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Caffeinated Bees: What's the Buzz About?





M44 Beehive Cluster




For many people, the best start to the day is a nice, fresh cup of joe. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 15 find that honey bees find caffeinated beverages--er, nectar--irresistible too. In fact, it appears that bees may select caffeinated nectar over an uncaffeinated but otherwise equal-quality alternative. As a result, the researchers say, plants may be lacing their nectar with caffeine as a way to pass off cheaper goods.


Shown here is the chart for the current New Moon of October 12 at Cambridge, Ma from where the Cell Press journal Current Biology is published. Notice the Venus-Mars-Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-square  straddling the horizon.





Among other things the Venus-Mars combination is associated with reproduction exactly what the plants have in mind when they attract bees to their nectar. Neptune is linked both to “deceit” as well as  “addictive substances”. Ken Johnson and Ariel Gutman, in their book Mythic Astrology, make a strong case that the astrological Neptune’s secondary archetype is Dionysus. Dionysus was god of wine and ecstasy and by extension anything that is addictive. Here the asteroid Dionysus [14le] is on the IC [9le] conjunct Praesepe , M44 Cancri, the “Beehive Cluster” which Diana Rosenberg links to “studies and events related to bees” [1]. So essentially the New Moon chart has all the elements of the news!



[1] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg  (v.1, p.488-90)

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