Editing Ouroboros (section)

=== Connection to Indian thought ===
In the ''[[Aitareya Brahmana]]'', a [[Vedas|Vedic]] text of the early 1st millennium BCE, the nature of the [[Historical Vedic religion|Vedic rituals]] is compared to "a snake biting its own tail."<ref>Witzel, M., "[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/canon.pdf The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu]" in Witzel, Michael (ed.) (1997), ''Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas'', Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora vol. 2, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 325 footnote 346</ref>

Ouroboros symbolism has been used to describe the [[Kundalini]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Henneberg |first1=Maciej |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQnqDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |title=The Dynamic Human |last2=Saniotis |first2=Arthur |date=24 March 2016 |publisher=Bentham Science Publishers |isbn=978-1-68108-235-6 |page=137 |language=en}}</ref> According to the medieval ''[[Yoga-kundalini Upanishad]]'': "The divine power, Kundalini, shines like the stem of a young lotus; like a snake, coiled round upon herself she holds her tail in her mouth and lies resting half asleep as the base of the body" (1.82).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mahony |first=William K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1KR_kE5ZYoC&pg=PA191 |title=The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination |date=1 January 1998 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-3579-3 |page=191 |language=en}}</ref>

Storl (2004) also refers to the ouroboros image in reference to the "cycle of [[samsara]]".<ref name="Storl">"When Shakti is united with Shiva, she is a radiant, gentle goddess; but when she is separated from him, she turns into a terrible, destructive fury. She is the endless Ouroboros, the dragon biting its own tail, symbolizing the cycle of samsara." {{Cite book |last=Storl |first=Wolf-Dieter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dvo9ScSbz0IC&pg=PA219 |title=Shiva: The Wild God of Power and Ecstasy |date=2004 |publisher=Inner Traditions / Bear & Co |isbn=978-1-59477-780-6 |page=219}}</ref>