedicated to the healing and flowering of the feminine principal. They have added many of their own practices to this work, and brought forward a kind of womb shamanism reclaiming that the world is clearly in need of. They have encouraged us to expand on the practices, trust our own inner spiritual authority, listen to the wisdom of our bodies, and go directly to spirit to seek our own truths and revelations. What happened in the temple space for myself and many other women was profound, beautiful, confronting, awakening, ecstatic, and life-changing.
We all wanted the story of an unbroken lineage to be true. Hearing that there are no roots is devastating to many, myself included. As a white Californian, descended from settlers, living on unceded First Nations land, it was particularly powerful to find an Earth-based tradition that had roots in my ancestral lands. Beyond this, as someone who has academically studied the conversion to Christianity over the centuries, and the brutal, systemic eradication of women’s spirituality and sovereignty, I felt deep and cathartic relief when I discovered the SOMETHING survived.
I can imagine that reading this tugs on some of the same heartstrings for many of you.
What I can say, despite not knowing what was “real”, is that something DID survive. Perhaps not in an intact tradition, but in our bones. It survived in the way the bees continue to teach us of ourselves and our connection to the earth. It survived in our blood memory, breath memory, star memory, womb memory. It survived in our dancing, and our dedication. It survived in our ability to tap into the same vein of truth and knowing the oracles of Delphi sourced from.
We may not be able to say we are initiates of the Path of Pollen, or bee priestesses of an ancient lineage of Melissae, but we can say we are apprenticed to the bees, the stars, the snakes, the spiders, the web, the weave, the soil, the moon.
I am extremely disinterested in allowing the decay of Patriarchy, or one man’s deceit, to rob me of the very womb practices and connections to spirit that brought my long-desired daughter into my arms.
HOW WILL MY WORK CHANGE?
I wish I could provide a concrete answer, but the sands are still shifting and this controversy is still unfolding.
Due to the very public nature of my work, and the conversations I’ve had with both Simon and Naomi about the veracity of this tradition, many have assumed I have an inside line with the ex-faculty of the Sacred Trust. While I wish that were true (we all want more answers), it is not. I am left waiting for answers that will never truly satisfy. I may teach this work, but I am also an alumni of the work myself, adrift with the rest of you.
What I can commit to is my dedication to the kinship and spiritual connection we share with the bees, the earth, and the womb shamans of old. I will continue to do my best to introduce practices based on where they actually came from, or where we think they might have come from. I will also be the first to admit that I don’t know.
Many of you have asked me to continue to teach bee shamanism despite the controversy. I am not comfortable with teaching bee shamanism in the same manner that it was taught to me, but I promise not to throw away beautiful practices that empower women, nor the dedication and time it took me to develop my art and practice. I can no longer present bee shamanism as a tradition or even a folk pathway. The story, mythos, and authority behind the tradition are gone.
However, some of the practices remain potent, universal, and belonging to the earth and the the body. For instance, I will continue to work with the lemniscate, or infinity symbol, as it is found everywhere, from the way bees dance and communicate, to the analemma of the sun star.
I promise you my authenticity, my transparency, and my willingness to continue walking into the mystery of it all.
With love,
Ariella
