What do you associate with the Ouroboros?

BoltzmannBrain

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I want to associate thename/symbol Ouroboros with one of my characters, but I am not certain that what I associate with the name is the same as what everyone else does. Wikipedia just lists every possible interpretation, but I would like to know which associations are most likely. Seeing as this is the pagan sub-forum, can you tell me what you associate with the name?
 

Ari Meermans

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Personal associations? Mine is cycles, especially the regenerative and rebirth cycles in nature--birth to death to birth . . .
 

DeleyanLee

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I can't say that I even know what it is (at least by that name), so I can't associate anything with it.
 

Wilde_at_heart

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The cyclical nature of things - destruction and regeneration, the birth-death cycle, etc. but in a self-manifesting way.

Also as an esoteric or alchemical symbol...

Curiously, Shiva - also a God of creation and destruction in Hindu lore - is usually depicted with a serpent coiled around his neck.
 
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frimble3

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Cycles. The death/birth/death thing (unending as opposed to beginning-to-end). I'm surprised that no recycling company has picked up on it.
 

EMaree

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Cycles, especially destructive and self-destructive ones. I'm also faintly aware of it's alchemy connections (thank you, Full Metal Alchemist) but I don't really remember why the two are connected.
 
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Foinah

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It literally translates as "serpent eating its own tail".
I have also always viewed it as a symbol of the duality of life/death, or the circle of birth/death/rebirth, the duality within ourselves and in nature.
The Norse serpent Jormungand encircled the Earth and placed his tail in his mouth to form an unbreakable chain that protected the Tree of Life.
 

veinglory

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I want to associate thename/symbol Ouroboros with one of my characters, but I am not certain that what I associate with the name is the same as what everyone else does. Wikipedia just lists every possible interpretation, but I would like to know which associations are most likely. Seeing as this is the pagan sub-forum, can you tell me what you associate with the name?

Honestly, mainly a really bad episode of the X-files
 

cornflake

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Honestly, mainly a really bad episode of the X-files

Heh, I was going to say I dunno how helpful it'd be but the only real association I have with it, and certainly the immediate one, is the X-files and the spin-off, Milennium. I'm so glad I'm not the only one.

Makes me think of Scully's back and Jodie Foster as a tattoo. It wasn't THAT bad an episode. :p
 

Yasaibatake

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Like most everyone else in the thread, I definitely think of cycles, but I rarely add in the destructive element without being specifically reminded of it.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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The Neverending Story. Albeit that's a very stylized one. Good use of the symbol, too--cycles, yes, but also their destructive potential if they keep repeating.
 

Livilla

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The Neverending Story. Albeit that's a very stylized one. Good use of the symbol, too--cycles, yes, but also their destructive potential if they keep repeating.

Yes, The Neverending Story was when I first learned about the symbol and concept. I never watched X-Files, but I just need to mention a Red Dwarf episode that is also titled Ourobouros.

Other than that, I agree with the basic "cyclical" interpretation, but I don't automatically associate the term (or the concept) with destruction.
 

little_e

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Infinity and inward-focus. Instead of consuming something new, the ouroboros only re-consumes itself. Like only reading your own books.