Where did The Story Of The Easter Egg Come From?
Whether the story began from the resurrection of Jesus or borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon myth of the Goddess of Eostre, it represents new beginnings and opportunities, death and renewal if we can ignite curiosity, love and flow from our heart centre. To me, it’s about active hope and new beginnings despite the darkness that can surround us - and the last few months have felt pretty heavy, but from smashed eggs, I found new possibilities.
Easter morning always begins with a pyjama hunt in our house. I lay out a treasure hunt with questions and clues to direct my daughter and husband to find the eggs. But the funny tradition and blessing for me is the light that emanates from Eloise's eyes as she retells the story of why Easter eggs are hollow, as she unwraps the foil off the egg and smashes it open. Bit dramatic, maybe, but it makes my heart light up and laugh, and it gets closer to the truth of what the egg represents and the gift it allows than I thought after I found out about its real origins.
A common thought of why eggs are hollow is that the tomb of Jesus is empty. The story is about death and renewal; the hollow egg represents Jesus's resurrection. When Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty and cries for Jesus, he stands behind her and whispers, 'Why are you crying?', but she does not recognise him at first and continues to cry.
In the book Mary Magdelene Revealed by Meggan Watterson, she illustrates that even in the darkest moment, the bridge to a new start is through love and letting that lightness provide active hope for a new beginning.
Mary Magdalene - The Hidden Scriptures
The book reveals why and what is in Mary Magdalene's hidden scripture and why the patriarchy hid them and vilified her.
In this book, she reveals the secret that Jesus told her but does not reveal it to the male disciples. The secret - that the way to salvation, hope, and God was not through the church of men but through our own heart, via love.
Of course, for Harry Potter fans, this is what Dumbledore says is the key to fighting Voldemort (sorry couldn't resist a Harry Potter reference) but to bring this back to science.
The heart is precognitive (i.e. knows before our brain does by 5 to 6 seconds), and the Heart Maths Institute studies show that connecting your heart to your brain can help you reduce stress, become more productive, and create a flow. A flow that allows you to regain alignment, centring and grounding and then bring in lightness, acceptance and forgiveness to start a new.
The science of flow and work by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi tells us that the Flow state is an optimal state of being and consciousness, one that ancient wisdom has known for years as the path to self-actualisation. Studies by McKinsey, International Consultancy found that we can improve Strategic Problem-Solving by 500x with a state of flow (McKinsey, International Consultancy – Decade Long study, 2013).
For me, my adapted version of the Flow method is the foundation of all my work and practices and one that I have used these past few weeks consciously as I have faced fear, disappointments, crippling deadlines and car breakdowns just as I nearly missed my deadlines. I have built my work on neuroscience, the Heart Maths Institute, the Institute of Intelligence and vagus nerve theory and practices to find ease in the body when faced with stress and build resilience.
Flow: Embodying My Wand
Connecting with my heart, and creating a flow, from there is like embodying my wand. I write about this in my new e-book and provide guided meditation to do it (out soon). Still, the key to flow is creating ease in the body and generating feelings of love, gratitude and appreciation for all I have and active hope. OK, we cannot bypass unconscious knots and fears, but we add music to ground ourselves and create a lightness to face our fears with ease and grace. Because science also shows that from a place of heightened stress, we cannot think or create effectively.
Back To The Egg:
However, the egg's beginnings may have nothing to do with Jesus' resurrection. Looking back at ancient wisdom and Goddess methodology, the tradition is more likely to have started with the Spring Vernal Equinox and the Goddess Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon & Germanic goddess of Spring and new beginnings and eternal possibilities*.
Michelle Skye, in Goddess Alive*, claims that Eostre represents a wise child or woman who knows that hope springs anew and life is always filled with possibilities if we can find laughter and fun. The eggs represent our goals, our lifelong dreams.
Goddess Eostre Of New Beginnings.
Image: Colette Baron-Reid, Goddess Power Oracle Cards
With her companion, a Hare or a rabbit, she is said to release the egg down the hill, letting it smash. And from the smashed egg materialises your goals:
"Release them now and watch your life grow in satisfaction, excitement and fun." The smashing of the egg is important as she says:
"You can't contain their energy. Their magic only works if you release it.'
The Hare is said to leave eggs as a gift of rebirth as it was associated with fertility and the birthing of new. It is claimed that early Christians adopted these traditions and symbols as part of their own.
Regardless of the origins of the egg, let this new spring season allow you to see the love and new even if you think your eggs have smashed. I hope you can switch on the love and compassion for yourself and allow something new to come, even out of disappointment:
Turn on your curious mindset and be open to what happens next.
Smashed Eggs
For me, my disappointments, like my eggs smashing, turned into an opportunity as I stayed in my heart, took in the feedback and looked for an opening:
I lost a pitch for funding but was invited to talk on a radio station about a subject close to my heart and how I got onto this mad soul purpose journey:
The Myth of the Work-life Balance:
The Business Brunch team asked: Is Work-Life Balance A Myth?
Airing on the 9th of April at 11 am on Get Radio as part of the Business Radio section
Easter Sunday from 11 am on The Business Brunch with Ben and Mike Foster
Tune in on DAB Digital Radio across Oxfordshire and Online at getradio.co.uk
I offer tools we can use to attend to our stress to avoid burnout, as we cannot ignore or separate life stress from work or compartmentalise the problem in our head
2. The second gift.
I got invited to do a talk for the Enterprise Support team for Oxford Brookes on:
Finding Focus with Flow
19th of April, 12.30 - 1.30 pm
Tickets are free on Eventbrite, but no recording will be made, please come along. Practical flow tools and addresses the circuit breakers causing us to get distracting, which are deeper than the job at hand.
I am also please to let you know that I will be running an Embodied Practice session on Magnetising Your Energy.
A subconscious journey, practice and tools to ignite and master your energetic field for wellness, inner power and attraction for abundance, love and connection.
I’d love to see you at one my the events, but remember, from what we think, we have lost to finding something beautiful - Enjoy Easter, smash some eggs and stay curious, light and in your flow - happy new beginnings.
With Moobeams
Nila
PS. If you need extra support to find flow or are stuck at a crossroads with unconscious blocks or upper limits to your success, book in for a discovery chat to explore if the Intuitive Flow Method is right for you.