My
first encounter with Ouroboros was because of a Free Masonry book I
read as a child. As my interest in mythology, symbolism, and world
religions grew the symbol kept popping up. I recall the book 'Alchemy'
by Marie-Louise von Franz; an Ouroboros emblazoned on its bright green
cover and then having encountered it again in some literature I had the
privilege of perusing in the Catholic National Library
at St. Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire; a Benedictine
Monastery I stayed at for a time. From then on it would be through
Jungian literature. Anyhow, I have always been fascinated by it.
The term Ouroboros is Greek in origin although the symbol itself predates its definition and has been used across cultures. The definition states the obvious, it is the Tail Devourer. The Ourboros consumes itself so that it may live. Existence is the source of its own sustenance (i.e. Life requires Life or the loss of Life to thrive). It symbolizes the eternal or immortal process at hand. According to Joseph Campbell, "...the goal of the myth is to dispel the need for such life ignorance by effecting a reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will. And this is effected through a realization of the true relationship of the passing phenomena of time to the imperishable life that lives and dies in all."
Ouroboros was used by the Egyptians (i.e. circa 1600 B.C.E., 'the Egyptian Book of the Netherworld'), Phoenicians, Greeks and many others. It can be seen in The Double Triangle of Solomon and found in the descriptions of Kundalini energy. Many view the serpent as a symbol of great significance; it represents fertility and the creative life force. Despite the devious, loathsome and mischievous depictions of serpents in Christian or contemporary popular culture, to many others the symbol denotes the cyclical nature and unity of existence. Like the Phoenix, Ouroboros symbolizes the Sun along with rebirth, renewal and resurrection due to how a snake's skin sloughs. It represents the grand cycle of life & death. Similar correlations have been drawn to Jörmungandr (Norse), Quetzalcoatl (Mesoamerican), Hindu creation myth, South American, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Native American, Haitian and West African beliefs. As a symbol of new beginnings or transition it can also be associated with the Roman god Janus.
Like Yin-Yang, it too represents opposites thus the interconnectedness of complimentary contrary forces - "hen to pan," a.k.a "one is the all." The afore understanding is similarly expressed in Alchemy, Gnosticism and Hermeticism where what is suggested is a transcendence of said duality in the understanding that what is viewed in terms of right/wrong, good/evil or whatever have you are merely characteristics of one existence, where one characteristic is perceived as more desirable than the other despite the fact that both are essential to the whole.
The Ouroboros envelops itself, "where the past (the tail) appears to disappear but really moves into an inner domain or reality, vanishing from view but still existing." The following is yet another explanation:
"Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe - an immortal, mythologically constructed beast. The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him.
Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle.
All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet. In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world."
As with any other symbol Ouroboros means many things to many people.
The term Ouroboros is Greek in origin although the symbol itself predates its definition and has been used across cultures. The definition states the obvious, it is the Tail Devourer. The Ourboros consumes itself so that it may live. Existence is the source of its own sustenance (i.e. Life requires Life or the loss of Life to thrive). It symbolizes the eternal or immortal process at hand. According to Joseph Campbell, "...the goal of the myth is to dispel the need for such life ignorance by effecting a reconciliation of the individual consciousness with the universal will. And this is effected through a realization of the true relationship of the passing phenomena of time to the imperishable life that lives and dies in all."
Ouroboros was used by the Egyptians (i.e. circa 1600 B.C.E., 'the Egyptian Book of the Netherworld'), Phoenicians, Greeks and many others. It can be seen in The Double Triangle of Solomon and found in the descriptions of Kundalini energy. Many view the serpent as a symbol of great significance; it represents fertility and the creative life force. Despite the devious, loathsome and mischievous depictions of serpents in Christian or contemporary popular culture, to many others the symbol denotes the cyclical nature and unity of existence. Like the Phoenix, Ouroboros symbolizes the Sun along with rebirth, renewal and resurrection due to how a snake's skin sloughs. It represents the grand cycle of life & death. Similar correlations have been drawn to Jörmungandr (Norse), Quetzalcoatl (Mesoamerican), Hindu creation myth, South American, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Native American, Haitian and West African beliefs. As a symbol of new beginnings or transition it can also be associated with the Roman god Janus.
Like Yin-Yang, it too represents opposites thus the interconnectedness of complimentary contrary forces - "hen to pan," a.k.a "one is the all." The afore understanding is similarly expressed in Alchemy, Gnosticism and Hermeticism where what is suggested is a transcendence of said duality in the understanding that what is viewed in terms of right/wrong, good/evil or whatever have you are merely characteristics of one existence, where one characteristic is perceived as more desirable than the other despite the fact that both are essential to the whole.
The Ouroboros envelops itself, "where the past (the tail) appears to disappear but really moves into an inner domain or reality, vanishing from view but still existing." The following is yet another explanation:
"Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe - an immortal, mythologically constructed beast. The living being had no need of eyes when there was nothing remaining outside him to be seen; nor of ears when there was nothing to be heard; and there was no surrounding atmosphere to be breathed; nor would there have been any use of organs by the help of which he might receive his food or get rid of what he had already digested, since there was nothing which went from him or came into him: for there was nothing beside him.
Of design he was created thus, his own waste providing his own food, and all that he did or suffered taking place in and by himself. For the Creator conceived that a being which was self-sufficient would be far more excellent than one which lacked anything; and, as he had no need to take anything or defend himself against any one, the Creator did not think it necessary to bestow upon him hands: nor had he any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to his spherical form was assigned to him, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and he was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within his own limits revolving in a circle.
All the other six motions were taken away from him, and he was made not to partake of their deviations. And as this circular movement required no feet, the universe was created without legs and without feet. In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world."
As with any other symbol Ouroboros means many things to many people.
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