Saturday Goddess Blogging

Austėja was a Lithuanian household goddess of bees. Later hypothetical reconstructions say that people were sanctifying grasslands for her. Austėja sometimes goes with Žemyna. They both are goddesses of fecundity, brides, and growing families.

In The Living Goddess, Marija Gimbutas and Mirian Robbins say that Austeja "mentioned in the sixteenth century, is both woman and bee; she promotes fertility in humans and bees. Her name is connected with the verb austi, [meaning]"to weave," and also "to dart" and "to fly." Offerings were made to her by jumping while tossing the oblations upward to the ceiling or air.

Austeja appears as the idealized bee mother, a responsible homemaker figure. She ensures that the families (as every beehive community is commonly called) under her guardianship multiply and increase. Apiculture can be understood in these beliefs as a metaphor for the human family where the mother/housekeeper has the most prominent role.

H/T to my brilliant friend, E, for piquing my interest in bee Goddesses with her amazing ritual last night.