Ouroboros in Alchemy

In alchemy, the ouroboros is a symbol of circulation, continuity, and self-generation. It represents a substance that dissolves and coagulates itself, turning one state into another in a closed process. Texts often place it at the beginning of the work because the prima materia contains within itself the capacity to generate and destroy its own form. The same emblem appears at the end of the work because the completed Stone exists as a unified “one thing,” self-sufficient and whole. This level is concerned with internal transformation, not cosmology.

"The ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness. In the age old image of the ouroboros lies the thought of devouring oneself and turning oneself into a circulatory process, for it was clear to the more astute alchemists that the prima materia of the art was man himself. The ouroboros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e. of the shadow. This feedback process is at the same time a symbol of immortality since it is said of the ouroboros that he slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilizes himself, and gives birth to himself. He symbolizes the one, who proceeds from the clash of opposites, and he therefore constitutes the secret of the prima materia which unquestionably stems from man’s unconscious."

— Mysterium Coniunctionis by Carl Jung

“The ouroboros is the serpent or dragon that bites its own tail. It is one of the most famous and oldest of the alchemical emblems. It symbolises the one in the all and all in the one and represents both the beginning and completion of the work as well as its constant circulation. At the beginning of the work it is the prima materia, massa confusa and the transforming and mutable waters of mercury. The ouroboros displays the polarity of the soul and the constant dualism between light and darkness, love and hate, joy and despair, day and night. Due to its destructive power, it can destroy matter and reduce it to its prima materia and its primordial chaotic state. The emblem is often depicted with two serpents, one of which is winged and the other wingless. This demonstrates the active and the passive seeds as well as the masculine and the feminine, which must be combined to create the Philosopher’s Stone. The two serpents unite and destroy each other at the same time as they dissolve and fix. They are the forces of evolution and involution that Hermes carries on his caduceus rod and which convey a dynamic and harmoniously transformative force. Hermes demonstrates that when the power of the serpents has been transformed, it can be utilised by the willpower of the alchemist and circulated in their vessel.”

• Alchemy – the divine work

‎ "In the Ouroboros lies the esoteric formula of self-creation through self-destruction. It is the devouring spiral of consciousness refining itself, endlessly birthing the new through the digestion of the old. Its teeth are not for punishment, but for transmutation. The wise eat their illusions like the serpent eats its tail, until only Truth remains.” ― Dr. Irenaeus Valen, “Sophia Draconis: Wisdom of the Serpent”