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Cosmic Egg

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Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion

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Cosmic Egg in Creation

The cosmic egg motif is a major symbol in creation myths, occurring in all parts of the world.

Ancient Egyptians saw the cosmic egg as the soul of the primeval waters out of which creation arose. In one story the sun god emerged from the primeval mound, itself a version of the cosmic egg resting in the original sea.

One Chinese creation myth describes a huge primordial egg containing the primal being, the giant Pangu. The egg broke and Pangu then separated chaos into the many opposites of the yin and the yang, that is, into creation itself.

The Satapatha Brahmana of India contains the story of the desire of the original maternal waters’ desire to reproduce. Through a series of prolonged rituals, the waters became so hot that they gave birth to a golden egg. Eventually, after about the time it takes for a woman or a cow to give birth, the creator, Prajapati, emerged from the egg and creation took place.

The Pelasgians of ancient Greece explained that it was the...

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Bibliography

  • Leeming, D. A. (2005). The Oxford companion to World mythology. New York: Oxford University Press.

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  • Leeming, D. A., & Leeming, M. (1994). Encyclopedia of creation myths. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. (Revised as A Dictionary of creation myths, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).

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  • Von Franz, M. L. (1972). Patterns of creativity mirrored in creation myths. Zurich, Switzerland: Spring Publications. (Revised as Creation Myths, Boston, MA: Shambala, 1995).

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  1. Blanton-Peale Institute, New York, NY, 10001, USA

    David A. Leeming

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  1. David A. Leeming
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Blanton-Peale Institute, 3 West 29th Street, New York, NY, 10001, USA

    David A. Leeming Ph.D.

  2. National Institute for the Psychotherapies, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 501, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Kathryn Madden Ph.D.

  3. Pittsburgh Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, 4527 Winthrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213-3722, USA

    Stanton Marlan Ph.D.

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Leeming, D.A. (2010). Cosmic Egg. In: Leeming, D.A., Madden, K., Marlan, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71802-6_524

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71802-6_524

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-71801-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-71802-6

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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