The
innermost part of the sigil is the seven pointed star, what we
call the “Mithril Star” or the “Seren Derwydd,”
but also known as a “septagram” or “heptagram.”
*The
acute heptagram is known among Wiccans as the Elven Star or Faery
Star, a sacred symbol to those who follow the Faery tradition.
In recent years, it has been adopted as an identifier by members
of the Otherkin subculture (and some believe that the three founders
of OMS are of the Sidhe). Blue Star Wicca also uses the symbol,
where it is referred to simply as a septagram. The acute heptagram
is also a symbol of magickal power in other Pagan religions.
*The obtuse
heptagram was used as a symbol in the Kabbalah, and later by Aleister
Crowley and the Ordo Templi Orientis where it was known as the
Star (or Seal) of Babylon.
*The
heptagram is also used in Christianity to symbolize the seven
days of creation and became a traditional symbol for warding off
evil, thus the reason that most sheriff's badges are obtuse heptagonal
shaped. The heptagram is also the symbol of perfection (or God)
in many Christian religions.
*In alchemy,
a seven-sided star can refer to the seven planets which were known
to ancient alchemists.
In the second
age of Reformed Druidism, we interpret the symbol by the Welsh
word “Derwydd” (Druid) with each point standing for
one of the seven attributes of a Druid:
Point
#1: Doethiweb – Wisdom
Pont #2: Eluseugan - - Compassion
Point #3: Rhyddfrydwr – Liberal
Point #4: Wmbredd – Abundance
Point #5: Ymnellltuaeth – Noncomformity
Point #6: Dysg – Learning
Point #7: Delfrydwr – Idealist
(Note: I intend to expound on these attributes in later essays).
Around the
septagram is a snake swallowing it’s own tail, also known
as Ouroborus. This snake symbolizes a circle, and is one element
that transforms the OMS sigil into a Reformed Druid sigil.
*The
snake itself is an old symbol of the Druids (St. Patrick was said
to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. Since snakes have never
been indigenous to the island, we know the legend is referring
to the Druids). The Ouroboros is one of the oldest mystical symbols
in the world. The serpent or dragon appears in Aztec, Chinese,
Celtic, and Native American mythologies, among others.
*The serpent or dragon eating its own tail can be traced back
to Ancient Egypt, circa 1600 BC. However the pig dragons of the
Hongshan culture (4700–2200 BC) of China are older. From
ancient Egypt it passed to Phoenicia and then to the Greek philosophers,
who gave it the name Ouroboros ("self-devourer").
*In Norse
mythology it appears as the serpent Jörmungandr, one of the
three children of Loki, who grew so large that it could encircle
the world and grasp its tail in its teeth. In the legends of Ragnar
Lodbrok, such as Ragnarssona þáttr, the Geatish king
Herraud gives a small lindorm as a gift to his daughter Þóra
Town-Hart after which it grows into a large serpent which encircles
the girl's bower and bites itself in the tail. The serpent is
slain by Ragnar Lodbrok who marries Þóra. Ragnar
later has a son with another woman named Kráka and this
son is born with the image of a white snake in one eye. This snake
encircled the iris and bit itself in the tail, and the son was
named Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
*In Gnosticism,
this serpent symbolized eternity and the soul of the world.
*It is also
present in some Hindu folk-myths, as the dragon circling the tortoise
that supports the four elephants which support the world on their
backs.
*The god Quetzalcoatl
is sometimes portrayed as an ouroboros on Aztec and Toltec ruins.
*In
alchemy, the ouroboros is a purifying sigil. Swiss psychologist
Carl Jung saw the ourobouros as an archetype and the basic mandala
of alchemy. Jung also defined the relationship of the ouroboros
to alchemy:
The alchemists, who in their own way knew more about the nature
of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this
paradox through the symbol of the uroboros, the snake that eats
its own tail. ouroboros, has been said to have a meaning of infinity
or wholeness. In the age-old image of the uroboros 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. The uroboros is a dramatic
symbol for the integration and assimilation of the opposite, i.e.
of the shadow. This 'feed-back' process is at the same time a
symbol of immortality, since it is said of the uroboros that he
slays himself and brings himself to life, fertilises himself and
gives birth to himself. He symbolises the One, who proceeds from
the clash of opposites, and he therefore constitutes the secret
of the prima materia which [...] unquestionably stems from man's
unconscious.
– [3]
*The famous ouroboros drawing from the early alchemical text The
Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra dating to 2nd century Alexandria encloses
the words hen to pan, "one, the all", i.e. "All
is One". Its black-and-white halves represent the Gnostic
duality of existence.
*As
a symbol of the eternal unity of all things, the cycle of birth
and death from which the alchemist sought release and liberation,
it was familiar to the alchemist/physician Sir Thomas Browne.
In his A letter to a friend, a medical treatise full of case-histories
and witty speculations upon the human condition, he wrote of it:
[...] that the first day should make the last, that the Tail of
the Snake should return into its Mouth precisely at that time,
and they should wind up upon the day of their Nativity, is indeed
a remarkable Coincidence.
It is also alluded to at the conclusion of Browne's The Garden
of Cyrus (1658) as a symbol of the circular nature and Unity of
the two Discourses,
All things began in order so shall they end, so shall they begin
again according to the Ordainer of Order and the mystical mathematicks
of the City of Heaven.
Behind the
Seren Derwydd and Ourobourus are two Coast Redwood trees. These
symbolize the two upright lines of the Druid sigil, completing
the picture. The Coast Redwood is sacred to the OMS, and also
symbolizes eternity, due to their long lifespan (some being over
2,000 years old).
*Note: This reference was drawn from Wikipedia.
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