Death.
The word alone can make us uncomfortable, fearful even. We tend to think of death as the opposite of life, and perhaps because of this, have developed an aversion to endings and change. But nature, in her wisdom, has never shared this aversion. Fresh green shoots emerge from the ash of a bushfire. A fallen, rotting log becomes a habitat for new life. Decomposing leaves return their nutrients to the earth. She reminds us that creation and destruction are not opposing forces, but symbiotic, each making way for the other. And what more perfect symbol of this idea than the Ouroboros: the serpent eating its own tail.
The idea of death as a crucial part of life is certainly not new, and throughout history, the Ouroboros has offered a visual expression of this cycle. Crossing oceans, cultures, beliefs and millennia, the image appears again and again. We find it in Ancient Egyptian funerary texts; mirrored in the Norse serpent, Jörmungandr, who encircles the world with his tail in his teeth, releasing it at Ragnarök, when the old world is destroyed and another emerges; and throughout medieval alchemy, where the Ouroboros represented transformation, dissolution and recreation. Centuries later, chemist August Kekulé recalled a vision of a snake biting its own tail while contemplating the circular structure of benzene, while Carl Jung would come to see the Ouroboros as a psychological symbol of transformation and the integration of opposites. And still today, the ancient serpent continues to consume itself across our art, literature, tattoos, film and pop culture.
“He slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilises himself and gives birth to himself.” – Carl Jung.
We experience small deaths constantly throughout our lives: relationships end, careers change, children grow up, beliefs evolve, seasons pass, even adored series roll their final credits (Schitt’s Creek forever 💔). But how often do we rush towards the what, the who or the where next, hoping to skip over the ending that came before it?
At the very core of Vessel is the ancient wisdom of ritual: the act of slowing down to honour and acknowledge. The Ouroboros is one of the three symbols of our blend Banish, created for transformation and rebirth. But with Banish, we don't suggest aggressively expelling something ‘bad’; rather, we recognise what has reached its end and consciously let it go. It’s an idea the Ouroboros has been reminding us of for thousands of years. The serpent does not skip the ending in its pursuit of a new beginning. It consumes what came before, completing the circle before it can begin again.
Words by Rosie Mahoney
