A very informative and educational piece. I love this.

Sandie May Angel a.k.a. Sandie Angel :o)

beginning and end,
a continuous
unending,

A truly fascinating piece, Sage - the ancient, never ending, circle of life.

Ouroboros or Ophion, symbol of Abraxas or of the spirit of Mercury, or the rainbow coloured Oxumarê representing the omnipresent duality of the being - even as divinity - which bears alls things and their opposites and all the basic anthonyms within itself (dark and light, good and evil, male and female, sweet and sour...) has come to be, indeed, the symbol and sense of infinity and eternal renewal. All ends meet all beginnings and all beginnings spring from all ends. Indeed, "entire actions of
a life cycle,
it begets,
it weds,
it impregnates,
and it slays
itself." ... as life pulls itself anew from the womb of its own demise. This is a marvelous beginning of a cycle of poems which promises to be a truly enriching circle of ponderings and inner growth which I'll be very much looking forward to imbibing. Thank you, dear Sage.
Love&Light*
Alexandra*

A provocative piece, Sage, and I look forward to the rest of the series. I'm sitting here racking my brain back to when I used to study more in this area and also reflecting on Kate's commentary. The serpent is not always represented as strictly evil in Christian doctrine. In fact, the bronze serpent on the staff is a symbol of redemption, a representation of Jesus Messiah nailing sin to the cross. God sent fiery serpents among the Israelites in the desert with Moses when they began to complain against God. The snakes bit the unrepentant and they began to die. However, God also instructed Moses, giving specific instructions, to fashion a bronze serpent and put it on a staff and lift it up. Anyone who looked upon the serpent (I assume with faith in God) was healed from the bites of the fiery serpents and lived. Christian doctrine teaches that the serpent on the staff was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ being lifted up in crucifixion as redemption for sin. Later in Israel's history, as would be natural for humans, the people thought the power was in the brazen snake and not in God and began to worship the snake on the staff, committing the sin of idolatry. The brazen snake on the staff had to be destroyed. ;-) A big concept in Christian doctrine is respect creation but God is Creator not creation. Worship Creator not creation. In any event, I see in this story an example of the serpent representing both death and life in a weird way, a duality. But ultimately God has power over both. And so, your work has made my brain work out this morning. :-) ~~Nordette

Most intelligent writes.

A snake biting its
own tail,
chewing The
Wheel of Time <-------------ingenious. Witty too. How much does that say!!!

i dont know why people in the states choose ouroborus which is egyptian instead of ophion. teiresias seer of the underworld because hes made blind watching snakes couple. the symbol of the serpent is also in the cosmology of early pagan astrology & of course genesis. it's good to allude to jung & thus extend the symbolic value, though i dont think jung adds too much to it, imo, as i think he vastly oversimplifies. i look forward to the mythical emergence of ouroboros saludos

The eternal return; a comforting thought...
Superb write, Sage!
Peace,
Carolyn

Interesting actually, though my spelling program says there is no such a thing as an "Ouroboros", not that it knows everything I guess...Ed

we choose to move through the cosmic wheel so the godhead can experience and observe itself ... once we achieve its perfection we again have the choice to do it all over again or assimulate into the spiritual energy of evolving into the co-creator ...

entire actions of
a life cycle,
it begets,
it weds,
it impregnates,
and it slays
itself.

i have a deep affinity with your cosmology ... excellent poem in form and content ...

The cycle of life defined in ancient terms. Very nice.

Ron

I love mythology and ancient symbols, too, Sage. Whatever one's belief, I think they have something to teach us, another perspective to offer us. Infinitely interesting topic. Many blessings to you in the new year, Dawn

I always enjoy reading your superb poetry, that both entertains and enlightens! Thank you Sage!

Eileen

Yes, Sage, the Ancients have so much to teach us!

Love & Light,
Joseph

Again you teach me, Sage. Thank you. Love and peace to you.

Regis

Life begets life, and ancient symbolism and allegory depicts the utter mysteriousness and complexity of life
As the late and great Carl Jung famously answered near the end of his distinguished life, on the question of God's existence, " I don't believe there is a God, I KNOW there is a God !!! "
This promises to be an eye opening and revealing series of Ouroboros Sage !!
Love
Peter

Life feeds off itself. I like that.

I could feel the ringing of time as I read this. Great write.

"entire actions of a life cycle, it begets, it weds, it impregnates, and it slays itself"... sounds like me; reckon I am permanently in boom and bust; seasons and cycles, but basically goin in a straight line from here to there and ultimately designed to self-combust... or self-destruct: one and the same thing, perhaps! Love this Sage. Intrigued by the parallel between the Ouroboros and the Christian Godhead, in which the Serpent is depicted as the symbol of arch-evil; reckon it has to do with the self-sufficiency angle - cos Christian God requires dependence upon His grace, rather than arch-independence of it, perhaps, which is interpreted as rebellion and standing outside of reliance on the provision and power of God. Just adore these eternal debates and philosophies. Thank you and Be Blessed Be... a cyclical doxology! :)) LOL Kircle Kate xx

When you get into a poem, you not only guve us a well-told, well-thoughtout piece of literary genius, but educate us as well as you did with this one about the tail swallowers. Deep.