AUTHOR'S NOTE, 1/2022: I created this artwork almost 25 years ago at the start of my career as a graphic designer. Visually the work has certainly not withstood the test of time and frankly is a bit embarassing to me personally, but I am including it regardless as I believe the associated notes can still assist the reader in understanding how one can interpret and utilize the principles of sacred geometry in the creation of visual artwork.

Clicking here will launch a new browser tab with a large version of the artwork. In this way, the observer may jump back and forth between text and image simply by clicking on the separate windows.

Symbolism within the piece:

In this piece of art, that I would call "Uroboros," I am attempting to portray a representation of the number one as it is understood in sacred geometry. The piece is both simple and complex - simple in that it includes only two elements (a snake and a background), and complex in the actual forms that those two elements take (the weaving pattern of the snake's body and the swirling patterns that constitute the background).

First, let's take a look at the snake, and clarify what each of the symbolic parts of it represent. To begin with, the snake is eating its own tail, and this symbol is known throughout comparative myth and religion as "Uroboros" - thus the piece's name. Uroboros is a symbol of the unified universe, which is whole and complete, yet contains movement within its unified state. The movement is created by the snake eating its tail, which causes the snake to grow longer, which then becomes further food for the snake to digest. The cycle continues. The idea herein is that the universe is continually devouring its own forms through death and decay, and that devoured material then becomes fertilizer for the growth of new forms. The most easily observed example of this is the way in that a forest grows - that is, decaying vegetable matter fertilizes the soil so that new seeds may take root and grow into new plants, that will someday be sacrificed to fertilize a new generation of seeds. This example is but one, and is extremely limited in scope, but it serves the needs of our discussion here.

In the image we may notice a few other facts about our hungry snake. The complexity of the weave was created to show the complexity of the universe itself, and a tight mesh style weave was employed to portray the close interaction and interrelation of all universal phenomena. Our snake's form creates a circle, symbol of the unified universe in sacred geometry, yet within the line that defines that circle there is an immense amount of complex twisting and turning, with lines weaving in and out of one another continually. What better metaphor for the convoluted patterns in which life in this universe flows?

Also note that the width of the weave gradually increases as it works its way clockwise towards the bottom of the page, and then decreases once again as it continues around towards the tail end at the top of the page. This is to represent the cycle of life, found throughout the universe, that occurs in four basic stages - growth of life, peak of life, decline of life, and finally end of old life/beginning of new life. This cycle can be seen in the progression through a single day on earth (dawn, day, dusk, night), the change of seasons over a single year (spring, summer, fall, winter), the life of a single human being (birth, maturity, decay, death), the progression of any civilization over time, the life of a star, a galaxy, or the entire universe, etc. etc. etc. It is no coincidence that there are four points in the weave of the snake's body where the weave almost breaks, located at about 4:00, 7:00, 10:00, and 12:00. At 12:00 the break is represented by the snake's head.

The coloring of the snake's body crosses the entire visible spectrum from the left of the page to the right. Once again, this is a representation of the all-inclusive nature of Uroboros. Also it is hoped that this may evince in the observer some subconscious recollection, or perhaps in some slightly more educated observers a very conscious connection, of Quetzalcoatl, the "Rainbow Serpent" of Aztec origin. Quetzalcoatl could easily be interpreted as the Aztec version of the uroboric snake.

Let us move to the other element in the piece of artwork - the background. The background is meant to represent the swirling chaos that is quite literally the background of the playing phenomena of the universe. Note that the outline of the entire background creates a perfect square, another symbol of the unified universe.

It would be nearly impossible to consciously realize it, but the swirling pattern in the background is based in a radial geometric pattern containing 23 sections. The number 23 is believed to represent perfect chaos. That is, chaos that occurs because it causes some unforeseen event that is required in order for life to progress in the way it must. The easiest example I can offer to represent the number 23 is when an event occurs in your life that initially seems to be completely without perceivable reason or logic, yet it turns out that this odd turn of fate opens a door that leads you to exactly where you need to be in order for the prgression of your life to correctly carry on. This is the essence of the background of life - manifestations that cannot necessarily be understood by our human perception, yet always manage to lead us to exactly where we need to be.

The coloring of the background is merely meant to inspire the mind towards the idea of dark, swirling waters, a symbol that is often related to chaos.

The creative process of the piece:

First the weave of the snake's body was drawn in ink on white paper. This weave was generated by laying out the inner and outer circles and then dividing the resulting ring into 23 sections (the symbolism of 23 is explained above) . Once the weave was completed, it was scanned into my computer for editing in Adobe PhotoShop.

The snake's head was taken from a photographic image of a snake that I found on the Internet. I took this digital image into PhotoShop and removed all unnecessary parts (background, snake's body, etc.), sized it to the correct proportions to fit the weave (already scanned in), and then blended the two images (weave and head) into one image.

The weave was then cleaned up and filled with a rainbow gradient, creating the coloring which is seen in the final piece. A "stained glass" filter was then run on the gradient, giving the hexagonal scale-like texture over the coloring.

As mentioned above, the background was created by taking a geometric radial pattern bases on the number 23 and running it through various filters.

After combining the snake and the background into one image, I created a drop shadow off of the background square, creating the idea that the entire image is floating above the page on which it is printed.

All in all, I would estimate that the entire process, from designing the weave to printing the final product, took between six and eight hours of work.