The palm at the end of the mind, beyond the last thought, rises in the bronze distance. A gold feathered bird sings in the palm, without human meaning, without human feeling, a foreign song. You know then that it is not the reason that makes us happy or unhappy.
The bird sings. Its feathers shine. The palm stands on the edge of space. The wind moves slowly in the branches. The bird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

ouroboros







Ouroboros: Depicted as a serpent or dragon biting its own tail. "My end is my beginning." It symbolizes the undifferentiated; the Totality; primordial unity; self-sufficiency. It begets, weds, impregnates, and slays itself. It is the cycle of disintegration and reintegration, power that eternally consumes and renews itself; the eternal cycle; cyclic time; spatial infinity; truth and cognition in one; the united primordial parents; the Androgyne; the primaeval waters; darkness before creation; the restriction of the universe in the chaos of the waters before the coming of light; the potential before actualization. In funerary art, Ouroboros represents immortality, eternity and wisdom. In Orphic cosmology it encircles the Cosmic Egg. The Alpha and Omega are often depicted with the Ouroboros. Alchemy: The latent power of nature; unformed materia; the opus circulare of chemical substances in the hermetic vessel. Buddhist: Wheel of samsara. Egyptian: The circle of the universe; the path of the sun god. Greek: "All is one". "The All was from the beginning like an egg, with the serpent as the tight band or circle round it" (Epicurus). Hindu: Wheel of samsara. As latent energy Ouroboros shares the symbolism of kundalini. Sumero-Semitic: The All One. — J. C. Cooper, Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols (1978), pp. 123-124

thanks, P. if you read, of course.
or even if not.
1.11 a.m, e.t Monday

1 comment:

  1. I actualy have an Ouroboros Dragon tattoo done in tribal design; I can say that what was described about the Ouroboros here, is EXACTLY the reason why I wanted it as a tattoo. It means a lot to me & I feel you did an excelent job describing it :]

    ReplyDelete