Chaos/Void Archetype - Elemental Forces

Greek: Chaos - primordial void, Erebos - primordial darkness
Norse: Ginnungagap - yawning void between fire and ice
Egyptian: Nun - primordial waters of chaos
Mesopotamian: Tiamat - chaos dragon, primordial salt water
Hebrew: Tohu wa-bohu - formless and void, darkness over the deep
Hindu: Brahman - formless absolute before manifestation
Chinese: Wuji - limitless void, primordial undifferentiated state

Universal Characteristics

Primordial State: The condition before creation, the undifferentiated totality
Formlessness: Without structure, boundary, or definition
Infinite Potential: All possibilities existing in latent form
Darkness: The void before light, the absence that precedes presence
Abyss: Unfathomable depths containing unknown terrors and treasures
Dissolution: The return to formlessness, breaking down of order
Creative Matrix: The fertile chaos from which new forms emerge
Terror: The overwhelming experience of facing the formless
Freedom: Liberation from all constraints and definitions
Unknowable: Beyond comprehension, defying all categories and concepts

Every creation myth begins with some form of chaos, void, or primordial state from which ordered existence emerges:

Primary source texts documenting chaos and void across traditions will be added here, including:

The chaos/void archetype represents profound psychological and spiritual truths:

Unconscious Mind: The vast formless realm beneath conscious awareness
Death: Dissolution of identity, return to undifferentiated state
Creative Source: All new forms emerge from breaking down old structures
Terror of Meaninglessness: Fear of confronting the groundlessness of existence
Liberation: Freedom from all limiting definitions and forms
Mystical Experience: Encounter with the formless absolute beyond concepts