OUROBOROS

See Phoenix. Here is the tail eater, the serpent that bites its own tail. It represents the original state where there is neither beginning nor end. According to Jung, this is a symbol of the state of becoming aware, of completion, with the energy finally creating the higher self (Circle, Zero).

The Ouroboros marries itself, impregnates itself with its phallic tail, and then kills itself, only to raise itself again.

The tail eater is also a dragon, and a sexual symbol. Of interest, too, might be the famous dream of the chemist A. Kekule von Strodonitz (1829-1896) about the Ouroboros. He came up with the key to understanding the benzol chain and said it was the dream of the Ouroboros that gave it to him.

Spiritually the ouroboros represents completion. Usually dcpicted as a serpent which is eating its own tail, it denotes never-ending energy and everlasting power. It will usually appear in dreams when the dreamer is ready to deal with, and understand, complete spiritual self-sufficiency.

See spiritual imagery in the introduction