In Chapter VI, H.P. Blavatsky described the seven-fold Mundane Egg from the perspective of various world religions.
(Chapter VI). THE MUNDANE EGG: For H.P. Blavatsky, the Mundane Egg is first a "Circle" and second a "Sphere." Initially, it is a Circle because it moves as a "Wheel" around a Laya-center. Then the Great Breath blows it into the expansiveness of a Sphere. The Mundane Egg figures prominently in the ancient Egyptian and Greek mysteries. Both Ra and Dionysus correspond to the blended cosmical principles of the central point and the Central Sun, or their counterparts in the human principles.
Egypt: In the December 1941 article "Egyptian Teachings in the Light of Theosophy" in The Theosophical Forum, L. Whellams and I.M. Oderberg included a diagram on the hierarchy of the human principles in relation to the cosmical principle of Paramatman. In the diagram, a small circle is depicted stretching up towards Parabrahman and down from Paramatman. This is the central point, the 8th cosmical principle over the Mundane Egg. As this central point, Ra tinctures the Atman of Osiris. H.P. Blavatsky wrote, "Ra is shown like Brahma gestating in the Egg of the Universe." To be born from the egg gives an evolving entity a new "life" among "the gods." The rays of Ra stream downwards through Osiris, through Isis, through Thoth, and to the Solar Sun as Set (who possesses a hawk-like Horus head and a dog-like animal body, representing the Central Sun sitting on the Solar Sun) though Ra "remains in his Egg" during the "struggle" between the "Solar Energy" of Shoo and the "Dragon of Darkness," per The Secret Doctrine 1:364. Instead, Ra assumes many forms. For the cosmical principles, he can be spoken of as the central point, the Central Sun, the Polar Sun, the Equatorial Sun, and even the Solar Sun. For the human principles, he can be spoken of as the central point, Atman, Buddhi, Manas, and even Kama. In the diagram, this notion of a thread or Sutratman flowing from the unmanifested into the manifested is shown by the straight-line streaming into the large circle, or the spherical Mundane Egg, beneath the small circle as the central point. In the lower layers of the large circle there is a second small circle. This second small circle, corresponding to Thoth, is the central point's reflection in Mahat (cosmically) or Manas (humanly) within the Mundane Egg. The crescent sun reaches up from the square of Kama as the container of the higher cosmical principles (Equatorial Sun, Polar Sun, Central Sun) or the higher human principles (Thoth, Isis, Osiris). In E.A. Wallis Budge's The Egyptian Book of the Dead from pages 274-275, Osiris arises out of the "egg in the hidden land." The "land" is hidden because his "throne is placed within the darkness." Having arisen into the light, he is the "lord of the mouth of the tomb," a reference to his role as the blended Central Sun-central point. He is the "head of the Great House." In his June/July 1973 article "Gateway to the Horizon of Heaven" in Sunrise magazine on the Osirian mysteries of the Great Pyramid, I.M. Oderberg explained that there were "three main degrees of initiation" in Egypt pertaining to these divisions of the Mundane Egg. The First Degree pertained to teachings on the "orb of light" in the darkness but with no direct experience of the "inner vision." The Second Degree pertained to the direct experience of the inner vision. The Third Degree pertained to the union with the "radiance" of light that "shineth in the darkness." In the Third Degree, the Eye of Horus opened, demonstrating the initiate's ability to consciously enter and exit the Mundane Egg through the central point. In his role of "head of the Great House," Osiris unites with Ra, steps out of the darkness, and radiates his light.
Greece: As for the Greek Dionysus, H.P. Blavatsky wrote that the "Orphic Egg" was part of the "Dionysian" mysteries during which the "Mundane Egg was consecrated and its significance explained." In the Greek mysteries, Orpheus must retrieve Eurydice from the darkness of Hades (though she is now divine in nature, having been bitten by a snake). In G. de Purucker's "Orpheus" sub-heading in the Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary, Eurydice is Esoteric Wisdom. "Eurydice" means "wide justice," which is expansive and blind, thus identifying her with the vast reaches of Space or the "bare subjectivity" of Mulaprakriti. In his astral vision, Orpheus sees her in the darkness and must bring her forth into the light, thereby filling the Mundane Egg with her grace and profundity. In trying to pull Eurydice out of the darkness of Space into the light of the blended Central Sun-central point, he looks back. He has crossed the boundaries of darkness into light, but she has not. As G. de Purucker suggested, Orpheus is Buddhi which gets caught up in Manas, thereby failing to successfully bring Eurydice's gifts into the Mundane Egg. But Dionysus, as the blended Central Sun-central point himself (demonstrated in the derivation of his name from "'iachein" or "to shout" in G. de Purucker's sub-heading on "Dionysos"), is the divine energies of Fohat streaming from Paramatman to the Solar Sun; therefore, he is the god of dissociative-ness, of chaos, of dismemberment. Dionysus is the 7th cosmical principle of the upper triad flowing into the 4th cosmical principle of the lower square ruled by Apollo. As H.P. Blavatsky noted in The Secret Doctrine 2:612, "the one central point became the Triangle and Quaternary (the perfect Cube), hence Seven." The two gods mirror each other and therefore are in conflict. But Dionysus is also the god of second chances, as seen in Euripides's The Bacchae Verses 800-820, and he is now operating in the solar realm run by Apollo as a god of purification by penance. The stage is set. Dionysus releases his Maenads on Orpheus. Dismemberment is the pathway to unity. They rip him to shreds in the lower worlds but, as a result of the trials of the dismemberment process, Orpheus finds himself whole again, returns to the heavens, re-unites with Eurydice, and shines the light from his blazing star onto humanity.
Sources:
H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine (Pasadena: Theosophical University Press, 2019).
E.A. Wallis Budge, The Egyptian Book of the Dead (New York: Dover Publications, 1967).
Euripides, The Bacchae and Other Plays, trans. John Davie (London: Penguin Books, 2005).
I.M. Oderberg, "Gateway to the Horizon of Heaven: The Great Pyramid," Sunrise: Theosophical Perspectives (June/July 1973). Retrieved from theosophy-nw.org.
G. de Purucker, Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary. Retrieved from theosociety.org.
L. Whellams and I.M. Oderberg, "Egyptian Teachings in the Light of Theosophy," The Theosophical Forum (December 1941). Retrieved from theosociety.org.
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