Ourobouros
Acrylic & oil on canvas
3 panels, 12” x 30”, 30” x 30”, 12” x 30”
2005

One of the characteristics of the Green Man archetype is its regenerative quality. Nature renews itself with the seasons and as necessary after a natural disaster. Here we have a Green Man image as Ourobouros, an ancient symbol of the cyclic nature of things. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung saw the Ourobouros as an archetype and the basic mandala of alchemy, noting that “the Ourobouros is a dramatic symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, of the shadow.” Placement of the Yin-Yang symbol indicates acceptance and the perpetuation of equality as a central precept, with a repetitious pattern and the watchful gaze of the Green Man as a backdrop.