What if the hive is not merely a colony, but a field of intelligence? In this special Listening Field conversation, we welcome beekeeper, teacher, and author Jacqueline Freeman into a deep exploration of communication with honeybees. After moving to a biodynamic farm in southwest Washington and beginning her beekeeping journey in 2001, Jacqueline quickly sensed that conventional approaches did not honor the true nature of bees. Over time, through reverent observation and heartfelt presence, she began to experience the hive as something far more than a biological system. She encountered bees as conscious collaborators, responsive partners, and teachers of collective intelligence. In this conversation, we explore: • What it means to communicate with bees • How a bee-centric approach reshapes beekeeping practices • The difference between managing bees and being in relationship with them • What bees reveal about cooperation, sovereignty, and collective consciousness • How humans can re-enter sacred partnership with the more-than-human world Jacqueline’s work bridges biodynamic agriculture, natural beekeeping, and lived experience of interspecies communication. Her internationally distributed book, Song of Increase, opened the hearts of thousands to a more compassionate and participatory way of being with honeybees. Together, we listen into the subtle field of the hive — and consider what becomes possible when we approach bees not as resources, but as wise elders guiding us toward a more coherent world. Whether you are a beekeeper, a gardener, or simply someone who senses that communication in the living world runs deeper than we’ve been taught, you are warmly invited. The Song of the Hive is part of the 2026 Listening Field Series, ONE's year-long exploration of communication in the more-than-human world. Jacqueline Freeman is a beekeeper, teacher, and author devoted to restoring respectful partnership between humans and honeybees. She and her husband Joseph moved to their biodynamic farm in southwest Washington in 2001, where Jacqueline began keeping bees and quickly sensed there must be a more compassionate way to care for them—one that honors their innate intelligence and the way bees live in the wild. Over the years, Jacqueline developed and teaches a bee-centric approach that blends natural beekeeping practices with direct observation and deep relational presence. Her work invites beekeepers to shift from managing bees to being in conscious partnership with them. She is the author of Song of Increase: Listening to the Wisdom of Honeybees for Kinder Beekeeping and a Better World (Sounds True), now published internationally in multiple languages, and co-author of What Bees Want: Beekeeping as Nature Intended, a practical guide to creating natural habitat and supporting thriving colonies. Jacqueline has spoken at the Organic Beekeepers Conference, Women in Agriculture gatherings, and treatment-free beekeeping conferences across North America and Europe. She appears in the documentaries Queen of the Sun, Dancing with Thoreau, and the French film Abeilles: La Voix des Ruches. Through the USDA, she has worked with rural farmers and beekeepers in the Dominican Republic using historic, respectful beekeeping methods. Before dedicating her life to bees, Jacqueline founded a holistic health center and a women’s crisis center, and served on faculty for a Structural Integration school. In 2003, she and Joseph founded a school of Equine Structural Integration. At the heart of her work is a simple but profound premise: bees are not livestock or commodities, but conscious collaborators. Through careful attention, humility, and partnership, Jacqueline invites us to rediscover what becomes possible when we meet honeybees as teachers. Learn more about Jacqueline at her website: https://www.spiritbee.com/ Support the show
