| “ | A world of silence. I would like to return to the Gap that is my home... and reclaim that silence. That is all. | „ |
| ~ Ouroboros |
Ouroboros, also known as Ophis, is an ancient cosmic serpent or Aeon which is depicted as eating its own tail.
Description
Plato described Ouroboros as a self-eating, circular being as the first living thing in the universe, an immortal, mythological constructed beast. This 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.
It can represent the idea of primordial unity related to something existing in or persisting before any 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.
In Gnosticism, this serpent symbolizes eternity and the soul of the world. Ouroboros has stated that its has many regrets over its existence.
Overview
Ouroboros is an Aeon or lesser Aeon that was blossomed from one of the flowers of the Tree of Life. However, in one iteration, the flower that held the seedling which would soon birth the serpent, limped downward a little allowing the turbulent waves of Chaos to splash against it, resulting in a being that was technically born through nothingness and infinity. It represents the perpetual cyclic renewal of life and infinity, the concept of eternity and the eternal return. It also represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth, leading to immortality which is similar to the Phoenix. The cycle of creation's mechanics its natural order of things is embodied through the Ouroboros itself.
According to legend, Ouroboros behaves in a similar manner to not only the Phoenix but also Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, to where it would continuously devour itself through his own tail only to reform through its own waste and by locking himself with his own tail around the entirety of existence it would not plunge into shambles and chaos. Its waste providing as its own food, and all that it did or suffered taking place in and by itself.
When God witnessed how self-sufficient the Ouroboros is He concluded that it had no need to take anything or defend itself against any one, thus the Lord did not think it necessary to bestow upon it hands: nor had it any need of feet, nor of the whole apparatus of walking; but the movement suited to its spherical form was assigned to it, being of all the seven that which is most appropriate to mind and intelligence; and it was made to move in the same manner and on the same spot, within its own limits revolving in a circle. All the other six motions were taken away from it, and it 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.
Trivia
- The current mathematical symbol for infinity may be derived from a variant on the classic Ouroboros with the snake looped once before eating its own tail, and such depictions of the double loop as a snake eating its own tail are common today in fantasy art and fantasy literature, though other conjectures also exist.