I was listening to your talk on bees this morning, and I thought you'd benefit from knowing this tidbit of natural medicine. I was camping in the Yucatan a while back, and this Mayan beekeeper used to come around every so often offering his wares. He had all kinds of different, delicious natural honies and royal jelly and what not. I noticed some little baby food jars that were filled with this almost black paste, which he never talked about. I eventually got around to enquiring why he never mentioned them. He said he only sold that to other Mayans, or Mexicans in the know, because he didn't have much of the stuff to sell, as it was really laborious to come by. He had to kill some bees in order to get a hold of their venom, which he mixed with camphor (what tiger balm smells like) and wax. Turns out you rub this paste on any part of your body that's affected with either arthritis or rheumatism, and the swelling and pain goes away nearly instantly. Having tried this for myself, I can tell you it works like a charm!... Beekeepers and patients voluntarily get stung to obtain this effect, but it works just as well through topical (surface, or epidermal) application... I just thought you'd find this interesting. What do you think?

 

Stephen