Chemical Serpents: Eggs and the Androgynous Child
We can find the symbolism of the Egg in many traditions, and often associated with serpents and dragons. The symbol of the Orphic Egg for example shows a serpent coiled about an egg. In the Orphic mysteries, this was the egg from which hatched Phanes, whose name meant Light, but who was also considered as a form of Eros, the god of Love.
This egg was said to have been laid by the serpent goddess Ananke, and fathered by the three-headed serpent god, Chronos.
There is also a folk tale of an egg thrown up by a ball of hissing serpents, made from a secretion in their bodies called anguinum. To steal this from the serpents it must be caught in a cloth before it hits the ground. Apparently you must then run-off and cross water before the serpents catch you. One account of this tale is given by Pliny in 'Naturalis Historia'.
Jan Fries in 'Seidways' recounts another tale of a group of swaying and whistling serpents passing a serpent egg, or serpent stone, around before having a race to a nearby spring to elect a new 'serpent king' for the next year. Apparently variations of this tale come from throughout Scandinavia and parts of Germany. In some variations the slowest serpent in the race is spat at until it petrifies into an Ouroboros-like ring that the others then jump through. Those wishing to steal the egg from the serpents are warned that they are very fast runners. This suggests that the serpents in the tale are not actual serpents at all, but members of a serpent trance cult.
These tales help highlight another aspect of serpent symbolism, that of trance, and entering possession-like trance states through serpent or reptile consciousness.
Contents
Introduction
Serpents
Eggs and the Androgynous Child
- The Philosophers Egg and The Cosmic Egg (coming soon)
- The Monas Hieroglyph (coming soon)
- The Androgyne (coming soon)
- The Baphomet (coming soon)
- N'Aton and Sophia (coming soon)