Atomic theory first appears in the 5th century BCE. Later examination notes the atom is much like an egg. Atoms have an extremely small, positively charged nucleus. It's surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Egg yolk and white, right? Not quite.
There the similarity ends. Although typically the nucleus is less than one ten-thousandth the size of the atom, it contains more that 99.9% of the mass of the atom. That's heavy yolk. The yellow yolk can also represent gold, the sun and the ego at the center of the self.
The concept of the cosmic egg, also known as the world egg or mundane egg, appears in the creation stories of various cultures and civilizations back to Proto-Indo-European mythology. The mystic egg has various meanings.
The cosmic creation myth concerns an egg hatching to give birth to the universe, or a primordial being who then creates the universe. The egg is often depicted as resting on the primordial waters of the Earth.
In this motif, the upper part or shell of the egg represents the heavens (firmament). The lower part or yolk symbolizes Earth. In ancient Egypt, gods Atum and later Ra hatch from an egg at the beginning of creation.
This symbolism derives from basic properties of an egg, such as its structure, and role in providing nourishment and initiating new life. It's illustrated by the Latin saying "omne vivum ex ovo" ('all life comes from an egg').
The Alchemical Egg
" ... et ego nominabo ipsum domine suo quo nominat ipsum vulgis scilicet terminus ovi hoc est dicere ovum philosophorum ... "
" ... and I will name him as his lord, by which the common people name him, that is, the word for an egg is to say the egg of the philosophers ... "
~Secretum secretorum (the Secret of Secrets), Pseudo-Aristotle
The Tetrasomia of Maria
"These four metals - copper, iron, lead, and zinc—constitute the tetrasomia. They are "four in one" says Maria, according to Olympiodorus, and hence are also called the "egg of the philosophers," as the egg, too, comprises four components: shell, skin, egg white and yolk.
This mixture can be prepared by means of 'our lead,' says Maria. The term designates either 'black lead' (molybdos melas) or antimony (molybdos hemeteros), whose melted state is also called 'black brew' or 'black juice.'
The four metals are, according to Maria, also called 'our copper,' or 'their copper,' and the alloy resembles in its quadruple composition the human body. In order to make gold, the tetrasomia must be heated and 'burned' with certain substances:
... with sulfur, which becomes vaporized in heat by itself and thereby colors everything - two features it shares with "all sulfurous materials"; with mercury; with 'round alum,' that is, morsels of arsenious acid from arsenic sulfides (realgar, orpiment); with 'divine water' ... "
The Philosopher's Egg can also be interpreted as symbolic redemption of the soul of man according to Orphic-inspired Gnostic conceptions of regeneration. The Orphics believe in earthly suffering to gain heavenly rewards.
The depiction of the Orphic egg includes an egg encircled by a twisted serpent, symbolizing the Greek Orphic religion's belief in the creation of the universe from a silver egg. An ancient hymn tells of the initial manifestation from this egg: Phanes-Dionysus, who represents light.
" ... istud ovum quod nominaverunt sapientes ovum non est ovum avis nec generatur ex gallina sed est ovum sapientum quod assimulaverunt ob slbedinum suam albedini ovi."
"... that egg which the sages called an egg is not a bird's egg, nor is it generated from a hen, but it is a wise egg which they pretended to be because of its whiteness."
~ De occultis naturae, Albertus Magnus 1200 - 1280
From the Latin Secretum, the phrases lapis ... qui non est lapis (stone that is not a stone) and ovum philosophorum (philosophers' egg) enter the late Middle English. A medieval translation of 1450 reads:
"... the stone animal, vegetable, and mynerall, the which is no stone, neither hath the nature of a stone ... Y wolle name hym by his propre name, as the common peple calleth it, that is to sey, the terme of an egge, that is to sey, the philosophers' egge."
The egg can symbolize the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Each of the four parts of an egg - yolk, white, skin and shell - relate to a Classical Element.
In ancient Greek and later philosophy the elements Earth and Water are sometimes combined as one, giving the three-piece egg - yolk, white, shell.
Several ancient writers, including Empedocles, use the analogy of an egg: the outer spherical and bounded sky is like the outer shell, whereas the Earth is represented by the inner round yolk within. This analogy, in turn, appears in some Zoroastrian texts
During the Renaissance Paracelsus also puts it in context of the Classical Elements. He sees fire as Firmament between air and water in the heavens. In his early model, he says air surrounds the world like an egg shell.
The egg white below the shell is like fire because it embodies a type of chaos, allowing it hold up earth and water. Earth and water make up a globe which, in his egg analogy, is the yolk.
Even prior to philosophers, the egg is a symbol of life, creation and hope. For coloring, painters and craftspeople use egg tempera long before oils. Eggs can be used in food, medicine, philosophy, art, magic, Easter egg hunts, tales, poems, parables or metaphors.
The philosophers' egg is also a name for a type of vessel used in the process of digestion, which has an oval shape.
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