A universal symbol for the germ of manifestation, from whence sprang the cosmos. It was used in the cosmology of the Hindus, the Egyptians, the Greeks, etc. According to Helena P. BLAVATSKY, the symbolism of the egg is used because it expresses the fact that “the primordial form of everything manifested, from atom to globe, from man to angel, is spheroidal, the sphere having been with all nations the emblem of eternity and infinity” (SD I:65).

Mundane Egg. Used by the ancient Egyptians to symbolize the egg of the universe where the Sun-god Ra gestated. The Mundane Egg was placed in Khnoom, primordial Space, or the feminine abstract principle.

Golden or Luminous Egg (HIRANYAGARBHA). In Hindu cosmology, Hiranyagarbha produced the cosmos (Vedas and Brahmanas); in Manu, it is the same as Brahma.

Virgin Egg, Eternal Egg and World Egg. These symbols are used in The Secret Doctrine (Stanza III), where the Virgin Egg represents the abstract power to develop through fecundation, or to bear fruit. In itself, it is eternal and changeless. It is equivalent to the Greek CHAOS, or the Hindu MULAPRAKRTI. When the ray of Divine Thought impregnates it, it produces the World Egg, or the Third LOGOS, which is the germ of the whole cosmos.

Orphic Egg. This is the divine Egg impregnated by the “Aetherial winds,” from which the gods Eros-Phanes evolved. The teaching is part of the Dionysiac and other mysteries.

Egg and the Serpent. In many traditions, the serpent is seen with an egg or swallowing an egg. This symbolizes the birth and death of the cosmos when the egg of the universe is swallowed by the serpent (eternity and the cycle of time) and disappears or goes into PRALAYA.

V.H.C.

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