The Millennium Logo

    The logo is called an ouroboros.  The Serpent biting its own tail is first seen as early as 1600 years BC in Egypt.  From there it moved to the Phoenicians and then to the Greeks, who called it the Ouroboros, which means devouring its tail.  The symbol has even been adopted by the Chinese.

    The serpent biting its tail is found in other religions as well, including the Norse religion, where the serpent's name is Jörmungandr, and in Hindu, where the dragon circles the tortoise which supports the four elephants that carry the world.

    Alternate spellings include: oroborus, uroboros, and oureboros.

Symbology Behind The Ouroboros

    The ouroboros has several meanings interwoven into it.  Foremost is the symbolism of the serpent biting, devouring, eating its own tail.  This symbolizes the cyclic nature of the universe: creation out of destruction, Alpha and Omega, life out of death also known as resurrection, which is why it became a symbol that was adopted by the Gnostic Christians, which is also where the phrase, "This is who we are" came from.  It was used as a secret greeting.  The ouroboros eats its own tail to sustain its life, in an eternal cycle of renewal.  This is the simplest way if not the most natural, symbolical representation of God!

from the Chrysopoeia ('Gold Making') of Cleopatra
during the Alexandrian Period in Egypt.
The enclosed words mean 'The All is One.'

    In the above drawing, from a book by an early Alchemist, Cleopatra, the black half symbolizes the Night, Earth, and the destructive force of nature, yin. the light half represents Day, Heaven, the generative, creative force, yang.  Alchemically, the ouroboros is also used as a purifying glyph.  Later the Gnostic Christians adopted the Ouroboros as a symbol of unity.  Contrary to Christian fundamentalist propaganda the serpent is not a symbol of Satan or Evil.  It is a symbol of knowledge and wisdom.  That is why the symbol of the Caduceus, two intertwined serpents on a winged staff, a symbol originating out of Ancient Egypt, is the symbol of the Medical Profession.  It is a Greek word for a symbol used in the initiations of The Elusinian Mysteries that survived later campaigns to eradicate it's teachings.

Click the snake for a larger image

    The snake biting its own tail image used in the opening title sequence of Millennium is called an Ouroboros. In the series it is the symbol of the Millennium Group. In mythology, the Ouroboros is any image of a snake, worm, serpent, or dragon biting its own tail. It was first seen as early as 1600 years BC in Egypt.  The Greeks called it the Ouroboros, which means "Tail Eater."  Generally taking on a circular form, the symbol is representative of many broad concepts.  Time, life continuity, completion, the repetition of history, the self-sufficiency of nature and the rebirth of the earth can all be seen within the circular boundaries of the Ouroboros.  Societies from throughout history have shaped the Ouroboros to fit their own beliefs and purposes.  The image has been seen in Japan, India, utilized in Greek alchemic texts, European woodcuts, Native American Indian tribes and even by the Aztecs.  It has, at times, been directly associated to such varying symbols as the Roman god Janus, the Chinese Ying Yang, and the Biblical serpent of the garden of Eden. 

    Chris Carter once explained in his own words, "The image that appears on the main title of the show which is a snake eating its tail, a circular snake, the snake is a classic and ancient image. I think it's come from several different cultures, it's called the Ouroboros and it has many different meanings. One is eternal return, everything being circular, everything recurring and also of a snake eating its tail, of it devouring itself, which is a more negative context. I thought for Millennium it had equal parts of each and left some then to the imagination of what it might mean. But it's a very powerful image and I think it's really perfectly representative of the show."

    As Chris Carter said, "It's a very powerful image."  The reason why it is powerful resides in the fact that it, like all symbols, originates from the unconscious mind of man.  That unconscious mind is the same in each one of us, so nobody is immune to its' power.

Logo Background

    In the background of the Millennium Logo the symbols for radiation and biohazard can be seen along with symbols used in Alchemy and Astrology.

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