Editing Ouroboros (section)

=== Jungian psychology ===
Swiss psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]] saw the ouroboros as an [[archetype]] and the basic [[mandala]] of alchemy. Jung also defined the relationship of the ouroboros to alchemy: Carl Jung, ''Collected Works'', Vol. 14 para. 513.

{{blockquote|The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature of the [[individuation]] process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. 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.}}

The Jungian psychologist [[Erich Neumann (psychologist)|Erich Neumann]] writes of it as a representation of the pre-ego "dawn state", depicting the undifferentiated infancy experience of both humankind and the individual child.<ref>Neumann, Erich. (1995). ''The Origins and History of Consciousness.'' Bollington series XLII: [[Princeton University Press]]. Originally published in German in 1949.</ref>