Many symbols that relate to occultism, paganism, spirituality, witchery, magick, and the like, are often labeled as "evil" or "demonic." Sadly, it's to be expected. What often surprises me, or catches me off-guard, I should say, is when people WITHIN one of these "spiritual" communities perpetuate narratives that are not only false but actually harmful.
Recently, this has come up specifically with the symbol of the ouroboros, and I felt that the only way to appropriately address this was to unpack what I have been seeing said vs. what is actually true about this symbol historically, metaphorically, and mystically.
Since everyone may not be familiar with the ouroboros, as everyone's path, knowledge, and connection with various symbols will differ, I want to start with unpacking what it is first.
Ouroboros is typically pronounced: OR-OH-BOR-OS and while the word Ouroboros has its origins in the Greek language (literally meaning tail-eating), representations of the symbol itself have been documented as far back as the 13th and 14th centuries BCE in ancient Egypt.
Sometimes depicted as a snake eating its own tail and sometimes depicted as a dragon eating its own tail, the meaning remains the same—it expresses the unity of all things, material and spiritual, which never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and re-creation. This aligns with what we understand as the First Law of Thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another.
"Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another."
The Meaning of the Ouroboros
Linked with the imagery of the goddess, Hekate, the Ouroboros and Anima Mundi are related philosophical and alchemical concepts, both representing cosmic unity, eternity, and cyclical creation. The ouroboros is the image of a serpent eating its own tail, symbolizing eternal cycles, while anima mundi, or "world-soul," is the concept that the universe is a single living organism with a soul that animates and connects everything within it.
- The Ouroboros image can be seen as a direct visual representation of the Anima Mundi. Its cyclical nature embodies the continuous cycle of creation and destruction described by the Anima Mundi concept.
- Just as the Anima Mundi is the animating principle of the universe, the Ouroboros is often depicted as a cosmic serpent that encompasses the world, binding it together as a single entity.
What the Ouroboros Means for Spiritual Practitioners
All throughout Astarte's Temple, The Mystic's Journey, and the books and articles I've authored (Kate Jade), you'll see me harp on the importance of paradoxes, symbolism, and infinite expansion.
So, let's unpack each one of these.
With the idea of infinite expansion, which I link to the Fibonacci Sequence (Golden Ratio) and its reduction down to the number 117, it directly connects to the goddesses Astarte and Hekate. In relation to the goddess of wisdom and the cosmos, Astarte, she has 117 manifestations that she takes on that make way for infinite possibilities in the universe, just like the infinitely expanding sequence of numbers discovered by Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci. Infinite expansion is only possible through energy constantly taking on new forms as old or smaller ways of existing are transformed into new or bigger ways of existing. This is the cycle of death and rebirth, which is really just energy changing states infinitely as it expands and evolves.
If you think of the shape of the Fibonacci Sequence or Golden Ration (the spiral that infinitely expands), you can overlay the Ouroboros on it and see how every time the snake comes around to eating its tail again, it is shedding the old and growing bigger into a new form. This pulls in the imagery of the Anima Mundi, or Hekate, the goddess of magick, mystery, and liminal space because all of this exists within the fabric of the universe in a way that animates all of it and yet is nearly undetectable from the human perspective and experience. The ouroboros, though, will always come back around to the same point again but with expansive lessons and greater ideas that allow it to stretch into the vastness of the infinitely expanding universe we exist in.
This leads right into the heart of the symbolism of the Ouroboros for spiritual practitioners. Magick is in EVERYTHING whether people are capable of seeing it or not, and whether they choose to connect with it or avoid it. It's energy. And more specifically, it's energy that's being intentionally directed, literally moved in order to act as a catalyst for change and evolution. For witches, healers, empaths, shamans, and mystics, this is the point of all. The Ouroboros is the symbol for every step we take in infinitely expanding spiritually, psychologically, and physically. Every choice we make to learn, expand in wisdom, and integrate all of life's lessons into who we are as we pursue authenticity, balance, and joy.
Without the ability to alchemize and change, we would stay forever stuck in the same cycles and way of living with no hope of evolving. And that is where the nature of paradoxes comes into this, as well, because in the same way that the Ouroboros can eat its own tail as a process for evolution, it can also eat its own tail in a never-ending, self-sabotaging cycle when the individual refuses to learn or grown.
The Problem With Modern Narratives
This leads me to the current problem I've been seeing from "New Age" and "Lightworker" pages that have been recently speaking out on the Ouroboros symbol. They've labeled it evil. They've said it represents toxic cycles. And they are encouraging their followers to "stop eating their own tail" and "avoid being like the ouroboros"...and if you've been listening to this rhetoric, I hate to break it to you, but this is the same harmful narrative that is perpetuated by religious circles, monotheistic organizations, and suppressors of the divine feminine.
For the same reason it is problematic to say that the "Yin" portion of Yin-Yang energy is "evil" or "bad", which I have sadly seen circulating around the internet coming from "light focused" spiritual pages, saying that the ouroboros is evil and a symbol of toxic cycles is equally as harmful.
Maybe you're nodding your head right now saying, "Yes! How could someone think that?" Or maybe, you've gotten to this point in the article, and you're asking, "Wait. What? I thought it was bad..."
Here's the thing. If "Yin" energy is "bad", then here is what else you have to label as evil:
- Feminine energy
- Divine feminine
- Goddesses
- Darkness and nighttime
- Water
- The ocean
- The moon
- Mothers
- The womb and birth canal
- Movement
- Receptive/receiving energy
- Nurturing
- Healing
- Restoration
- Lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, blood, synovial fluid, etc.
If the Ouroboros is "bad", then here is what else you have to label as evil:
- Feminine energy
- Divine feminine
- Goddesses
- Changing of the seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter)
- New friendships or relationships
- Waking in the morning/falling asleep at night
- Transitions like dawn or dusk
- Birthdays, anniversaries, or milestones
- Changing of lunar phases
- Changing of calendar months
- Female menstrual cycles
- Promotions, job changes, or career changes
- School, learning, knowledge, or wisdom
- Growth of any form (height, weight, strength)
- Changing your clothing or style
- Setting or achieving goals
- Moving to a new city or house
- Exercise or any type of physical changes
So, why are people today in spiritual communities perpetuating the narrative that the ouroboros is evil? Great question. My guess is either ignorance to the weight of what they're really stating, which is anti-woman, anti-goddess, anti-change, anti-growth, and anti-balance OR they are intentionally hoping to keep people stuck in the mindset that what people don't understand should be feared and the darkness, Yin energy, and goddess energy that is waiting to be tapped into is somehow "evil" and a part of the problem, rather than a necessary piece of existence motivated to help humanity find wisdom and infinitely expand.
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