Ouroboros and its role in the collective unconscious

Ouroboros is the image that came to mind when we were speaking about C.J. Jung's Trapdoor Dream. During last semester, research and curiosity led me to this unique idea as well as to Jung's dream and the collective unconscious. The idea that intrigued me the most about the collective unconscious and ouroboros is that they connect everything in the world. The collective unconscious is somewhat self-explanatory in its name while ouroboros basically symbolizes the never ending cycle. Now there is much more to these ideas and images respectively, however, the definitions just given work on a more superficial level. Ouroboros again connected to our last class discussion on the topic of alchemy. Ouroboros is the never-ending cycle. It means "one is the all".

As I am sure all of us have been exposed to many different mythologies over our lifetime, we have all had some exposure to the symbol of Ouroboros, even if we did not realize it at the time. Over the centuries, parts, if not all, of the symbolic representations of Ouroboros have shown up in almost all cultures. With research, parts of this long-living idea can be seen in the Chinese Yin-Yang, in Greek mythology, Aztec gods, throughout the Middle Ages, and even in Egyptian mythology. The prevailing image is an archetype that through the world's collective unconscious has been used to symbolize the importance of the life's many cycles.

Above is the picture that first showed the symbol of Ouroboros. This is from the Enigmatic Book of the Netherland, which originated from Egyptian lore. This book tells the story of the birth of the Sun God, Ra, and Orisis. The book was broken into three pieces and each piece is found in or on the tomb of a different Pharaoh of Egypt.

In Greek mythology, the symbol of Ouroboros is present but the idea of it can be found in the story of Demeter and Persephone. The mother and daughter signify the never ending cycle of nature and the world.

Ouroboros appears as Jörmungandr in Norse mythology. From this story, a serpent is able to grow large enough to surround the world until it is finally able to eat its own tail. If it ever lets go, the world as we know it will end.

As you can see, Ouroboros' appearance throughout the entire world's various mythologies connects deeply with the idea of the collective unconscious. Without the idea of the collective unconscious, it is hard to explain the reasoning as to why a single idea could spread as widely and as closely linked throughout the world's cultures. Not only does it connect the mythologies of the world but it also connects to nestings and the them of this class. Never-ending cycles come in many forms. Chinese boxes, spiraling circles, stories within stories, and many many more images that we can all come up with given the time and inspiration.