In Norse mythology, the ouroboros appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the three children of Loki and Angrboda, which grew so large that it could encircle the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. Seal of the Theosophical Society, founded 1875 Ī 15th-century alchemical manuscript, The Aurora Consurgens, features the ouroboros, where it is used among symbols of the sun, moon, and mercury. The chrysopoeia ouroboros of Cleopatra the Alchemist is one of the oldest images of the ouroboros to be linked with the legendary opus of the alchemists, the philosopher's stone. Its black and white halves may perhaps represent a Gnostic duality of existence, analogous to the Taoist yin and yang symbol. The famous ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text, The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra ( Κλεοπάτρας χρυσοποιία), probably originally dating to the 3rd century Alexandria, but first known in a 10th-century copy, encloses the words hen to pan ( ἓν τὸ πᾶν), "the all is one". 400 CE) describes the ouroboros as a twelve-part dragon surrounding the world with its tail in its mouth. In Gnosticism, a serpent biting its tail symbolised eternity and the soul of the world. Historical representations Įarly alchemical ouroboros illustration with the words ἓν τὸ πᾶν ("The All is One") from the work of Cleopatra the Alchemist in MS Marciana gr. Another wild rat snake was found having swallowed about two-thirds of its body. One captive snake attempted to consume itself twice, dying in the second attempt. Some snakes, such as rat snakes, have been known to consume themselves. The snake biting its own tail is a fertility symbol in some religions: the tail is a phallic symbol and the mouth is a yonic or womb-like symbol. The ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol for eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth the snake's skin-sloughing symbolises the transmigration of souls. The term derives from Ancient Greek οὐροβόρος, from οὐρo oura 'tail' plus -βορός -boros '-eating'. It was adopted as a symbol in Gnosticism and Hermeticism and most notably in alchemy. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. The ouroboros or uroboros ( / ˌ j ʊər ə ˈ b ɒr ə s/ ) is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. what was it.An ouroboros in a 1478 drawing in an alchemical tract
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