Let’s celebrate Easter with a Mindfunda Blogpost about the symbolism of the egg. Don’t you find it is strange that eggs and easter have become so close?
Egg: Origin of the World
We will have to go back to East Asia, between 1700 en 1100 BCE. In the Rig Veda, a book that contains 1017 rhymes it is said that:
“The Creator, as Hiranyagarbha, arose from the great waters and by his power and energy germinated the egg containing the world matter, thus setting in motion the process of Creation. From this standpoint, Creation was not a new beginning but a rearrangement, setting things in a proper order.”
But that was a long time ago. Why are we still fooling around with eggs around easter?
Egg: Changing Perception of the Universe
Einstein, the guy we all love, because he was not only a genius, but also a very good marketeer (he invented personal branding), changed the perceptions of the universe.
And like any major change this one: that we, the species living on earth, are just a tiny part of a much bigger system.
And we are really the center… nothing really…
BUT: by discovering so much more about the creation of the universe those old mythologies became populair again.
It wasn’t really coincidence that Carl Jung wrote about the cosmic egg in his red book.
Egg: The Red Book
In the Red Book Jung has a scene that involves the cosmic egg. This cosmic egg has a seed in it: the promise of fertilization and growth.
Doesn’t that remind you of the Seed Of Yggdrasil? Maria Kvilhaugg describes in her book how the Tree of Life clearly has a seed that brings fertility on earth.
Izdubar
“On the evening of the third day, I kneel down and carefully open the egg. Something resembling smoke rises up from it and suddenly Izdubar is standing before me, enormous, transformed, and complete. His limbs are whole and I find no trace of damage on them. It’s as if he had awoken from a deep sleep”.
Izdubar represents the inner voice, the silent inner knowing that does not need evidence. Jung even sees science as the thing that wounded Izdubar.
Izdubar crawls out of the egg and gives light like the sun. The egg, birth and the sun they are always connected. But haven’t you, like me, ever wondereed why on earth we celebrate the death of our god Jesus when nature starts to emerge, and we celebrate his birth in the darkest days?
Egg: Symbolic Meanings
As I have already mentioned in an earlier Easter blog about the goddess Eostre, on a very literal level people used to eat a lot of eggs during Easter because they were not allowed to eat them during lent, so they saved up tons of them.
But does an egg have more symbolic meanings than fertility?
The color yellow in the egg is the brightest colour to the human eye. The colour is associated with youth and happiness.
In general eggs are considered to represent new possibilities. Unlike my attempt to associate sex dreams (see #2) in a different way as the usual “you want to unite with the thing your sex partner represents” theme, I have not been able to use my creativity here.
But I do have, as an Easter Bonus a nice blog I wrote about chocolate. Have fun this Easter and eat a lot of (chocolate) eggs.
THIS CONTENT IS CREATED BY SUSANNE VAN DOORN, AUTHOR AND OWNER OF MINDFUNDA; MAKING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PSYCHOLOGY, MYTHOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY EASY TO USE IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE!
What is Mindfunda about?
My name is Susanne van Doorn, I am a Dutch psychologist, blogger and author. I have been working with psychology, dreams and mythology ever since I finished my study in psychology at Tilburg University. I made this independent site to share insights, and recent scientific articles about the brain, dreams, and mythology for use in your personal life.
This posting is categorised as Mythofunda:
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths” Joseph Campbell used to say. This part of Mindfunda shows you how your personal mythology can create peace in your life.
Read more about Mindfunda here, or visit our Courses Page.
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