a big spiral

this symbol
resonates with me.  it's been in my head for years.  i don't know why. there was never a name for it. i often find myself drawing it. certainly it's pretty, but what does it mean?  it reminds some people of the tops of greco-roman columns. a book that mentions it is Permaculture by Bill Mollison.  he talks about universal patterns occuring throughout nature.   this one he calls an "overbeck jet" and finds it in the flow of water, the knots of trees, and many other places.  who or what is overbeck?
i would like to search for it on the web, but there is no way (yet) to automatically search for visual patterns.  if you find a spiral like it, tell me.

symbols.com says that 0231.gif (248 bytes) means catch or keep.  they imply that it has this meaning in Ghana.

Double Centered Spiral from a description of Celtic symbols: "The dual centered spiral is also prolific in stone carvings. It has associations with motifs from other cultures such as the Yin Yang symbol. It signifies the duality of nature and balance."
equinox spiral there are numerous references to this other type of double spiral, a common symbol for the equinox.
Robert said: "Your Overbeck shape, if spun on its axis, would make a Torus, or at least a partial one."

indeed it makes some pretty torus-like objects... i tried making some in 3DS MAX:

overbeck2