The Egg is a universal common spiritual symbol that is used throughout cultures, from West to East and North to South.
This raises a question however: what exactly does the egg symbolize, and is its meaning unique throughout all cultures?
As spiritual symbols, eggs usually represent new beginnings, ideas or rebirth. Some cultures, such as the Japanese, believe the universe was created out of an eg. Meanwhile, Christianity created the Easter egg tradition after borrowing the practice from pagan spring rituals, which used eggs as fertility symbols.
1. The egg as a creation emblem
The sight of a baby bird quickly emerging from what appeared to be a lifeless thing provoked ancient peoples to contemplate the nature of creation. The egg came to represent life. Early man was unable to comprehend abstract concepts such as the creation of the world, but he could observe a similar process in the hatching of an egg.
This gave rise to the concept of a “world egg” that created the first creator, which appears in many primitive creation myths.
In Hindu mythology, the golden world egg is known as hiranyagarbha; it hatches Brahma, the sun, and he constructs the cosmos from the egg’s shell, yolk, and white.
The sun deity Re was created from an egg, according to ancient Egyptian literature.
There’s the Celtic “serpent’s egg,” which is symbolized by a fossil sea-urchin.
According to Chinese folklore, the first being, P’an Ku, sprang from the cosmic egg.
The Chinese yin-yang, with its black and white halves, is a representation of the Primal Oneness and also has an obvious connection to an egg’s yolk and white.
Various tales in Oceania credit the creation of man to bird eggs.
In Japanese Shinto tradition, the world was created after the primordial Egg split in two, where the lighter element became Heaven and the heavier one became the Earth.
2. The egg as a symbol of fertility and crop growth
As a near universal symbol of creation, the egg also became a common fertility symbol. Peasants in some cultures brought eggs into the fields as a magical charm to increase crop yields and grain harvest.
The Scots used to place a nail and an egg inside the bottom of a sowing basket and load seed corn on top. Because corn is “as full of substance as an egg is full of flesh,” the egg was used to symbolize it.
On Maundy Thursday, a festival of spring and regeneration, Slavs and Germans coated the plough with eggs, hoping for a healthy crop.
Eggs were said to be such effective fertility charms that many cultures used them to treat many forms of impotence and infertility.
3. The egg as a divination symbol
Eggs are frequently utilized in fortune-telling because they carry new life, which are the seeds of the future. A traditional way to find one’s future husband was to break the shell of an egg on Halloween, New Year’s, or another significant event and catch the white in a glass of water. The shapes of the whites were then meticulously scrutinized and interpreted.
In France, an egg was smashed on someone’s head. In Scotland and Ireland, girls removed the yolk from a hard-boiled egg and filled the hole with salt. If the charm was to function properly, everything had to be eaten, even the shell. This was done in the middle of the night, and no water could be drunk before morning or else the spell would not work. If the girl dreamed her lover brought water, it meant she would soon be dumped.
4. Egg as a magical protection against the Evil Eye
Eggs are also employed in protective magic to keep the Evil Eye at bay.
For example, the ancient Mayans utilized eggs to heal or counteract the Evil Eye in a simple rite where the priest broke the egg and the victim gazed at it as if it were an eye and burry the egg.
5. Easter Egg Symbolism and meaning
Easter eggs have been given as gifts for a long time. One story says that the tradition started when St. Mary Magdalene was held by a centurion in Alexandria. She gave him an egg, and he let her go.
Another account says she gave an egg to the Roman emperor as a symbol of Christ’s resurrection.
The egg is a resurrection symbol in Christianity because Christ arose from the dead like a fully grown egg from an egg; the Easter egg, which had previously served as a fertility symbol in pagan spring festivals, therefore took on a uniquely Christian interpretation.
The Easter eggs were sometimes preserved all year to bring good luck.
Throughout many cultures, decorating Easter eggs has been an important tradition.
Ukrainians decorate eggs in blue, believing the Virgin Mary wept over a basket of eggs meant for Pontius Pilate, coloring them in brilliant blue.
Polish people, on the other hand, decorated their eggs because the Virgin Mary would entertain the infant Jesus by painting eggs in various colors.
Finally, Romanians paint their eggs a simple, bright red since, according to their tradition, the Virgin Mary placed a basket of eggs at the foot of Jesus’s cross, with the blood coloring the eggs red.
A much longer history of decorated, painted eggs indicates that this custom originated about 12,000 B.C.E., when circular, oval, and elliptical painted egg shapes began to appear as symbols of renewal and rebirth. They are still used today when people decorate eggs for Easter and roll them on the ground to celebrate how plants grow back in the spring after being dormant all winter.
The egg may also be seen as a symbol of nature’s seasonal rebirth, which is where the traditions of Easter eggs and colored eggs in so many countries come from.
6. The egg as a spiritual center
The egg is the enigmatic “center,” around which unconscious energies evolve in a spiral-like fashion, gradually revealing the important substance.
Alchemy regarded the egg seed housed in the yolk as the “sun-point,” the infinitesimally minuscule, invisible “dot,” from whence all existence arose. It is also our creative “fire-point,” the “soul in the midway of the heart,” the quintessence or golden seed “that is put in motion by the hen’s warmth” of our dedicated attention.
7. The egg as a symbol of freedom
Symbolically, the inside of the egg represents a struggle between freedom and limitation, while simultaneously being the womb itself.
The hatchling tries to break through the eggshell’s comforting warmth, just as a person tries to escape a comfortable but confining security.
The egg, like the mother, may become a symbol of the latent tensions that exist inside all humans: between the need for home-loving safety and the challenge of conflict and danger, as well as between introversion and extroversion.
The Psychic Egg, like the Cosmogonic Egg, includes Heaven and Earth, as well as the seeds of all good and evil, as well as the laws of reincarnation and personality fulfillment. The student feels trapped by his universe, the university, and yearns to break free; he must face the challenge in order to live.
An egg indicates the prospect of something new in your life—a fresh start, perhaps the emergence of your actual self. Something is preparing to burst free from its shell, which is most likely your unconscious.
Symbolism of Eggs in Dreams
Dreams about eggs are generally favorable since they typically allude to your happiness in life (unless the eggs are rotten).
The egg is a symbol of potential and new opportunities. We haven’t fully realized all of our natural skills yet, so we’re not yet perfect.
Both the good and bad parts of yourself are hidden under the eggshell.
Because the egg is a symbol of rebirth, it might represent your own inner process of renewal.
1. Egg dreams as signs of coming prosperity
People from many different cultures have long viewed the egg, an ancient symbol of creation, as a sign of luck.
A fresh egg yolk seen or used in a dream is a positive omen for individuals engaged in physical labor of any type.
Dreaming about a nest full of eggs foretells financial gain, family bliss, or romantic success.
Buying eggs in dreams suggests you will effectively use any extra financial resources that come your way.
2. Eggs as a symbol of a new idea
A clutch of eggs might indicate the birth of a fresh and innovative idea.
Similarly, if you dream about birds emerging from eggs, this might represent the development of new ideas, initiatives, or relationships.
3. Egg dreams can symbolize new beginnings or hidden potential
Seeing or eating eggs in your dream represents fertility, birth, fresh beginnings, and your creative potential.
Eating an egg might also be a sign of a long-term relationship.
Because the egg represents unrealized potential and future possibilities, dreaming of an egg means we aren’t fully aware of our own abilities.
Seeing an egg hatch might represent a novel idea that is developing in your mind.
On the other hand, an egg hatching could mean that you are coming out of your shell and feeling more comfortable with your strengths and self-identity.
According to Carl Jung, eggs signify our trapped souls. As a result, the egg in your dream might very well reflect you in the most profound sense. Are you locked in a shell, or did you break out and are now free to fly?
4. Broken or rotten eggs can be bad omens
Dreaming about a nest with broken eggs or dead birds represents regret and sorrow, as well as a sense of failure and despair.
Seeing cracked or broken eggs in your dream symbolizes possible disasters and emotions of vulnerability.
If you drop the egg yourself, it means that you are expecting some kind of bad luck in the near future.
If you dream of brightly colored eggs, it means you are celebrating a happy event. If you dream of rotten eggs, it means you have lost something. You may have allowed some situations to take a turn for the worse.
5. Being assaulted (or attacking others) with eggs
Dreams where you are attacked with eggs you suggest you feel attacked in real life by the people around you.
If you are the one throwing rotten eggs, this indicates you have done something wrong in waking life and it will come back to haunt you.
6. Easter egg dreams
The Easter Egg is a spring symbol that represents regeneration or untapped promise.
Dreams of Easter Eggs transport us back to childhood thoughts of hope and wonder.
It may also serve as a reminder of the passage of time, since the mind frequently thinks of time as events or seasons and not as an actual abstract date.
7. Egg dreams can symbolize a major event is coming
An egg dream suggests a significant event is on the horizon, either in the family or at home — possibly the birth of a child or another sort of creation—or you wish to live in perfect harmony with people around you.
Resources:
- A dictionary of symbols by Cirlot, Juan Eduardo
- A dictionary of symbols by Chevalier, Jean
- Dictionary of symbols by Chetwynd, Tom
- A dictionary of dream symbols : with an introduction to dream psychology by Ackroyd, Eric
- Illustrated dictionary of symbols in eastern and western art by Hall, James
- Dictionary of symbols and imagery by Vries, Ad de
- Symbolism : a comprehensive dictionary by Olderr, Steven
- Dictionary of mythology, folklore and symbols by Jobes, Gertrude
- The complete dictionary of symbols by Tresidder, Jack
- The book of symbols : reflections on archetypal images by Ami Ronnberg & Kathleen Martin
- Man, Myth & Magic by Richard Cavendish
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