The ouroboros, self-devouring serpent, is both the Prima Materia of Alchemy and the Soul of the World. Perfect, self-creating, self-destroying, it is a symbol of the human quest for self-realization as well as the universe itself, wherein creation and destruction, alpha and omega, are inseparable, locked in a cycle of transformation eternally. Used symbolically in esoteric practices, it is a kind of mandala to contemplate, toward realization of the nature of Nature itself.