Writing and Alchemy Series (13): Ouroboros — The Snake That Eats Its Tail and the Secret of Infinite Transformation

Let’s imagine a snake with its tail in its mouth. Its body is curved to form a circle; its head and tail are connected. It has neither a beginning nor an end. While the snake consumes its own body, it simultaneously sustains its own existence. This is the Ouroboros, one of the oldest and most striking symbols in human history.

The Ouroboros evokes eternity and cycles. However, the meaning of the symbol is even broader. It brings together seemingly contradictory processes such as creation and destruction, death and rebirth, wholeness and fragmentation within the very same body. It shows how the ending of something can pave the way for the beginning of something else.

Derived from the Greek words oura (tail) and boros (eating), the Ouroboros literally means "tail devourer." Although it appears in various forms across different cultures, it has secured an important place particularly in Ancient Egypt, the Hellenistic period, and the Western alchemical tradition.

What makes this symbol so fascinating from an alchemy perspective is not merely that it represents eternity, but also that it demonstrates the contradiction inherent in transformation: for something to change, it must first lose its original form. The Ouroboros unites this entire process into a single image.

One of the earliest known visual examples of the tail eating snake dates back to Ancient Egypt. In the sacred texts and depictions inside the tomb of Tutankhamun, Ouroboros like snake figures appear in the context of the sun god Ra and his cyclical journey through the underworld. Here, the snake evokes not only eternity, but also the renewal of the universe and the continuity of the cosmic order.

One of the notable examples of the Ouroboros encountered in alchemical texts is the illustrated manuscript known as Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, believed to date back to antiquity. The Cleopatra in this text is not the famous Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt, but rather a historical female alchemist associated with the alchemical tradition.

The Greek expression located inside the circle formed by the snake in the text is particularly striking:

Hen to pan — All is one (or: The all is one).

This phrase is essential for grasping the alchemical meaning of the Ouroboros. The symbol no longer merely depicts a creature consuming itself, but also signifies the union of differences within a single whole.

In the alchemical tradition, the meaning of the Ouroboros is considered alongside the transformation of matter. To the alchemist, matter is neither fixed nor immutable; it dissolves, separates, purifies, and reunites. The termination of one form can be necessary for the emergence of another.

The Ouroboros is a powerful expression of this thought. As the snake eats its own tail, it both consumes itself and sustains its own existence. Here, destruction and creation are not two independent events; they are different stages of the same process.

The principle of solve et coagula (dissolve and coagulate), one of the fundamental operations of alchemy, is also related to this understanding. A substance must first be separated from its existing structure and then reassembled into a new whole. The closed circle of the Ouroboros illustrates that these opposing movements belong to the same transformative process.

In alchemical texts, the snake is sometimes depicted in the form of a dragon sometimes monochromatic, sometimes split into two different colors, and sometimes winged. These variations are not merely artistic choices; they were also used to express the opposites and the stages of transformation addressed by alchemy.

Particularly in European alchemical works, the Ouroboros has been associated with the ideas of wholeness, the self-transformation of matter, and the unification of beginning and end. The symbol can be seen used in various forms in the alchemical manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Ouroboros does not have a single, unchanging meaning across all alchemical texts; it takes on different interpretations depending on the ideas of the era, the text used, and the other signs surrounding the symbol. Yet, the idea of a self-enclosed transformation remains a common thread among these uses.

In traditional interpretations describing the stages of alchemical transformation, it is possible to think of the Ouroboros particularly alongside Nigredo.

Nigredo, or blackening, is considered the first major stage of alchemical transformation. It is associated with the dissolution and separation of matter's old structure and passing through a dark process. This stage was interpreted not only as a physical operation, but also as a reflection of the change the alchemist experiences within their own inner world.

It is followed by Albedo, associated with purification and whitening, and Rubedo, associated with completion and reddening. These stages are not necessarily used in the same order or the same manner in every alchemical text. Nevertheless, they form an important framework for understanding the different phases of transformation in the subsequent alchemical tradition.

The circle of the Ouroboros helps us contemplate this process as a whole. The snake eating its own tail demonstrates the relationship between the eradication of the old form and the inception of a new creation.

However, reading the symbol solely as a sign of rebirth falls short. The Ouroboros also suggests that transformation does not reach a finalized end, but rather continues its own movement. Every completion opens the door to a new beginning, and every beginning to another change.

What the alchemist seeks is not merely the transformation of matter, but the understanding of the order underlying that change.

The influence of the Ouroboros was not limited to alchemical texts. In the 20th century, psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung revisited alchemical symbols to understand the transformation of the human psyche.

According to Jung, the transformation that alchemists attempted to achieve in matter could also be related to the changes a person experiences within their own inner world from a psychological perspective. The symbols in alchemical texts could be interpreted as images of unconscious processes and humanity's quest to attain wholeness.

This approach allows us to evaluate the Ouroboros from a different angle. The snake eating its own tail suggests an individual confronting themselves, the contradictions they carry within, and the inevitability of change. This does not mean, however, that the alchemists of antiquity necessarily ascribed a psychological meaning to the symbol; Jung's interpretation is a reading of ancient alchemical imagery through the lens of modern psychology.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Ouroboros is that it prompts humanity to reflect upon the relationship between the beginning and the end. We tend to think that when we move along a circle, we have reached a final point; yet the place we arrive at is also the point where we began. However, what returns is not entirely identical to what was at the beginning the intervening journey has transformed it.

The alchemical tradition's concept of transformation finds its meaning here. Matter dissolves, loses its former shape, and becomes part of another whole. An individual may experience similar fractures in their own life; sometimes, the ending of an era is a necessary separation that precedes a new beginning.

Precisely for this reason, the circle of the tail-eating snake is the symbol not only of eternity, but of change itself. The beginning and the end blend into one another; while one thing is ending, the formation of another has already begun.

Perhaps this is one of the most intriguing thoughts alchemy has preserved through the centuries: transformation does not occur by preserving the old as it is. For a new whole to emerge, sometimes the old whole must first dissolve.

The circle of the Ouroboros closes, but its story never ends.

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