In conjunction with the hawk, the symbol of Osiris-Sun, the symbol is dual: it relates to both lives -- the mortal and the immortal.
In Kircher's OEdipus Egyptiacus (vol.
iii., p.
124) one can see, on the papyrus engraved in it, an egg floating above the mummy.
This is the symbol of hope and the promise of a second birth for the Osirified dead; his Soul, after due purification in the Amenti, will gestate in this egg of immortality, to be reborn from it into a new life on earth.
For this Egg, in the esoteric Doctrine, is the Devachan , the abode of Bliss; the winged scarabeus being alike a symbol of it.
The "winged globe" is but another form of the egg, and has the same significance as the scarabeus, the Khopiroo (from the root Khoproo "to become," "to be reborn,") which relates to the rebirth of man, as well as to his spiritual regeneration.
In the Theogony of Mochus, we find AEther first, and then the air, from which Ulom, the intelligible ([[ noetos ]]) deity (the visible Universe of Matter) is born out of the Mundane Egg.
(Mover's Phoinizer , p.
282.) In the Orphic Hymns, the Eros-Phanes evolves from the divine Egg, which the AEthereal Winds impregnate, wind being "the Spirit of the unknown Darkness" -- "the spirit of God" (as explains K.
O.
Muller, 236); the divine "Idea," says Plato, "who is said to move AEther." In the Hindu Katakopanishad , Purusha, the divine spirit, already stands before the original matter, "from whose union springs the great soul of the world," Maha-Atma, Brahma, the Spirit of Life,* etc., etc.** Besides this there are many charming allegories on this subject scattered through the sacred books of the Brahmins.
In one place it is the female creator who is first a germ, then a drop of heavenly dew, a pearl, and then an egg.
In such cases -- of which there are too many to enumerate them separately -- the Egg gives birth to the four elements within the fifth, Ether, and is covered with seven coverings, which become later on the seven upper and the seven lower worlds.
Breaking in two, the shell becomes the heaven, and the meat in the egg the earth, the white forming the terres- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The latter appellations are all identical with Anima Mundi , or the "Universal Soul," the astral light of the Kabalist and the Occultist, or the "Egg of Darkness." ** Weber, "Akad Vorles," pp.
213, 214 et seq.
[[Vol.
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trial waters.
Then again, it is Vishnu who emerges from within the egg with a lotus in his hand.
Vinata, a daughter of Daksha and wife of Kasyapa ("the Self-born sprung from Time," one of the seven "creators" of our world), brought forth an egg from which was born Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu, the latter allegory having a relation to our Earth only, as Garuda is the Great Cycle.
The egg was sacred to Isis; the priests of Egypt never ate eggs on that account.* Diodorus Siculus states that Osiris was born from an Egg, like Brahma.
From Leda's Egg Apollo and Latona were born, as also Castor and Pollux -- the bright Gemini.
And though the Buddhists do not attribute the same origin to their Founder, yet, no more than the ancient Egyptians or the modern Brahmins, do they eat eggs, lest they should destroy the germ of life latent in them, and commit thereby Sin.
The Chinese believe that their first man was born from an egg, which Tien , a god, dropped down from heaven to earth into the waters.** This symbol is still regarded by some as representing the idea of the origin of life, which is a scientific truth, though the human ovum is invisible to the naked eye.
Therefore we see respect shown to it from the remotest past, by the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, the Japanese, and the Siamese, the North and South American tribes, and even the savages of the remotest islands.
With the Egyptians, the concealed god was Ammon ( Mon ).
All their gods were dual: the scientific reality for the Sanctuary; its double, the fabulous and mythical Entity, for the masses.
For instance, as observed in "Chaos, Theos, Kosmos," the older Horus was the Idea of the world remaining in the demiurgic mind "born in Darkness before the creation of the world;" the second Horus*** was the same Idea going forth from the Logos , becoming clothed with matter and assuming an actual existence.
(Compare Mover ' s " Phoinizer ," p.
268.) The same with Khnoum and Ammon;**** both are represented ram-headed, and both often confused, though their functions are different.
Khnoum is "the modeller of men," fashioning men and things out of the Mundane Egg on a potter's wheel; [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Isis is almost always represented holding a lotus in one hand and in the other a circle and the Cross ( crux ansata ), the Egg being sacred to her.
** The Chinese seem to have thus anticipated Sir William Thomson's theory that the first living germ had dropped to the Earth from some passing comet.
Query!
why should this be called scientific and the Chinese idea a superstitious, foolish theory?
*** Horus -- the "older," or Haroiri , is an ancient aspect of the solar god, contemporary with Ra and Shoo; Haroiri is often mistaken for Hor (Horsusi), Son of Osiris and Isis.
The Egyptians very often represented the rising Sun under the form of Hor the older, rising from a full-blown lotus, the Universe, when the solar disc is always found on the hawk-head of that god.
Haroiri is Khnoum.
**** Ammon or Mon , the "hidden," the Supreme Spirit.
[[Vol.
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Ammon-Ra, the generator, is the secondary aspect of the concealed deity.
Khnoum was adored at Elephanta and Philoe,* Ammon at Thebes.
But it is Emepht, the One, Supreme Planetary principle, who blows the egg out of his mouth, and who is, therefore, Brahma.
The shadow of the deity, Kosmic and universal, of that which broods over and permeates the egg with its vivifying Spirit until the germ contained in it is ripe, was the mystery god whose name was unpronounceable.
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The footnote explicitly identifies Anima Mundi with 'the astral light of the Kabalist and the Occultist, or the Egg of Darkness,' linking the universal soul concept to the astral light medium.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage demonstrates the same egg symbol appearing with identical significance across Egyptian, Hindu, Greek, Orphic, Chinese, and Buddhist traditions, showing the structural reflection of cosmic principles at every cultural scale.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The entire passage is devoted to the cosmic egg as a cosmogonic symbol across Egyptian, Hindu, Greek, Orphic, and Chinese traditions, describing how the world and its elements emerged from the primordial egg.
A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.
Khnoum is described as 'the modeller of men, fashioning men and things out of the Mundane Egg on a potter's wheel,' a classic demiurgic function of a secondary creator fashioning the material world distinct from the supreme concealed deity.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'concealed god' Ammon (Mon), the 'mystery god whose name was unpronounceable,' and the distinction between the hidden supreme principle and its visible manifestations all point to radical divine concealment.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage presents a clear hierarchical cascade: AEther first, then air, from which Ulom (the intelligible deity) is born out of the Mundane Egg, which gives birth to the four elements within the fifth (Ether), covered with seven coverings becoming seven upper and seven lower worlds.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly distinguishes between the 'scientific reality for the Sanctuary' and the 'fabulous and mythical Entity for the masses,' and refers to 'the esoteric Doctrine' and a 'mystery god whose name was unpronounceable,' all indicating concealed inner meaning.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage describes a structured descent from AEther through air to the Mundane Egg, then to the four elements within Ether, then to seven coverings becoming seven upper and seven lower worlds, with the shell becoming heaven and the meat becoming earth.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The passage explicitly states that the second Horus is 'the same Idea going forth from the Logos, becoming clothed with matter and assuming an actual existence,' positioning the Logos as the mediating principle between the transcendent Idea and material existence.
Guided passage of the soul through afterlife realms.
The passage describes the soul's passage 'after due purification in the Amenti' before gestating in the egg of immortality, indicating a guided journey through an afterlife realm.
The passage explicitly describes the Osirified dead's soul gestating in the egg of immortality (Devachan) to be reborn into a new life on earth, and links this to the scarabeus symbol of rebirth and spiritual regeneration.