Who here on our busy social media site knows that the Hive is actually a symbol of Freemasonry? According to Dr David Harrison, a leading Freemasonry historian, the beehive is an ancient symbol representing a working Lodge. Originally it depicted seven bees around a Hive. Eighteenth century lodges would recite in their ritual “The Beehive teaches us that as we are born into the world rational and intelligent beings, so ought we also to be industrious ones...” Is it a coincidence that our busy Hive platform acquired this name after the hard fork from the original parent Steemit blockchain and social media site? Probably, but I can’t help but read into the coincidence some meaning. Freemasonry has a sinister connotation and history, and is rumored to be part of the Illuminati cabal that secretly run the world, but that would be too much of a connection to make to our little experiment in decentralized, blockchiain-based, cryptocurrency-funded social media blog site...or would it?
Obviously the coincidence is just that and the developers who launched the Hive platform were simply thinking of busy bloggers, or like-minded members of a group rich in social cohesion. They probably had no knowledge of the Illuminati reference to the name they chose for the site. Others may say that the Illuminati Freemasons have long arms and that there claws stretch to the furthest reaches of society. Few would consider Hive an Illuminati-backed site. But still there is the coincidental Hive reference.
If Hive were called any other name, it would please a lot more folks who don’t actually like the name to begin with. The allusion to busy and industrious members is vague, the common or garden word is lost in any search engine listing. So many better names could have been chosen that were original, unique or had much better connotations and certainly no Illuminati sinister ones. But here we are, stuck in the Hive like a bee in the honey, so we live with it.
After all, the Hive is a very ancient symbol, even dating back to ancient Egyptian times, symbolizing an obedient people, and also dates back to Roman times too. Since then it has been adopted by trade unions to represent the working class, and even by Insurance companies, so Illuminati or Freemasonry connotations may be diluted by common sense ones of hard work and industriousness. Even the Mormons adopted the Hive.
It may be curious to note that the Freemasons actually built a Hive into the architecture of Rosslyn Chapel, the 15th century British church made famous by Dan Brown’s book “The Da Vinci Code”, right at the pinnacle, not to extract honey, as there was no means to do this, but purely to host the bees.
The practical value of the Hive as a symbol has generally suggested that the members refrain form being lazy. And that fits onto the ethic associated with Hive blog site and blockchain. We earn by working at creating original content regularly as well as busily commenting, networking and upvoting posts. The success of the members relies on hard work and creative writing skill. There is no easy way to earn on Hive. So the name makes sense in that regard.
In one ritual of the Freemasons, the Hive was alluded to in the verse “..he that will so demean himself as not to be endeavoring to add to the common stock of knowledge and understanding, may be deemed a drone in the hive of nature, a useless member of society, and unworthy of our protection as Masons.” And that philosophy is what prompted the name Hive, I presume, making it ironically reminiscent of Freemasonry practice and thought. Let’s hope the coincidence ends there. I would shudder to think that I am involved in an arm of the Illuminati here. Even lower order Freemasons have little idea apparently, of the evil practices of those higher up the pyramid of power in their society.
A manuscript document from from the 1720s in Ireland makes these curious references the bee and the Hive:
“A bee has in all Ages and Nations been the Grand Hierogliphick of Masonry, because it excells all other living Creatures in the Contrivance and Commodiousness of its Habitation or combe; … nay Masonry or Building seems to be of the very Essence or Nature of the Bee, for her Building not the ordinary Way of all other living Creatures, is the Generative Cause which produces the Young ones….”
“For this Reason the Kings of France both Pagans and Christians, always Eminent Free-Masons, carried three Bees for their Arms…”
“What Modern Masons call a Lodge was for the above Reasons by Antiquity call’d a HIVE of Free-Masons, and for the same Reasons when a Dissention happens in a Lodge the going off and forming another Lodge is to this Day call’d swarming.”
Curiously the Hive was also an esoteric symbol for regeneration in the Mystery Traditions, and considering that Hive was a rebirth of Steemit, that connotation would make perfect sense. It suggests a second birth or resurrection from the death of the old.
So as you can see, by calling our site and cryptocurrency Hive, we have inadvertently stumbled into a bees nest of controversy. It’s amazing what you will come across when attempting an internet search for Hive, and this will forever be the unfortunate side effect of deciding on such a name. With an original name, like the old one- steemit – you couldn’t go wrong, as there was no other reference for it. But Hive is so common, and now so loaded with prior connotations of a sweet and also unsavory kind, that it will add another layer of obfuscation for new people to find and use the site. Much like the complex passwords and entire system here on Hive.
We will have to live with it sadly. I and others have had struggles trying to convince new members to join the Hive because after all the encouragement and sales pitch, they go for it and sign up, only to be hit by the first hurdle right at the sign-up, namely the clunky password, which invariably does not fit or work for them when they attempt to open their account and sign in at step 1. Many will be put off before even arriving or will create an account which will remain a dud since they are locked out before even entering, forcing them to make account after account until they get it right, leaving a trail of empty dead accounts in the list.
So the lesson form this is that if you want mass adoption, then make the on-boarding and the name easy and catchy, neither of which we have with Hive. Thus it will never grow to be a world leader in its current shape, but that’s just my personal opinion based on experience. What do you think of the Hive? Let us know your experience and impression of the Hive name and on-boarding in the comments so we can all learn from this.
(images pixabay)
Masterful write-up and such an interesting correlation you laid open here. Just when I decided to clear out my feed to make room for more relevant people, questions and topics I stumble upon your article, awesome!
While the Hive symbology was not on my radar I find myself thinking of these connections and symbolical "coincidences" often. Notwanting to use the slogans, concepts and idols of the gang for good reason, but wondering just how much that intention is keeping me from objectivity. Take the sun, it has been idolized and worshipped by the weridest parts of the gang for millenia, yet it is essential for all life on Earth and has its place. It's objective value is in no way diminished by the images of the gang.
Who are you and where have you been all this time? (Where have I been, respectively?!)
Instant follow!
hahaha lol nice to meet you Paradigm. There are probably numerous accounts on Hive that go unnoticed until we bump into each other. Many thanks for your kind words. By the way, I am answering from my other account, but it's still me Jules lol.
It's a good point that you make here. The symbols of great things may have been used by others of their personal motives, yet they do not own the symbol and can't claim it as their own, since it is used by anyone who withes to benefit from its imagery or symbolism. The sun and the hive are beautiful items full of valuable imagery based on their real world use cases, regardless of who has used their symbolism before.
Aye, and still it's points like in your article that make me love this place so much. Literally never heard the hive symbology before and it is essential we keep all these things in mind.
Should I follow this account of yours instead? I see mostly reblogs of your jules account but then there are some original ones too. I really don't want to miss any ahahaha.
All the best to ya
The better upvotes are on this account but the poetry is on the other account, though I aim to reblog the other account as you saw. I also enjoy scouring the Hive for gems of info, that's where Hive benefits the colony lol.
LOL
Follow the money. It is useful to remember that water follows the path of least resistance.
Thanks!
Very interesting, I’ve always been a bit curious about how that name came about so swiftly and surely.
Unfortunately what this article makes me think about is how the bees work all day for tiny drops of honey to feed their brethren through the winter and then the beekeeper comes by and takes it, leaving the bees with some sugar water for their trouble...
Hmm...
Hahaha lol that is a good one @autobodhi, too ominous to contemplate. And it reminds me of how Steemit went down as the new keeper took over and the swarm had to flee for the new Hive lol.
Interesting article. I am in disagreement with following symbology that was negatively set by past users. History is good to know but it is also good to think for oneself. If the symbology is not liked change it to something that works positively. Just as Hitler changed the positive meaning if the swastika to what people believe it to mean today.
Do not allow others to sway you over to their thinking.
As far as the difficulty of becoming a member of Hive.blog, it is good for the devs to hear such things. Otherwise how would anything get corrected?
Yes well said @wanderingmoon. One can find fault with the moon if one wishes, but it is still beautiful and priceless, as it wanders across the heavens. It's good to know the past history of the symbol we have been given, otherwise we will remain in ignorance. And presently we can remake the symbol in our own image with our own connotations, which according to past history are positive, even if used by others differently.
Many thanks buddy, I will use the tag "lassecash" on my nwo posts. Let's expose the cabal busy enslaving us.