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The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a snake or dragon swallowing its tail, constrastingly creating itself and forming a circle. It is associated with alchemy, Gnosticism, and Hermeticism. It represents the cyclical nature of things, eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. In some representations the serpent is shown as half light and half dark, echoing the dichotomy of other similar symbols such as the Yin Yang. The ouroboros is an example of tail recursion and self-referenceA self-reference occurs when an object refers to itself. Reference is possible when there are two logical levels, a level and a meta-level. It is most commonly used in mathematics, philosophy, computer programming, and linguistics. Self-referential statem, though not in a programming context.
In alchemy, the ouroboros symbolises the circular nature of the alchemist's opus which unites the opposites: the conscious and unconscious mind.
The Ouroboros can be traced back to the Greek philosophersClassical (or "early") Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. In many ways it paved the way both to modern science and to modern philosophy. Clear unbroken lines of influence lead from early Greek philosophers, through early Muslim ph who used it as a symbol of their understanding of the nature of timeFor alternate uses of "time", see Time (disambiguation). Time quantifies or measures the interval between events, or the duration of events. Time has long been perceived as a dimension in which each event has a definite (but not necessarily unique) positi as cyclic. It could very well be used to symbolize the closed-system model of the universeAlternate uses: See Universe (disambiguation In the first half of the 20th century, the word universe was used to mean the whole spacetime continuum in which we exist, together with all the energy and matter within it. Attempts to understand the universe of some physicistsA physicist is a scientist trained in physics. Physicists are employed by universities as professors, lecturers, researchers, and by laboratories in industry. Employment as a professional physicist generally requires a doctoral degree. However, many peopl today.
ChristiansChristian cross and its many variations are widely recognized as an ancient Christian symbol. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Although Christians generally chara early adopted the Ouroboros as a symbol of the limited confines of this world (that there is an "outside" being implied by the demarcation of an inside), and the self-consuming transitory nature of a mere this-worldly existence (following in the footsteps of the Preacher in EcclesiastesEcclesiastes Kohelet in Hebrew, is a book of the Hebrew Bible, known to Jews as the Tanakh and to Christians as the Old Testament. The title derives from the Greek translation of the Hebrew title: (variously transliterated as Qoheleth Qohelethh Kohelet Ko).In Norse mythologyArdre image stones from Gotland, ca. 750 AD Norse mythology Viking mythology or Scandinavian mythology refer to the pre- Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people. It is the best-known version of the ancient Germanic mythology, wh, the serpent Jormungand grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth.
The ouroboros, as a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation, was familiar to the alchemist/physician Sir Thomas Browne. In his A letter to a friend , a medical treatise full of case-histories and witty speculations upon the human condition, he wrote of it:
It is also alluded to at the conclusion of Browne's The Garden of Cyrus (1658) as a symbol of the Circular nature and Unity of the two Discourses.
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