I flew a new formation near Liddington Castle in the evening of June 20th. Unfortunately, after taking off with some sunshine, by the time we reached Liddington it was uniformly gray. (Thanks to PhotoShop I was able to brighten up the shots.)

As we approached I could see that what at first looked like an outer ring was actually an "Ouroboros."

In the early 1970s I used to belong to a spiritual group called Ouroboros. The Ouroboros in Greek mythology is a circular snake that gives birth to itself through it's mouth. It signifies the eternally self-regenerating Universe. (The origin of the idea probably comes from the fact that in some species of snake the mother broods the babies in her mouth, so it looks like she is giving birth to them when they wriggle out.) Ouroboros is also considered to be eating it's tail when representing the destructive aspect of the Universe.

The round central area is sort of a visual pun referring to last summer's "Pincushion" optical illusion near Windmill Hill. But there's a big difference, because this one is technically NOT an optical illusion. Whereas the original pincushion gave the illusion of upward bulging created entirely of straight lines, this one is made using curves, which rely on perspective to give the impression of three-dimensionality. (Perspective is a visual illusion too, of course, but is not classed as an optical
illusion. Optical illusions have unexpected qualities -- last year's "Moiré" being a superb example.)

My favorite detail is in a small area not far below the snakes head where there are three swirls (close-up in the upper left of my postcard).

Images Peter Sorensen Copyright 2001