27/09/2022
𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘺, c. 1962 by H.J. Sheppard
‘The Ouroboros often symbolize self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things such as the phoenix which operate in cycles that begin anew as soon as they end.
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. While first emerging in Ancient Egypt, 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 archetypal 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.’
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