"The serpent is the earthly essence of man of which he is not conscious. The serpent has the weight of the earth in itself but also its changeability and germination from which everything that becomes emerges."
"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."