Is Humpty Dumpty the Cosmic Egg?
Illustration from Denslow's Humpty Dumpty by William Wallice Denslow, 1902
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again
Have you ever wondered if Humpty Dumpty is more than a simple nursery rhyme? One strong possibility is that he represents the Cosmic Egg, thought in many traditions to give birth to the entire universe.
The concept of the egg as the progenitor of the world is found in numerous mythologies, including those of India, China, Egypt, Phoenicia, Finland, Greece, Central America, Fiji, and Japan, to name a few.
Pemba, a West African supreme being or creator deity, was born from the cosmic egg. Purusha, a Vedic god, is said to have floated on the primeval waters for a thousand years before breaking out of a golden cosmic egg. The Chinese carry a similar story regarding the origin of the first man, who was dropped into the infinite waters from a cosmic egg. Brahma, another Vedic god, emerged out of the golden egg of creation and its two halves formed heaven and earth.
Illustration from Denslow's Humpty Dumpty by William Wallice Denslow, 1902
In Chinese mythology, the cosmic egg split open at creation, its halves forming the earth and sky. In Druidic tradition, the sea-urchin fossil as the “egg of the serpent” symbolizes the cosmic egg.
Ancient Egypt abounds with myths of the cosmic egg, or world egg. In one Egyptian myth, the sun god Ra is hatched as an egg from the Nile “goose” known as Gengen or Negeg. In another Egyptian myth, the sun emerges from a cosmic egg laid by a crocodile, snake, or bird. Thoth was worshipped at his main cult center of Hermopolis as a self-creating deity who produced the cosmic egg on the Island of Flame.
Ancient Egyptian worshippers of the feline goddess Bastet believed that the fertility god Khnum created the cosmic egg out of which all of life originated. In Circle of Isis, the author Ellen Reed states that
He creates our bodies by creating an egg that he formed on the wheel and then it is placed in the mother’s womb, to grow in its “natural course.”
The Orphic Egg. "Ophis et ovum mundanum Tyriorum". Snake and world egg of the inhabitants of Tyre. Illustrated by James Basire c. late 1700s-early 1800s
In Sumero-Semitic tradition, the cosmic egg produced creation. In Christianity, the egg represents resurrection, re-creation, and hope, as well as the virgin birth. In Orphism, the cosmic egg encircled by the ouroboros represents the mystery of life, creation, and resurrection. A large porcelain egg or ostrich egg, suspended in temples, mosques, and Coptic churches, represents life and resurrection. The egg is also sometimes found on tombs.
In An Illustrated guide to the Traditional Symbols, the cosmic egg is assigned many meanings, including the sphere, the life principle, the primordial matriarchal world of chaos, the Great Round containing the universe, the womb, the whole of cosmic time and space, and the hidden origin and mystery of being. The author J.C. Cooper states that
“In Hindu, Egyptian, Chinese and Greek symbolism the Cosmic Egg, as the origin of the universe, suddenly burst asunder.”
Illustration from Denslow's Humpty Dumpty by William Wallice Denslow, 1902
The cosmic egg breaking can also signify unity as the number zero splitting off into different parts, birthing all of the other numbers. It can also be viewed as unity consciousness breaking off into a multitude of self-focused individual egos. In Buddhism, the eggshell represents the layer of ignorance that we must crack in order to attain enlightenment.
The cosmic egg connects to the World card in the major arcana of the Tarot. The four energies on this card are the four elements—Earth, Fire, Water, and Air—represented by their respective fixed signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius and their correlating symbols—the Bull, the Lion, the Phoenix, and the Angel. The character pictured on the card is dancing inside of an egg-shaped wreath, rejoicing in the creative force inherent in all of the elements dancing together inside of world womb. In the words of Jodorowsky, author of The Way of the Tarot:
“When this cosmic egg opens in our spiritual work, we reach The World.”
The World card can also signify the anima mundi, the universal agent permeating everything and connecting us to everything. Astrologically eggs are associated with the signs Taurus and Cancer, which are ruled by Venus and the Moon respectively.
Read my article about Taurus Correspondences to learn more about zodiac associations with birth and fertility.
Read my article about Cancer Correspondences to learn about zodiac associations with motherhood and the moon.
From The Blog
Le Monde card from Oswald Wirth's 1889 tarot deck
Sources
Circlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols.
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopedia to the Traditional Symbols.
Coulter, Charles Russell and Turner, Patricia. Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities.
Gliori, Debi. The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes.
Jodorowsky, Alejandro and Costa, Marianne. The Way of the Tarot.
Pinch, Geraldine. Handbook of Egyptian Mythology.
Reed, Ellen Cannon. Circle of Isis.
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