New Orleans Voodoo Tarot study group - 0 World Egg

TheOld

0 World Egg
This is an intereseting card, all about egg and serpent, the knoledge of the born...
The mystery of birth (quote from the book), the vèvè is an ourobous (a serpent that eat his tail)
The principal attribute of this card represent a fierce bursting forth of creative currents. (quote)

so there it is a start :)

Power
Omeada
 

ShekinahMoon

I find it interesting that the egg is in the mouth of the snake. I do realize that eggs represent new beginnings. The World Egg card is the Fool's card and maybe the unawareness of danger of the Fool's card is what the egg in the mouth of the snake represents. The egg is either protected by the snake or will become the victim of the snake. The snake then is either the protector or the destroyer of the egg. Since the Fool's card is the very beginning at this point a journey could go either way.
 

catlin

The attribute of Damballah, the creator god of Yoruba/Voodoo is a snake. So there again we are for the live giving but also destroying energy.
 

Little Baron

So, what are we saying here?

What came first? The snake or the egg?

Does this look at the cycle of the card fitting either at the beginning or the end of the majors, comfortably - it is both concluded and 'not yet begun' all in one go.

And looking at the general mood of 'The Fool', he does put himself in situations that could either be profitable in some way or potentially dangerous. The egg might be protected by the snake, but at the flip of his head, it might also spell b-r-e-a-k-f-a-s-t. As well as beginning and ending cycles, the card might be about taking chances and being at the right place, at the right time.

I can't help looking at those fangs and that egg. It looks like a little bald head and feels quite vulnerable and shaky. But on the whole, the general atmosphere doesn't seem too scary - the background is less sombre than in some cards. But maybe that is the unpredictability and being lulled into false security that this archetype presents.

LB
 

afrosaxon

A large snake (Damballah) is coiled and facing the card. His mouth is open wide and he has feathered whiskers around his mouth. An egg is poised on his outstretched tongue; his fangs cradle/protect the egg. A starry night is in the background (indigo sky  intuitive, crown chakra and third eye).

The scales of the snake are purplish and tinged in green and gold. The egg is tinged in gold and there is a star slightly visible in the center of the egg.

Fangs and egg: potential in the midst of danger? Life in the midst of death? Fangs protect the future, potential.

Stars = hope.

The snake looks fearsome but really isn’t; change looks fearsome but really isn’t. Still, the snake must be careful not to crush the egg  caution.
 

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teomat

The World Egg is the product of Damballah Wedo (the father serpent) and Ayido Wedo (the mother serpent). These two Loa are amongst the most important in the Voodoo pantheon. Damballah Wedo is considered to be the father of all the other Loa, and along with his wife Ayido Wedo, to be the Loa of Creation. Ayido Wedo is the rainbow serpent, and is a Loa of fertility.

Therefore the World Egg represents new life, potential and beginnings (much like it's equivalent tarot card, the Fool). It is a motif found in the creation myths of many cultures and civilizations. Typically the World Egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the egg.

The symbolism of a snake and egg also appears in the Thoth tarot as the Orphic Egg (in The Lovers and The Hermit). In Ancient Greek mythology, from this egg hatched a primordial hermaphroditic deity who in turn created the other gods. The egg is often depicted with a serpent wound about it. The NOVT appears to be influenced by Thelemic principles, so perhaps the World Egg is a reflection of these ideas. Carrying this thought forward, Damballah and Ayido Wedo could therefore symbolise the Lovers in the Thoth tarot, and the idea of two opposite principles uniting and producing new life.

ETA: As this card seems to allude to the Voodoo creation myth, I got this from Wikipedia:

"Damballah (Sky-serpent loa and wise and loving Father archetype) created all the waters of the earth. In the form of a serpent, the movement of his 7,000 coils formed hills and valleys on earth and brought forth stars and planets in the cosmos. He forged metals from heat and sent forth lightning bolts to form the sacred rocks and stones.

When he shed his skin in the sun, releasing all the waters over the land, the sun shone in the water and created the rainbow. Damballah loved the rainbow’s beauty and made her his wife, Ayida Wedo. Ayida Wedo represents the sky powers and is symbolized by the rainbow; wife of Damballah, she shares his function as cosmic protector and giver of blessing.

The revelations of the loa (deity) descended upon the first faithful in IfÃ, a legendary city located in Nigeria. Therefore, everything in life and all spiritual strength comes from IfÃ. The homeland of all voodoo devotees, where Ifà is located, is Ginen, from where they were forced to flee in the African Diaspora. In death, the higher soul will return to Ginen (the world of the dead, said to be under the water below the earth) to reside with the loa and the ancestral spirits. Because of this, all practitioners of voodoo refer to themselves as ti guinin, sons or daughters of Ginen."