Ouroboros: Difference between revisions
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====Television==== |
====Television==== |
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*In ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'', the Ouroboros is used as a logo for the secret group preparing for the Millennium. |
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*In ''[[The X-Files]]'', Agent Dana Scully gets an Ouroboros tattoo on her lower back in the 4th season episode "Never Again". |
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*In the anime/manga ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the Ouroboros is used as the symbol of the Homunculi. |
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*On the British Sci-Fi comedy, ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' an episode of the seventh series about time travel is titled "[[Ouroboros (Red Dwarf)|Ouroboros]]." In it, [[Dave Lister]] explains that he was abandoned as a 6-months old in a cardboard box underneath the pool table at the Aigburth Arms pub. The box has "Ouroborus" written on it, they are supposedly a brand of self-recharging batteries, but is also a reference that Dave is his own father. |
*On the British Sci-Fi comedy, ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' an episode of the seventh series about time travel is titled "[[Ouroboros (Red Dwarf)|Ouroboros]]." In it, [[Dave Lister]] explains that he was abandoned as a 6-months old in a cardboard box underneath the pool table at the Aigburth Arms pub. The box has "Ouroborus" written on it, they are supposedly a brand of self-recharging batteries, but is also a reference that Dave is his own father. |
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*The final episode of the sci-fi Canadian/South African produced television series ''[[Charlie Jade]]'' is titled "Ouroboros". |
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*In the anime series ''[[Noein]]'', a large ouroboros appears when different dimensions of the multiverse begin to converge. |
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*In the anime/manga series ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'', whilst fighting Baishana in the future arc, Gokudera comments on how the ouroboros is one of the animals he has always wanted to meet. He makes this comment whilst fighting a serpent eating its own tail, a further reference to the ouroboros. |
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*In the Anime/Manga series Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Viper/Marmon, The Arcobaleno of the Indigo Pacifier, has a pet which is seen as an ouroboros. This Lets him levitate. |
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*Episode 12 of Season 2 of [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s ''[[Andromeda (TV series)|Andromeda]]'' is entitled "Ouroboros". It features a rift in space time that allows a character from the future ([[Trance Gemini]]) to take the place of her younger self to correct a future gone wrong. |
*Episode 12 of Season 2 of [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s ''[[Andromeda (TV series)|Andromeda]]'' is entitled "Ouroboros". It features a rift in space time that allows a character from the future ([[Trance Gemini]]) to take the place of her younger self to correct a future gone wrong. |
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*In ''[[The Invisible Man (2000 TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'' Darien Fawkes wears an Ouroboros-like chemically-sensitive tattoo on his wrist to indicate when he will need his next dose of Quicksilver antiserum. |
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*In episode 14 season 4 of ''[[The Pretender (TV series)|The Pretender]]'', it is referred to as the Cambodian symbol of cannibalism. |
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*In ''[[Lost (TV series)|Lost]]'' the mysterious Mrs. Hawking wears an Ouroboros on her cloak. |
*In ''[[Lost (TV series)|Lost]]'' the mysterious Mrs. Hawking wears an Ouroboros on her cloak. |
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*In the Season 2 finale episode of ''[[Breaking Bad (TV series)|Breaking Bad]] '' Don shuffles through some of his daughter Jane's drawings. One of the drawings is an Ouroboros. |
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====Music==== |
====Music==== |
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[[Image:Neil Peart3.jpg|right|thumb|[[Neil Peart]]'s drumset featuring the ouroboros]] |
[[Image:Neil Peart3.jpg|right|thumb|[[Neil Peart]]'s drumset featuring the ouroboros]] |
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*[[Boyd Rice|NON]]'s album ''Blood and Flame'' sports the Ouroboros on its cover art, and on the CD face. |
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*Canadian [[progressive rock]] band [[Rush (band)|Rush]] used a depiction of a snake eating its tail on various album artwork for their 2007 album ''[[Snakes & Arrows]]''. |
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* A song on the album ''[[The Bedlam in Goliath]]'' by [[The Mars Volta]] is named "Ouroboros". Another track on the same album, entitled "Askepios" contains the lyric "Might of a serpent swallowing tail." |
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*The song "I Palindrome I" by [[They Might Be Giants]] references the Ouroboros: "I am a snake head eating the head of the opposite side." |
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* An ambient composition by [[Dietmar Bonnen]] is titled "ouroboros". |
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*[[Crass]] would use the Ouroboros symbol as a stage backdrop along w/ many political symbols. |
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*USA-based exotic gutar and bass making company [[Alembic, Inc]], known for close relationships with [[The Grateful Dead]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]], [[John Entwistle]], [[Stanley Clarke]] and others, uses the Ouroboros as central part of their logo. The logo features a hand coming out of a shining cloud spreading rays, bearing the Ouroboros that encircles a prism with an alembic inside. The idea is that mankind (hand) takes everything in the universe (cloud) and in an infinite (circle) search of wisdom (dragon in circle) focuses (prism) energy (rays) to purify (alembic) the main goal (also the alembic). The logo was invented in 1969 by Robert Thomas. Source: http://www.alembic.com/info/logomeaning.html Note that the Ouroboros depicts wisdom, as in Oriental philosophy, rather the soul or the universe, as in the western tradition. |
*USA-based exotic gutar and bass making company [[Alembic, Inc]], known for close relationships with [[The Grateful Dead]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]], [[John Entwistle]], [[Stanley Clarke]] and others, uses the Ouroboros as central part of their logo. The logo features a hand coming out of a shining cloud spreading rays, bearing the Ouroboros that encircles a prism with an alembic inside. The idea is that mankind (hand) takes everything in the universe (cloud) and in an infinite (circle) search of wisdom (dragon in circle) focuses (prism) energy (rays) to purify (alembic) the main goal (also the alembic). The logo was invented in 1969 by Robert Thomas. Source: http://www.alembic.com/info/logomeaning.html Note that the Ouroboros depicts wisdom, as in Oriental philosophy, rather the soul or the universe, as in the western tradition. |
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* Doom drone band [[Earth (band)]] has a song entitled "Ouroboros Is Broken" on their album [[Hibernaculum (album)]]. |
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* [[Dir en grey]]'s album Uroboros (2008) |
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====Literature==== |
====Literature==== |
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* The satirical play [[Androboros]] is named after it. |
* The satirical play [[Androboros]] is named after it. |
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*In the novel ''[[The Neverending Story]]'' (and film adaptations), a variation with two snakes is featured as the talisman "AURYN". |
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*In [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'', in an episode entitled "The Secret", it is revealed that Marguerite Krux came to the plateau in search of the other half of a medallion, the Ouroboros, which she needed to trade with a criminal called Shanghai Xan, who in return was to give her her birth certificate so she could learn her true identity. |
*In [[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'', in an episode entitled "The Secret", it is revealed that Marguerite Krux came to the plateau in search of the other half of a medallion, the Ouroboros, which she needed to trade with a criminal called Shanghai Xan, who in return was to give her her birth certificate so she could learn her true identity. |
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* In [[Ian Fleming]]'s novel [[Live And Let Die]], the Ourobouros is the name of Mr. BIG's worm-and-bait factory in St. Petersburg which [[James Bond]] deduces as the entry point for smuggled gold in "chapter XIII - Death of a pelican" |
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*In William Gaddis's first novel, ''The Recognitions'' (1955), there is an Ouroboros depicted on the title page of the hardcover and paperback editions. |
*In William Gaddis's first novel, ''The Recognitions'' (1955), there is an Ouroboros depicted on the title page of the hardcover and paperback editions. |
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* Appears as the 'World-Worm', a dormant world-circling snake god, whose body has turned to stone from lack of magic to sustain it, in [[Larry Niven]]'s "[[The Magic Goes Away]]". |
* Appears as the 'World-Worm', a dormant world-circling snake god, whose body has turned to stone from lack of magic to sustain it, in [[Larry Niven]]'s "[[The Magic Goes Away]]". |
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====Theatre==== |
====Theatre==== |
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*''[[title of show|[title of show]]]'', an original Broadway musical that chronicles its own creation, is sometimes referred to as "the musical that eats its own tail."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyRYzu0GsYI , September 12, 2007, "'the [title of show] show' - Episode 3"]</ref> The show's cast and creators dedicated an episode of their [[video blog]], ''the [title of show] show'', to explaining the musical's "snakeeatstailness," using the concept of the ouroboros throughout the episode.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR1eVI_eUZw , February 14, 2008, "'the [title of show] show' - Extra"]</ref> |
*''[[title of show|[title of show]]]'', an original Broadway musical that chronicles its own creation, is sometimes referred to as "the musical that eats its own tail."<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyRYzu0GsYI , September 12, 2007, "'the [title of show] show' - Episode 3"]</ref> The show's cast and creators dedicated an episode of their [[video blog]], ''the [title of show] show'', to explaining the musical's "snakeeatstailness," using the concept of the ouroboros throughout the episode.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR1eVI_eUZw , February 14, 2008, "'the [title of show] show' - Extra"]</ref> |
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====Video Games==== |
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* In the Issue 11 update to the MMORPG "City of Heroes," a group called Ouroboros was introduced, specializing in time travel. Their symbol is a snake much like the original Ouroboros, except that it is in a figure eight, combining the Ouroboros symbol with the symbol for infinity. |
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====Other==== |
====Other==== |
Revision as of 17:26, 3 August 2009
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Ouroboros.png/250px-Ouroboros.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Ouroboros_1.jpg/300px-Ouroboros_1.jpg)
The Ouroboros (Greek Οὐροβόρος or οὐρηβόρος, from οὐροβόρος ὄφις "tail-devouring snake", also spelled Uroboros in English pronounced /ʊˈɹɒbɔɹɔs/ or /ˌjʊəɹoʊˈbɒɹəs/), is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle.
The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end (See Phoenix). It can also represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting from the beginning with such force or qualities it cannot be extinguished. The ouroboros has been important in religious and mythological symbolism, but has also been frequently used in alchemical illustrations, where it symbolizes the circular nature of the alchemist's opus. It is also often associated with Gnosticism, and Hermeticism.
Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having an archetypical significance to the human psyche. The Jungian psychologist Erich Neumann writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both mankind and the individual child.[1]
Historical representations
Antiquity
Plato described a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe—an immortal, perfectly constructed animal.
- 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.[2]
"Coiled dragon" forms have been attributed to the Hongshan culture (4700 BC to 2900 BC). One in particular, in the shape of a complete circle, was found on the chest of the deceased.[3]
The notion of a serpent or dragon eating its own tail can be traced back to Ancient Egypt, circa 1600 BC. From ancient Egypt it passed to Phoenicia where it was used as a symbol for Janus, [4] before it passed to the Greek philosophers, who gave it the name Ouroboros ("tail-devourer").[citation needed] Yet, In the Pyramid of Unas dated between 2375 BC and 2345 BC, in the Sarcophagus chamber, on the west wall gable hieroglyphs it states "A serpent is entwined by a serpent" and "the male serpent is bitten by the female serpent, the female serpent is bitten by the male serpent, Heaven is enchanted, earth is enchanted, the male behind mankind is enchanted" [5]
In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world.
Christianity adopted the Ouroboros as symbols of the limited confines of the material world (that there is an "outside" being implied by the demarcation of an inside), and the self-consuming transitory nature of a mere "worldly existence" of this world, following in the footsteps of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 3:9-14. G. K. Chesterton, in The Everlasting Man, uses it as a symbol of the circular and self-defeating nature of pantheistic mysticism and of most modern philosophy.
Middle Ages
In Norse mythology, it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, who grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king Herraud gives a small lindworm as a gift to his daughter Þóra Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
Alchemy
In alchemy, the Ouroboros is a purifying sigil. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the Ouroboros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy. Jung also defined the relationship of the Ouroboros to alchemy:[6]
The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age-old image of the Ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The Ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This 'feed-back' process is at the same time a symbol of immortality, since it is said of the Ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the One, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which [...] unquestionably stems from man's unconscious.
The famous Ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses the words hen to pan, "one is the all". Its black and white halves represent the Gnostic duality of existence.
As a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation, it 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:
[...] that the first day should make the last, that the Tail of the Snake should return into its Mouth precisely at that time, and they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed a remarkable Coincidence,
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:
All things began in order so shall they end, so shall they begin again according to the Ordainer of Order and the mystical mathematicks of the City of Heaven.
Freemasonry
The ouroboros is displayed on numerous Masonic seals, frontispieces and other imagery, especially during the 18th century.
Theosophy
The ouroboros is featured in the seal of Theosophy, along with other traditional symbols.
Non-western traditions
It is also present in some Hindu folk-myths,[citation needed] as a snake (Adisesha) circling the tortoise Maha kurma that supports the eight elephants which support the world on their backs.[citation needed] However, the snake does not bite its own tail, but instead is calling itself into being through what some literary theorists have called a performative speech act.[citation needed]
Snakes are sacred animals in many West African religions. The demi-god Aidophedo uses the image of a serpent biting its own tail. The Ouroboros is also seen in fon or dahomean iconography as well as in yoruba imagery as Oshunmare.
The god Quetzalcoatl is sometimes portrayed as an Ouroboros on Aztec and Toltec ruins.[citation needed]
Modern
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Ouroboros-simple.svg/220px-Ouroboros-simple.svg.png)
The organic chemist August Kekulé claimed that a ring in the shape of Ouroboros that he saw in a dream inspired him in his discovery of the structure of benzene. As noted by Carl Jung, this might be an instance of cryptomnesia.[clarification needed]
The flag of the short-lived Italian Regency of Carnaro featured the Ouroboros on it. The Ouroboros has been incorporated into the crests of the Hungarian and Romanian Unitarian churches.
Recycling Awareness
Crane untitled - 1986, by the Dutch sculptor Henck van Dijck. From the early eighties of the last century showed Henck van Dijck from his discipline as an artist / designer focusing on socially relevant issues such as environment and recycling, leading the vision very similar to the current popular Cradle to Cradle (C2C) philosophy, such as shown in the book Cradle to Cradle: Remake the Way We Make Things (2002) by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. In interviews and articles about his work by Van Dijck always emphasized on principles such as recycling, recycling and the importance of such a life cycle analysis, which specifically deals with the importance and use of a good image communication. His image Crane untitled (1986) is perhaps the simplest and clearest statement of this kind: the ends of the tube are connected to the input and output of a crane, as the ancient symbol is the Ouroboros, the snake in its own tail biting.
In Dutch; snake means (tuin-)slang, means (garden-)hose.
In modern popular culture
![]() | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2009) |
Movie
- In the movie Adaptation. it is alluded to by Charlie Kaufman - a reference to the fact that the film is documenting its own creation.
Television
- On the British Sci-Fi comedy, Red Dwarf an episode of the seventh series about time travel is titled "Ouroboros." In it, Dave Lister explains that he was abandoned as a 6-months old in a cardboard box underneath the pool table at the Aigburth Arms pub. The box has "Ouroborus" written on it, they are supposedly a brand of self-recharging batteries, but is also a reference that Dave is his own father.
- Episode 12 of Season 2 of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda is entitled "Ouroboros". It features a rift in space time that allows a character from the future (Trance Gemini) to take the place of her younger self to correct a future gone wrong.
- In Lost the mysterious Mrs. Hawking wears an Ouroboros on her cloak.
Music
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Neil_Peart3.jpg/220px-Neil_Peart3.jpg)
- USA-based exotic gutar and bass making company Alembic, Inc, known for close relationships with The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, John Entwistle, Stanley Clarke and others, uses the Ouroboros as central part of their logo. The logo features a hand coming out of a shining cloud spreading rays, bearing the Ouroboros that encircles a prism with an alembic inside. The idea is that mankind (hand) takes everything in the universe (cloud) and in an infinite (circle) search of wisdom (dragon in circle) focuses (prism) energy (rays) to purify (alembic) the main goal (also the alembic). The logo was invented in 1969 by Robert Thomas. Source: http://www.alembic.com/info/logomeaning.html Note that the Ouroboros depicts wisdom, as in Oriental philosophy, rather the soul or the universe, as in the western tradition.
Literature
- The satirical play Androboros is named after it.
- In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World, in an episode entitled "The Secret", it is revealed that Marguerite Krux came to the plateau in search of the other half of a medallion, the Ouroboros, which she needed to trade with a criminal called Shanghai Xan, who in return was to give her her birth certificate so she could learn her true identity.
- In William Gaddis's first novel, The Recognitions (1955), there is an Ouroboros depicted on the title page of the hardcover and paperback editions.
- Appears as the 'World-Worm', a dormant world-circling snake god, whose body has turned to stone from lack of magic to sustain it, in Larry Niven's "The Magic Goes Away".
- Used in Kurt Vonnegut's book, Breakfast of Champions. The reference is located on page 205, and it goes: "What is time? It is a serpent which eats its tail...".
Theatre
- [title of show], an original Broadway musical that chronicles its own creation, is sometimes referred to as "the musical that eats its own tail."[7] The show's cast and creators dedicated an episode of their video blog, the [title of show] show, to explaining the musical's "snakeeatstailness," using the concept of the ouroboros throughout the episode.[8]
Other
- By scientists the Ouroboros may be viewed as a symbol for the flow of energy and entropy in living beings.[9] In this context it is used as logo and namesake by Oroboros Instruments.
- In computers the Ouroboros may represent a circular dependency. In particular a routing misconfiguration, where a tunnel traffic is trying to route over the tunnel itself.
See also
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
References
- ^ Neumann, Erich. (1995). The Origins and History of Consciousness. Bollington series XLII: Princeton University Press. Originally published in German in 1949.
- ^ Plato, Timaeus, 33; translated by Benjamin Jowett [1]; (original text at Perseus)
- ^ The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology - NGA
- ^ Antiquity Explained, Volume 1, page 17, Dr. Montfaucon, David Humphrey's translation, 1771
- ^ The Pyramid Text Online http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/sarcwestgable.html
- ^ Carl Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 14 para. 513
- ^ , September 12, 2007, "'the [title of show] show' - Episode 3"
- ^ , February 14, 2008, "'the [title of show] show' - Extra"
- ^ Gnaiger E, Gellerich FN, Wyss M, eds (1994) „What is Controlling Life? 50 Years after Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life?“ Modern Trends in BioThermoKinetics 3. Innsbruck Univ. Press, Innsbruck, ISBN 3-901249-17-6: p. 316.
Solar Equinox