uroboros
Tail-eating snake symbol
Uroboros is a circular symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail, representing cyclicality, eternal return, or self-renewal.
The image appears across ancient cultures and features prominently in alchemical imagery.
It serves as a metaphor for anything that perpetually recreates itself or returns to its origin: The project became a uroboros, each solution generating the problem it was meant to solve.
Also spelled ouroboros.
Cunning, limbless reptile
- dragonLegendary fire-breathing reptile
- LeviathanScriptural marine serpent
- EgyptianRelating to the pharaohs' land
- GnosticismSalvation through hidden wisdom
Hermeticism · cosmogony · primordial · creation myth · rebirth · transformation · archetype · Jungian
Return of something previous
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- loopCurve closing on itself
- self-renewalReplenishing from within
- regenerationBiological self-repair process
spiral · circulation · revolution · continuity · repetition · periodicity · recursion · feedback
Unlimited extent or quantity
- wholenessComplete, undivided state
- unityWholeness through cohesion
- self-containedWhole without external parts
- completenessState of being whole
totality · monad · emblem · dissolution · integration · paradox · beginning and end · alpha and omega
Freedom from temporal decay
- perpetuityInfinite continuation of time
- immortalityExemption from death
- everlastingLasting for all time
- endlessWithout termination or boundary
unending · infinite · eternal · undying · ageless · permanence · endlessness · deathlessness
Process invoking itself
- self-containmentState of internal completeness
- feedback loopSelf-modifying cyclical process
- self-replicationAutonomous copying of oneself
- bootstrap paradoxSelf-caused existence loop
Escher · self-similarity · fractal · nested · self-generating · self-sustaining · closed system · autonomy
serpent
Cunning, limbless reptile
- dragonLegendary fire-breathing reptile
- LeviathanScriptural marine serpent
- EgyptianRelating to the pharaohs' land
Gnosticism · Hermeticism · cosmogony · primordial · creation myth · rebirth · transformation · archetype · Jungian · esoteric
recurrence
Return of something previous
- cycleRepeating sequence of events
- loopCurve closing on itself
- self-renewalReplenishing from within
regeneration · spiral · circulation · revolution · continuity · repetition · periodicity · recursion · feedback · circularity
infinity
Unlimited extent or quantity
- wholenessComplete, undivided state
- unityWholeness through cohesion
- self-containedWhole without external parts
completeness · totality · monad · emblem · dissolution · integration · paradox · beginning and end · alpha and omega · boundlessness
timelessness
Freedom from temporal decay
- perpetuityInfinite continuation of time
- immortalityExemption from death
- everlastingLasting for all time
endless · unending · infinite · eternal · undying · ageless · permanence · endlessness · deathlessness · imperishability
recursion
Process invoking itself
- self-containmentState of internal completeness
- feedback loopSelf-modifying cyclical process
- self-replicationAutonomous copying of oneself
bootstrap paradox · Escher · self-similarity · fractal · nested · self-generating · self-sustaining · closed system · autonomy
uroboroslinear progression
Movement in one direction only
straight line · arrow of time · terminus · finality · beginning and end
uroborosopen system
System with external exchanges
fragment · incompleteness · broken chain · loose end · dead end
uroborosGenesis
First biblical book
Ragnarök · alpha and omega · heat death · Big Bang · Last Judgment