Sacred Feminine Service

Desiree Mwalimu-Banks at Partridge Run Farm and Apiary I

Jun 08, 2022, Photographed by Bryan Zimmerman.

Wave Farm Radio Residency, 2022.

Inspired by the overwhelming data that links radiation emissions of cell towers and 5G technology to the spectrum of biological and behavioral side effects experienced by honeybees, I set out to engage in processes of converting EMF radiation into sound waves with my colleague Grant Cutler. Using a number of electronic measurement devices, we captured radiation waves from local bee hives; transmuting these libraries of sound into broadcast material for collaborative sound installations. Our work sought to create opportunities for education on the impact of EMF radiation within our local Hudson landscape, while reflecting on the ways that the bodies and complex communication systems of honeybees mirror our own. Through a series of daily field recordings, we explored practices of deep listening, to both the activity of honeybees inside the hive, and the reverberation of sound transmissions within the ecology of their field of resonance. We were interested in listening to the fluctuations in vibroacoustics caused by EMF radiation, which offer insight into the damaging consequences of living in our increasingly 5G-centered world. With this archive of materials, we aimed to create psychic maps for interactive dialogue with honeybees and their transmissions on sovereignty, accountability, community, and sustainability.

about my PRACTICE

My service is a cross-pollination across disciplines, and I am very grateful to be in collaboration and conversation with bee guardians, bee enthusiasts, scientists, astronomers, community builders, culture makers, maverick thinkers, scholars, artists, musicians, dancers, healers, and wisdom keepers.

I weave together an in-depth study of apicology and its connections to both my indigenous identity and the sacred feminine. I investigate the relationship between honeybees, pleasure, and the erotic through movement, written expositions, sound installation, and film collage. I am fascinated by the organic movements of bees, and how dance is uniquely used as a form of communication among bees in the hive. Through these vehicles, I serve the bees and our planet by connecting contemporary knowledge of bees and beekeeping to ancient lineages of spiritual practices and cultural belief systems that held the bee as sacred vessels for healing.

HAPPENINGS

My 2021 graduate practicum work entitled, In The Center of The Hive: Honey Bees, Ritual Movement, and Sound Within The Ecology of the Sacred Feminine served as a sanctuary for my inquiries about bees, water, the sacred feminine and indigenous identity. For permissions to read or reference this work, please send me an email.

In 2022, I served on 'Team Bee', as a Rahibe Faculty Member at the College of the Melissae, where I taught Part 1 of my course: Re-membering Herstory: Unveiling the Bee in Sacred Feminine Wisdom, which explores connections between the Isian & Eleusinian Mysteries in venerating the ancient honeybee.

This year, I have the honor and pleasure of returning to Wave Farm Radio as a Fellow for

the 2023-2024 cycle, along with the lovely musician and sound artist, Lia Kohl.

Transmissions From The Sacred Feminine: A Labyrinth Journey Into The Center Of The Hive is a non-chronological experimental film which documents my study and performance creation over the course of the 2020-2022 graduate academic semesters at Goddard College, Vermont. My thesis stitches together global narratives of the sacred feminine to the story of my own becoming, through what I call, "the water mandala". The film is an articulation of the water mandala, a foundational blueprint that circumscribes water’s ability to conceive, nourish, purify, and re-member its mark upon my body of work, as an artist, mother, writer, priestess, and global community citizen. The film will debut at The Free Black Women's Library on October 19th, 2023!

In November 2023, I am offering a new course, inspired by the regenerative and protective power of the ancient Kemetic Neter Wadjet. Please click here to learn more and sign up for this offering!