“The bees are disappearing,” announces Cedar at the beginning of Chapter One of The Alchemists’ Council. Thus begins the inter-dimensional mystery that must be solved in order to save the worlds. The bees to which Cedar refers are those of the Lapidarian manuscripts: ancient texts used by the Council alchemists to control both the elements and the people of the outside world.

Source for Bee Image

Bees, of course, are disappearing from the real world too, from our world, from the world outside of the fiction of Council dimension. Almost everywhere one turns these days, one hears about bees and their current plight. From Facebook to Twitter (@savethebees1), social media feeds are abuzz. Morgan Freeman (whom, by the way, I can picture as Ailanthus in The Alchemists’ Council), has converted his ranch into a bee sanctuary. Even President Obama has recently spoken in favour of the bee.

Of course, General Mills Canada could well receive alchemical gold thanks to its new Bring Back the Bees campaign for Honey Nut Cheerios. Be sure to watch their “Helping is Our Nature” video when you visit the site. In under two minutes, the video manages both to move and to inspire. Indeed, General Mills reached its goal of giving away 35 million wildflower seeds to help feed the bees within mere days!  As the author of a book that features bees as manuscript lacunae (gaps or spaces left where the bees once resided), I had to smile when I first saw the resemblance between The Alchemists’ Council logo and Cheerios’ missing “Buzz” mascot:

Whether the bees are present in their absence on cereal boxes or medieval manuscripts, thematically we all appear to be on the same page.

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