Hymen

Almost every part of the female genitals eventually became personified as a Goddess, as did the fluids associated with them. The hymen was no exception, ruled by an eponymous Goddess later considered an emanation of Aphrodite. She carried a torch in one hand, a flute in the other, and wore a crown of flowers, symbol of sexual self-knowledge and maturity. Hymen is the Greek word for veil, the same one that 'no man draws asunder' among the Amazon Goddesses Athena, Medusa, and Neith.

Menstrual blood was the original blood, shed on the honeymoon, once a literal month. The connection between bees, fertility, and sexuality begins here. In Greek bees are called 'hymenoptera' veil winged. Aphrodite was represented by a honeycomb At Eryx in Sicily, and the priestesses were called Mellisae. They presided over sexual and funerary rites, using honey and wax for embalming prior to burial in catacombs and beehive shaped mounds. (see Ura - Heather)

The power and sanctity of menstrual blood 'Moon honey' was enshrined even in Olympian myths, for all oaths were sworn by the Goddess Styx, ruler and personification of the stream of Gaea's menstrual blood. Ambrosia and nectar were originally a mixture of honey and menstrual fluid provided by Aphrodite and/or Hera. Long after Hymen was masculinized in a piece of profoundly ridiculous revision, the Goddess was invoked by calling 'O Hymen, Hymenie!' exclusively by women.

At the temple of Aphrodite at Eryx, priestesses were called “melissae”, which means “bees,” and Aphrodite herself was called Melissa, the queen bee. At the Ephesian temple of Artemis, the melissae were accompanied by transgendered priests called “essenes”, meaning drones.  Bees are classified as members of the hymenopteran order, meaning “veil-winged,” recalling the hymen or veil that covered the inner shrine of the Goddess’s temple, and the high priestess who bore the title of Hymen, presiding over marriage rituals and the Honey Moon. 

Bees are Hymenoptera, "veil-winged," recalling the hymen or veil that covered the inner shrine of the Goddess's temple, and the officiating nymph (high priestess) who bore the title of Hymen and ruled over marriage rituals and the honey-moon.