What's in a name?

I recently finished a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law, "The Hive: The Story of the Honeybee and Us" by Bee Wilson. It was super interesting and a good read.

There was one passage that really hit home for me and I would like to share it here:

"The disembodied souls of man used the bodies of bees to move about the heavens. The third-century Greek author Porphyry says that the soul comes down from the moon goddess Artemis in the form of bees, which are called melissae. The name melissa-which now seems nothing more than a nice, everyday girl's name- was given to souls about to be born. It had overtones of reincarnation, fitting with the Greek belief in the transmigration of souls. Not just any soul could be a melissa. You had to be righteous. Bee souls, says Porohyry, were special spirits 'who live justly, and who, having performed such things as are acceptable to the gods, will return whence they came. For this insect loves to return to the place whence it came, and is eminently just and sober'. Hence, the special power of honey to salve the passing from life to death. " Wilson, 194.

This passage really hit home for me for the simple reason that my name is Melissa. I grew up knowing that my name ment something like 'sweet like honey' and was Greek. But it means much more then that and it is a name that I can finally say I am proud to have.

My mom and I were reflecting the other days how odd it is that I met and fell in love with a man that loves honey and bees so much. And that together we are not only making beeswax candles but also hoping to have our own bees one day. It is also really nice to be able to raise Kade around these magical creatures. We are truely blessed by the bees!

Melissa