The ankh is a symbol of life.

So what's the symbol for chaos?

I know of three thus far.

One is an apple with "kallisti" written on it in Greek, which means "to the prettiest one"; it's the Discordian symbol for chaos. It's the golden apple that Eris, the goddess of discord, tossed among a bunch of other goddesses to cause a catfight over who got it.

Another is fire. People often equate flames with chaos. It's clear why; the burning releases heat energy, which causes entropy to go up. It causes more disorder. Burn down a building and you get ashes, burnt timber, and a big mess with the fire department running around. See? Chaos!

Another is called the Chaos Star, and can be described as eight arrows radiating out of one point with all arrows at 45 degree angles to their neighbors. It was developed by a fantasy author for his books, so this one isn't exactly historic in its roots, thus less authentic. But certainly pasted everywhere on the Internet, surely.


My question is, does anyone know of any others? Maybe some historic ones I might have missed?

Zero and infinity.

I meant visual symbols, but alright. That's a start. We could also select one of the worst flamers in Sciforums/Exosci history and use that person's avatar as a symbol of chaos.

The tampon is a symbol of chaos.

Fear teh PMS.

infinity

Χαος, the primordial void in greek mythology from which was both nothing and the foundation for everything. Seen as an endless black sea without surface or bottom.

In egyptian mythology it was Set, the god of chaos who was symbolized by the desert. He was originally a protector, though he was eventually demonized for political reasons.

Don't forget Shiva.

Not a symbol but an example of chaos:
Butterfly Effect

Infinity has its own symbol.

The Norse have the concept, analogous to the big-bang, of ginnungagap - the primordial emptiness. When the heat of muspel met the cold of nifel, the first matter was formed.

There's not much of a representation of it...

http://scandinavian.wisc.edu/mellor/.../yggdrasil.jpg

But that is the world tree, I suppose the gunningagap would be between muspel and nifel.

" Don't forget Shiva."

Shiva, hermaphrodite God of chaos.
"In dance I create
Or I dance the world into destruction"

You can't tell from the picture, but Shiva has well developed breasts and an erect penis.

Shiva as Nataraja, dancing God:
http://www.accd.edu/sac/vat/arthisto...03/India18.jpg

Under his foot is the dwarf of ignorence.

Ah, Norse legend. I love that the largely overlooked fire giants and their leader, Surtur, who wields the sword simply known as 'Revenge', are largely overlooked. And then there is Ragnarok.

"Surtur is the one so named who stands on Múspell's border, guarding the land. His sword is flaming and as the world ends he will go out, make war against and triumph over the gods. And he will burn the whole world with fire"
-Gimlé Gylkaginning,

"Surtur from the south
wielding fire
The gods' swords shine in the darkness,
like stars in the night
Mountains collapse into rubble
And fiends shall fall
Man walks the road to ruin
as the sky splits in two"
-Völuspá

hapsburg has an avatar?

For the Indians of what is now the southwestern USA and northern Mexico, it could be argued that Coyote the Trickster was a symbol of chaos. He was always upsetting the plans of the mighty humans and wreaking havoc in their universe. However, I don't know of a good pictorial symbol for Coyote. You might find a Coyote kachina or something like that in a book of indian lore.

Yes coyotes have a much greater range now and within a few years will probably reside in all the contiguous 48 states. But that's because the Europeans and their American descendants have all but wiped out the wolf population. Wolves are coyotes' only natural predator and their ranges almost never overlapped.

There's Loki or Garm or Fenris, if you're at it.

http://www.dickinson.edu/~eddyb/myth...oki_Poison.jpg

Fraggle,

With all due respect, I think you've got Mr. Coyote the Trickster all wrong. He is a trickster, tis true, but he's a trickster with a purpose. He's a teacher. He's more of an example of order within the apparent chaos than pure chaos. Maybe you've seen the episode of the Simpsons where Homer eats the Insanity Pepper and goes off in search of his soulmate on the advice of the talking coyote? Well, it turns out that he had his soulmate in Marge the whole time but he just didn't realize it. By sending him out on a quest for something that he already had taught Homer in the best and truest way possible that Marge was his soulmate and that he'd taken her for granted. I think this is an excellent example of the tradition of the coyote. It's been a few years since I've read any native American stories, but if you're interested Seven Arrows is an excellent introduction to the meaning of the native oral tradition.


As to symbols.
How about this?

"Seven Arrows is an excellent introduction to the meaning of the native oral tradition." You are correct, I have read it and concur with you on that. Here is a site that deals with that book.

http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/...ica/am-wad.htm

oscar,

Shiva with an open third eye represents destruction,and thus chaos can be either a successor or predecessor of the same and but not the equivalent.

Another example of chaos, there's thousands of them.

http://www.sciforums.com/attachment....tid=4097&stc=1

The "Smoking Mirror" from Aztec mythology was the antithesis of Quetzlcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. The Smoking Mirror comes to destroy the world and return earth to the abyss (for like the eleventh time, but it won't be remade again).

The "Smoking Mirror" from Aztec mythology was the antithesis of Quetzlcoatl, the Feathered Serpent. The Smoking Mirror comes to destroy the world and return earth to the abyss (for like the eleventh time, but it won't be remade again).

A smoking mirror was also a ritual item made out of finely polished obsidian. It was heated over flame until it rippled with the heat and was used for scrying and other arcane acts.

And Fraggle, Coyote was proof that chaos isn't necessarily bad. He brought many gifts to man, including, in some tribal myths, fire. He was often the bringer of humility who would bring down those who were too full of themselves for the good of themselves or anybody else. Coyote was a North American Monkey-King, another symbol of chaos.

The Monkey King brought down the palaces of heaven, ate from the tree of eternal life, learned great magics, and generally made an ass out of himself... but usually to people who deserved it.