Cookies help us deliver our services. By using our services, you agree to our use of cookies. More information

Oroboros symbol

From Bioblast
Revision as of 19:00, 3 January 2019 by Gnaiger Erich (talk | contribs)
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

                



Oroboros symbol

Transformation and convergence of opposites
Ring with coiled dragon design, Jade ware, Shang Dynasty, by Mountain at Shanghai Museum

Mahdihassan S (1989) Comparing Yin-Yang, the Chinese symbol of creation, with Ouroboros of Greek alchemy. Am J Chin Med 17:95-8. - »Bioblast link«


Oroboros Instruments


Oroboros spans the world

Oroboros in Copenhagen

Before departing for the Greenland 2004 expedition, Erich Gnaiger strolled through the Kierkegaard graveyard in Copenhagen, observing a suprising variety of Ouroboros emblems - symbols of transformation and eternal recycling (2004-02-22; photo by Erich Gnaiger).

Oroboros in Krakow

An excursion at the FLAWOPIRYNIA conference in Lodz to Krakow (2012-10-25 to 26) revealed two Ouroboros emblems (photo by Prof. Cezary Watala).
A web search revealed possibly another Ouroboros from Krakow: flickr.com (2012-10-28).


Oroboros in Paris

An Ouroboros in the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, discovered at the occasion of ESCI 2016 Paris FR - the Oroboros picture of the month, May 2016 (2016-04-30; photo by Andrea Gnaiger)).


Oroboros tattoos


Oroboros collection: eating its own tail

  • Gnaiger E (2014) Mitochondrial pathways and respiratory control. An introduction to OXPHOS analysis. 4th ed. Mitochondr Physiol Network 19.12. Oroboros MiPNet Publications, Innsbruck:80 pp. - »Bioblast link«

A collection of Oroboros

Gödel, Escher, Bach

'Lady Lovelace, no less than Babbage, was profoundly aware that with the invention of the Analytical Engine, mankind was flirting with mechanized intelligence - particularly if the Engine were capable of "eating its own tail" (the way Babbage described the Strange Loop created when a machine reaches in and alters its own stored program). In an 1842 memoir, she wrote that the A.E. "might act upon other things besides number". While Babbage dreamt of creating a chess or tic-tac-toe automaton, she suggested that his Engine, with pitches and harmonies coded into its spinning cylinders, "might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music of any degree of commplexity or extent."'
Douglas R Hofstadter (1979) Gödel, Escher, Bach: An eternal golden braid. A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll. The Harvester Press.


Oroboros picture of the month

Oroboros of the month

In the artwork "First Fruits of the Earth Offered to Saturn" at the Palazzo Vecchio, Saturn (Cronus in Greek mythology) is holding the Ouroboros in the hand, symbolizing the eternal cycle of renewal and the interconnectedness of beginning and end.



 » Oroboros pictures of the month






Oroboros links

  • "In general, if not universal terms, the Ouroboros may be defined as a self-sustaining, tail-eating snake, but it is clear that there is far more to the matter than this, for the concept is almost global in its distribution and evidently has far deeper meanings in many cultures" - SPIRA SOLARIS AND THE UNIVERSAL OUROBOROS: Link
  • "The ouroboros has several meanings interwoven into it. Foremost is the symbolism of the serpent biting, devouring, eating its own tail. This symbolises the cyclic Nature of the Universe: creation out of destruction, Life out of Death. The ouroboros eats its own tail to sustain its life, in an eternal cycle of renewal" - Symbology behind the Ouroboros: Link
  • Ouroborus, the serpent dragon that siezes its own tail and unites these polarities in forming its circle in the Soul - The alchemy website: Link
  • "Ouroboros is an ancient alchemy symbol depicting a snake or dragon [DNA] swallowing its own tail, constantly creating itself and forming a circle." Link
  • "There was no surrounding air to be breathed, nor was it in need of any organ by which to supply itself with food or to get rid of it when digested. Nothing went out from or came into it anywhere, for there was nothing. Of design it was made thus, its own waste providing its own food, acting and being acted upon entirely with and by itself, because its designer considered that a being which was sufficient unto itself would be far more excellant than one which depended upon anything." from Timaeus (The construction of the world), Plato - Ouroboros, Univeristy of Minnesota, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture: Link
  • Falksen GD (2016) The Ouroboros Cycle, Book 4: A Sojourn in Bohemia. Wildside Press. - Open Access